Your Pension Plan was founded by your Union founding fathers to take care of members and their families for generations. For 57 years, the Plan has carried that commitment forward, now serving over 2,200 active, retired, and deferred vested members, primarily in British Columbia and across Canada.
The Heat and Frost Local Union 118 Pension Plan provides members with a lifetime monthly pension in retirement. The Plan was established in 1969 and is designed to provide secure, long-term retirement income for eligible members.
How the Plan Works
The Plan is a Target Benefit Plan. This means your pension is determined using a formula based on contributions made on your behalf. Contributions are negotiated through collective bargaining and invested to provide a targeted level of benefits.
Your pension is not based on an individual account balance. Depending on the Plan's financial position, benefits may be adjusted (up or down), or contributions may need to be revised.
Employers contribute to the Plan on behalf of members. These contributions are pooled into a trust fund and professionally invested. The fund grows through both contributions and investment earnings and is used to pay all pensions and benefits.
Becoming a Member
You become a member of the Plan once contributions made on your behalf reach 700 hours over two consecutive calendar years. Once you become a member, those contributions are used to calculate your future pension entitlement.
Retirement Eligibility
You can start your pension as early as age 50, with reductions applied if you begin receiving your pension before your normal retirement date of age 60.
Under income tax legislation, you must begin receiving your pension no later than December 31 of the year you turn 71.
Applying for Your Pension
Your pension does not start automatically. You should apply for your pension at least 90 days before your intended retirement date.
To help ensure timely payment, completed retirement paperwork should be submitted at least 30 days before your pension commencement date.
Pension Payment Options
The standard form of pension is a lifetime monthly payment, with a 10-year guarantee period. For example, if you select a 10-year guarantee and die before 120 monthly payments have been made, the remaining guaranteed payments will continue to your beneficiary.
Other optional forms of pension may also be available.
If you have a spouse when your pension begins, pension legislation generally requires that your pension be paid in a joint and survivor form, providing continued payments to your spouse after your death unless your spouse waives this right.
Beneficiaries and Death Benefits
You may designate or change a beneficiary at any time by completing the appropriate form.
If you die before starting your pension, the Plan provides a pre-retirement death benefit. In most cases, this benefit is payable to your spouse as a lifetime pension of at least 60% of the monthly pension you had earned. If there is no spouse, or a waiver has been signed, the benefit is paid to your designated beneficiary or estate.
Disability Benefits
The Plan also provides a disability pension for eligible members who become totally and permanently disabled before retirement, subject to the Plan's eligibility requirements.
Plan Administration
The Plan is administered by a Board of Trustees. Day-to-day administration is carried out by the Plan Administrator and supported by professional advisors, including actuaries, legal counsel, auditors, and investment managers.
Headquartered in Burnaby BC, Convyta Partners offers administration and consulting services to pension plans, health & welfare plans, Indigenous Trusts, endowments & foundations, and insurance companies. Our team of experts works diligently to manage your plans, process benefits, and answer member questions. We support members over the phone and through email and mail.
