Co-op employees across the country rely on their retirement plan as a guarantee for a financially secure future, not only helping save for retirement but also strengthening local communities through local contributions to co-ops’ financial strength. Cooperatives offer their employees pension plans – something no other employers are capable of due to having such large numbers of workers, which enables them to negotiate insurance premiums on behalf of all their members, leading to lower rates overall and providing greater bargaining power than smaller firms would possess individually.
Cooperatives are unique businesses in that their employees hold special meaning to them, which explains why cooperatives make long-term commitments that go beyond simply investing in profitability. By offering defined-benefit pension programs such as RetireMint, they provide their workers with a guaranteed paycheck in retirement – something many other companies no longer provide their workers. This unique and valuable benefit stands out among other offerings from many businesses today.
RetireMint is a multi-employer pension plan administered by United Benefits Group of Missouri, a not-for-profit corporation representing participating co-op employers in 15 states from North Dakota to Texas and Colorado to Illinois. Over 750 active participants work at over 300 co-ops that participate, with United Benefits Group committee members being comprised of experienced employees from participating co-ops.
Recent changes in regulations have altered how Co-op Retirement Plan administration is conducted, particularly through employer-by-employer administration of the Plan. New rules require changing from an aggregate method of administration to individual participating employers’ administration of their plan, which will result in more expensive operation; each participant employer will now need to meet higher set of rules and provide benefits and vesting schedules tailored specifically to key employees of each of them – also forcing corrections in cases of co-ops that have too many key employees for them.
This is a pressing matter and must be dealt with swiftly by the federal government. Our co-op employers of 750 co-ops want to remain part of the Co-op Retirement Plan without having to alter their practices, thus giving us hope that federal legislation can address it soon enough. NRECA will work closely with lawmakers from both parties in both chambers, House and Senate, to ensure a bill is introduced as quickly as possible – it’s of critical importance, since failure will have lasting repercussions for electric cooperatives and other nonprofit organizations. Without changes to current laws, pension insurance premiums for organizations will increase significantly and ultimately pass along through higher membership fees and rates. Luckily, the House has already passed H.R. 1060 which helps offset these increases by lowering electric cooperative premiums to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.