Union carpenters enjoy one of the finest benefit packages in their field, from health benefits and pension/annuity plans to retirement planning options. These plans result from collective bargaining discussions between labor and management representatives and are managed by trustees representing both sides. Every hour an employee works, employers make contributions towards this plan that ultimately fulfills health and retirement needs.
MACRBS is a member service not-for-profit that manages multiple benefit funds for union carpenters in the Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council (MACRC), located in Rockford, Illinois. MACRBS administers these multiple funds under Internal Revenue Service guidelines as not-for-profit multiemployer trusts. The benefits funds include health and welfare funds, pension funds and an annuity fund.
Each fund has a distinct purpose and set of regulations, while being legally separate. Any assets held in each fund belong solely to it and may only be used to pay benefits associated with that plan.
The Southwest Carpenters Pension Plan is a Defined Benefit Pension covering Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah under the jurisdiction of the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters. Employers participating submit work hours for contributing to this Pension Plan in accordance with Collective Bargaining Agreements or Subscriber’s Agreements recognized by Trustees.
To receive your monthly retirement benefit in the form of a payment from an annuity provider, it is necessary for you to stop working once reaching pensionable age, which for participants born before July 1, 1949, is 70-1/2 or 72 depending upon when they were born. Contributions may still be earned and withdrawn according to IRS regulations from your annuity account during this timeframe.
Pension plans from the carpenters’ union aim to provide you with a reliable source of retirement income based on your years of service as a member and employer contributions made on your behalf. Monthly payments continue for as long as necessary, whether at traditional retirement age or later through Service Pension or Early Retirement options.
At retirement age, if you have earned 30 years of Service Pension Eligibility Credit you are eligible for a Service Pension. Any time during which you receive Workers’ Compensation Temporary Disability benefits or similar insurance may also count toward earning Service Pension Credit; please send copies of check stubs containing evidence of temporary disability as well as an Affidavit for Pension Credit during Periods of Disability to the Administrative Office for verification.