How will you retire?

You’re invited to our educational Town Hall – Monday at 4 PM. We will be joined by our retirement pension experts and take your questions live. Just answer your phone when we call on Monday at 4 PM.

If for some reason, you don’t get a call, you can dial into the Town Hall. On Monday September 27 at 4 PM just dial 1-888-231-5462 and enter meeting ID 6308. Hope to talk with you then.

Background:

It’s Your Retirement
We all hope to retire, after a lifetime of work, with enough income to live with some dignity and independence. A solid retirement plan will help. It has many sources: personal savings, Social Security, and retirement/pensions and investments. Your retirement pension from work at the grocery store is one of these sources.

While some of you may be near retirement after decades of work, others may have just started at the grocery store in just the last few years. Whatever your situation, your pension is one of the most important ways to have income when you retire. Your employer begins making payments into your pension when you are hired, and you become vested in the pension plan typically after just 5 years of work in the stores.

Good News

1 – A Solid Plan, a Brighter Future – In the Summer of 2021 our Pension made a very positive announcement – we were able to complete the final step to secure the pension funding after many years of effort. This includes a new plan that: is more resilient to the ups and downs in the stock market; creates a Stabilization Fund for years when the investment returns drop below 2%; and, connects your employer’s retirement contributions to your wage instead of a fixed amount so that as you get paid more, your retirement value goes up as well.

2 – Solution Allows for Shifting Focus to Higher Wages – Every three years our union members get the right to negotiate with the employers over the terms of employment – wages, benefits, working conditions and more. This includes Health Care and Retirement benefits. Because we have successfully addressed the pension and health benefits over the last decade, our hope is that as we go into contract negotiation in early 2022, we can now take the time and energy with the employer representatives to focus on members’ other top priorities: first and foremost is increased wages. We are also looking forward to trying to make improvements in the contract for training, staffing and additional ways to improve safety and respect in the workplace.

Need to Know Details About Your Pension
The amount someone gets at retirement depends on many things. If you have a question about your specific pension benefits, when you are vested, or other topics, please call our grocery store workers’ retirement plan administrator, Zenith, at 206-282-4500 or 800-225-7620, press option 2, then press 3.