Union takes another step to improve retirement benefits for Local 6 Club employees

June 17, 2024 5:55 PM

Last week, the Union trustees of the Club Pension proposed merging the Club Employees Pension Fund with the Hotel Trades Council and Hotel Association of New York City, Inc. Pension Fund in an ongoing effort to improve retirement benefits for Club employees. This follows the Union’s announcement just last December 2023, that the Club Pension benefit was increasing by nearly 17%.

Last week’s vote by the trustees is the first of many steps necessary to obtain approval for the merger.

How would benefits improve?

If successful, we hope the merger could result in certain benefit improvements for Club Pension participants, such as partial pension accruals for years 25-40 (currently, Club Pension participants can earn a maximum of 25 pension credits), and a reduction in the number of hours that participants must work in a year in order to obtain a full pension credit.

The merger is not guaranteed

There are many steps that must happen between now and a successful merger of the Club Pension with the Hotel Pension – including negotiation between the two pension funds, and seeking approval from the federal government (specifically, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, a U.S. Government Agency) – and there are any number of places that this could go wrong.

So, not when, but IF we are successful in obtaining authorization to merge the Club Pension with the Hotel Pension, the earliest possible date a merger could take effect is January 1, 2025, although it certainly could be later.

We will continue to provide updates as the merger progresses. In the interim, feel free to contact your Business Agent, the Local 6 Club Pension Office, or the Union’s Legal Department with any questions you may have.

In Solidarity,

Rich Maroko

Business Manager, Hotel, Gaming, Restaurant & Club Employees and Bartenders Union, Local 6, AFL-CIO

June 17, 2024