EST Jason Engels improves council benefits through cost savings, merging funds and expanding benefits for women & children. 

When we think of our union, we often think of our wages. What is the take-home pay from our paychecks? How can our wages keep up with inflation? Our union keeps its eye on this prize, and it has been successful. We have seen major wage increases in many of our locations and in the different crafts that make up the CSCRC. For example, we have been able to raise wages for drywallers in Austin, Texas by nearly 50% over the last few years. With the leadership of the union, a united membership, and a strong team of on-the-ground organizers, we are bringing paycheck justice to Austin.

But life is about more than a paycheck.

Having adequate healthcare and time to spend with those you love are also very important. We all look forward to our weekends, and as history shows, it is the union movement that literally invented the weekend. As we age, we want to enjoy the fruit of our labors. Unions have led the way in developing and fighting for financial solutions that provide security after retirement so we can pay our bills and enjoy the freedom to do things like take vacations.

All these benefits, in addition to wages, are the guiding principles of the Carpenters Union, so you can have the safety and protection all humans need to lead full and productive lives.

Upon review of our benefit funds, we have made some changes we would like to share.

Benefits in our union, especially on our construction side, are provided through Trust Funds. The rules for these funds were set up after World War II through a joint partnership of union leaders and our signatory employers. Each fund focuses on a certain kind of benefit in a certain location. These funds are highly regulated by the US Department of Labor and must be operated under the rules of a federal law called ERISA. There are costs to these funds, as each must file tax returns, carry insurance, follow complicated legal rules, and be administered properly.

We have successfully strengthened these benefit funds. This was accomplished by mapping out the funds we had, where they were, and what they covered. Then we reviewed each and every expense each fund had, every penny that was being spent on anything other than direct benefits for you and your family. Then, like with a construction project, we determined what changes needed to happen first. All trustees had to be on board with our plan first, including our employer partners. We sat down with them, discussed why changes were necessary, and everyone came to a consensus.

Then we had to look at the geographic area of our Council. Where could we make progress fastest? We focused first on places in which we could make the most difference. We started by making changes to the most expensive funds. The existing fund managers were replaced with professionals who charge fair rates and are in line with our values.

Our next move was to merge funds. We had several pension funds in our Council. Every fund must meet several times a year. Merging the funds cut down on the number of meetings and cuts down the costs for outside advisors needed to run the funds.

Mergers allow us to build up larger asset pools, giving us more clout to negotiate benefits for you. Take medical care, for example. Just a few years ago, in Arkansas and Oklahoma, our health fund had less than two million dollars in assets. Now it has almost $25 million. We had multiple retirement funds with just several million dollars in the bank and now we have one retirement fund, that we share with millwrights in our area, each having over $200 million in assets. Some of our long-time members who worked steadily and are now retired have received nearly a million dollars in payouts from these funds. A million dollars will get a member and their family a good retirement, even today.

Along with these efforts, we looked at our membership and saw what would be most helpful to them. We have an increasing number of Spanish-speaking members in our union. Some of them and many of their family members mainly speak Spanish. Our documents which describe our medical benefits are long and complicated. Yet, they were all in English. They are hard to read even if English is your first language, much less if it is your second. So, we began a campaign to be sure that all funds had documents in both English and Spanish.

Another helpful change we made for our members is our benefits for female members. Our union has a growing number of female members, we are dedicated to increasing that number, and want to make sure they receive the specialized care they need. We looked at the two health funds we have on our construction side, one for Oklahoma and Arkansas and one for Texas and Louisiana. We found a very highly credentialed doctor in Arkansas who works at the University Medical Center in Little Rock. We gave him our health plan documents and told him to point out all services we could improve upon or add for women. We made over twenty changes in each plan, presented these changes to our sisters in SIBS, and got additional ideas from them.

The UBC, led by President Doug McCarron, has also made amazing changes to provide the best benefits for all members. Prescription drugs are approaching one-half of all of our medical costs in our funds. Seeing these rising costs, UBC started our own specialty pharmacy and to negotiate a national agreement with a Pharmacy Benefit Manager, leveraging the total weight of all UBC members. Our union overall has saved approximately $2 Billion through this program. This money goes straight into greater benefits for our families.

Attention to the full lives of our members and their families, cutting unnecessary costs, reviewing & improving benefits on a regular basis, leveraging the assets of our funds, and combining with other UBC brothers and sisters have increased the benefits and well-being of our membership and led us on a journey of constant improvement. We are dedicated to continuing our progress of helping our members live healthier and happier lives.

For more information on your benefits, visit www.SouthernBenefit.com or call 800-831-4914.