# Flint Area Sheet Metal Workers Local #7 - Zone 4 Flint Area Sheet Metal Workers Local #7 - Zone 4 is a Pension Fund based in Flint, United States. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Pension Fund - **Headquarters:** Flint, United States - **Region:** North America - **Address:** Flint, MI, United States - **Founded:** 1964 - **Assets under management:** Undisclosed - **LinkedIn:** linkedin.com/company/flint-area-sheet-metal-workers-7-4-health-care-fund ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About The Flint Area Sheet Metal Workers Local #7 - Zone 4 Pension Fund is a Taft-Hartley multiemployer defined-benefit plan serving unionized sheet metal workers and their beneficiaries in the Flint, Michigan region. The fund's obligations are backed by employer contributions required under collective bargaining agreements negotiated between Local #7 and signatory contractors — a structure that ties the plan's health directly to construction-union employment levels and contractor solvency. Local #7 operates as a subordinate body of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART), and the pension trust's governance includes long-serving fiduciaries from both labor and management. The fund allocates capital across a diversified institutional portfolio typical of mature multiemployer plans. Publicly available regulatory filings indicate exposure to private equity, private credit, real estate, and traditional fixed-income and equity mandates. Private-market commitments have historically included allocations to middle-market buyout funds and direct real assets. Contractor relationships shape some investment strategy — signatory employers like Dee Cramer Inc., a major Flint-area sheet metal contractor, have had leadership serve as pension trustees, creating an unusually close loop between the entities providing contributions and those overseeing investment decisions. The trust's scale is not publicly disclosed, though Flint-area building-trades plans are generally smaller pools of capital compared to national union funds. The Zone 4 Training Center on Dolan Drive in Flint serves as the local's apprenticeship facility, maintaining the pipeline of skilled labor that underpins future contribution flows. The fund participates in industry networks including the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council and the Flint Area Association of Sheet Metal Contractors, where labor and management negotiate wages, benefits, and working conditions that directly affect the fund's contribution income and actuarial assumptions. This fund's structural differentiator is its governance: signatory contractors and union representatives jointly manage the trust, creating a direct feedback loop between pension investment policy, contractor business health, and union wage negotiations. Unlike corporate or public plans, the trustees' fiduciary duties coexist with ongoing collective-bargaining relationships — the same room that sets hourly contribution rates also houses the people responsible for investing the resulting assets, a dynamic that shapes a pragmatic, relationship-driven investment posture. ## Sectors - Real Estate - Private Credit - Infrastructure ## People - Richard J. Cramer Sr. — Trustee - Scott Brotherton — Business Representative ## Questions ### How is this pension fund related to the SMART international union? Local #7 is a subordinate local union of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART). However, the Zone 4 Pension Fund is a separate legal trust, governed by its own board of trustees under ERISA and Taft-Hartley rules. SMART international provides training standards and national bargaining support, but does not directly manage or guarantee the local pension fund's assets. ### Where do contributions to this pension fund come from? Contributions are made entirely by signatory sheet metal contractors under collective bargaining agreements — not by union members. Each hour a covered sheet metal worker is employed, the contractor remits a negotiated contribution to the pension trust. The Flint Area Association of Sheet Metal Contractors (SMACNA chapter) negotiates these rates with Local #7, linking contribution levels directly to local construction volume. ### Does the Flint Sheet Metal Workers Pension Fund have a relationship with Dee Cramer Inc.? Yes. Dee Cramer Inc. is a major Flint-area sheet metal contractor and long-standing signatory employer to Local #7's collective bargaining agreements. Richard J. Cramer Sr.'s service as a pension trustee creates a direct governance link — the company responsible for significant contribution flows is also represented on the board that manages the resulting assets. ### What regulatory framework governs this fund? The fund operates under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and is subject to oversight by the U.S. Department of Labor, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) for multiemployer plans, and the Internal Revenue Service. It files annual Form 5500 disclosures and is subject to multiemployer plan funding rules under the Pension Protection Act of 2006. ## Related profiles - [Flexsecurity](https://altss.com/profile/flexsecurity) - [Flint Plumb & Pipe Pension Fund](https://altss.com/profile/flint-plumb-pipe-pension-fund) --- Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/flint-area-sheet-metal-workers-local-7-zone-4 Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology