Fox Valley & Vicinity Laborers' Pension Fund

The fund is sponsored by two local affiliates of the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA): Local 582 and Local 1035. Both locals represent construction laborers working in the Fox Valley region west of Chicago. The pension plan covers members whose employers contribute under collective bargaining agreements negotiated through the Fox Valley General Contractors Association and the Illinois Road Builders Association.

A joint board of trustees governs the fund, with equal representation from union and employer interests per Taft-Hartley ERISA requirements. Named trustees include Mark Castelvecchi, Mike Shales, John P. Bryan, Al Orosz, and Dan Brejc. These individuals are drawn from both the sponsoring unions and the contributing employer associations.

The Fox Valley fund channels capital into real estate primarily through union-focused investment vehicles. A known commitment is to the AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust, which acquires and develops commercial properties using 100 percent union labor. The fund also holds a direct commercial property interests through its associated Building Corporation, creating an aligned investment structure where property returns and construction wages reinforce one another.

Contributions arrive entirely through employer payments negotiated under collective bargaining agreements. Signatory contractors — organized through the Fox Valley General Contractors Association and the Illinois Road Builders Association — remit pension contributions at contracted hourly rates. This multiemployer model pools resources across hundreds of small and mid-sized construction firms whose individual obligation would be insufficient to maintain a standalone pension.

The AFL-CIO affiliation connects the Fox Valley fund to a national network of labor-oriented institutional investors, providing access to pooled vehicles like the AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust and AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust. These vehicles aggregate Taft-Hartley pension capital from across the country to fund large-scale commercial and residential projects that carry prevailing wage and union staffing requirements, aligning the fund's fiduciary mandate with organized labor's broader economic goals.

It is firmly a multiemployer Taft-Hartley defined-benefit plan. Multiple signatory construction employers contribute on behalf of workers represented by LIUNA Locals 582 and 1035. This structure insulates individual companies from pension insolvency risk at any single firm and pools administrative costs across the regional construction industry.

Governance follows the standard Taft-Hartley trust model under ERISA. A board of trustees — half appointed by the union locals, half by the contributing employer associations — exercises exclusive authority over contribution rates, benefit levels, actuarial assumptions, and investment policy. This joint-governance structure is legally required for multiemployer plans and creates a forum where labor and management negotiate pension strategy alongside contract terms.