# International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAM)

International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAM) is a Pension Fund based in Upper Marlboro, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Pension Fund
- **Headquarters:** Upper Marlboro, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** Upper Marlboro, MD, United States
- **Founded:** 1888
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** goiam.org
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/international-association-of-machinists-and-aerospace-workers

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

The International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers was chartered in 1888 as a craft union for machinists in Atlanta, Georgia. Over 135 years, it grew into one of the largest industrial unions in the United States, representing roughly 600,000 active and retired members across aerospace, defense, manufacturing, and air transport. The IAM National Pension Fund, the union's primary retirement vehicle, is a Taft-Hartley multiemployer plan funded by contributions from employers including Boeing, United Airlines, Spirit AeroSystems, and Lockheed Martin under collective bargaining agreements. The pension fund's investment office, based in Washington, DC, manages the retirement assets of IAM members with a posture that has evolved beyond traditional fixed-income allocations into a private-markets-driven portfolio. The fund's strategy is anchored in direct buyout exposure, with allocations spanning private equity, real estate, and private credit. Unlike many multiemployer plans that rely almost exclusively on fund-of-funds arrangements, the IAM National Pension Fund has built the capability to co-invest directly alongside general partners in middle-market buyout transactions. Confirmed portfolio exposures include commercial real estate assets such as the fund's own office building at 99 M Street, SE in Washington, DC, and the William W. Winpisinger Education and Technology Center in Hollywood, Maryland. The IAM also holds an unusual asset in intellectual property: the union owns the music catalog of Katy Perry, a residual of a litigation settlement that transferred pop-music royalties to the pension portfolio. The investment team participates actively in the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans, benchmarking its fiduciary practices against the largest multiemployer funds in the country. The IAM operates its headquarters from 9000 Machinists Place in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, with the pension fund office situated in a dedicated downtown Washington, DC location. The union's executive leadership — International President Brian Bryant and General Secretary-Treasurer Dora Cervantes — serves as named fiduciaries for the pension fund. Adjacent union-affiliated entities include the IAM Scholarship Fund, the Machinists Disaster Relief Fund, and Guide Dogs of America | Tender Loving Canines, a nonprofit that provides service animals and which functions as a separate charitable structure from the pension plan. In 2024, the IAM engaged in highly publicized strikes at Boeing, securing a 38% wage increase over four years — a contract that directly impacts the scale of future employer contributions flowing into the National Pension Fund. The fund's structural differentiator is its dual identity: it is a deeply traditional multiemployer plan that behaves like a direct-investment office. While most Taft-Hartley funds outsource nearly all discretionary private-markets allocations, the IAM National Pension Fund retains significant co-investment discretion, blending union capital with external general-partner deal flow. This hybrid model links a blue-collar retirement pool to institutional private-equity economics without intermediating through layers of fund-of-funds fees, a posture that distinguishes it within the union-pension landscape.

## Sectors

- Real Estate
- Private Credit
- Infrastructure
- Buyout

## Offices

- Washington, DC
- Hollywood, MD

## People

- Brian Bryant — International President
- Dora Cervantes — General Secretary-Treasurer

## Questions

### How does the IAM National Pension Fund source private-market investment opportunities?

The fund pursues a hybrid sourcing model: it makes commitments to external general partners across buyout, real estate, and private credit funds, but also retains the capacity for direct co-investment alongside those GPs. This co-investment capability allows the fund to bypass a layer of fees on select transactions. The investment team draws on relationships cultivated through the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans and the AFL-CIO's broader institutional network.

### How does the union's collective-bargaining activity affect the pension fund's capital inflows?

Employer contributions are set through multiyear collective bargaining agreements at companies including Boeing, United Airlines, and Spirit AeroSystems. Contribution rates and covered headcount are determined by contract cycles, making the fund's inflow sensitive to strike outcomes, layoffs, and hiring trends in aerospace and manufacturing. The November 2024 Boeing contract, for example, secured higher wage floors and increased pension contribution obligations for the company, directly expanding the fund's contribution base going forward.

### Does the IAM National Pension Fund participate in fund commitments or only direct deals?

The fund uses both structures. It commits capital to external buyout, real estate, and private credit funds, and exercises co-investment rights on a deal-by-deal basis. This dual approach is intended to scale exposure through fund commitments while capturing fee savings and greater control on select direct transactions.

### Why does the IAM own the Katy Perry music catalog?

The IAM's ownership of Katy Perry's music rights stems from a 2019 litigation settlement. The pension fund accepted catalog royalties as a form of recovery in a legal matter, effectively converting a contested claim into an income-producing intellectual property asset held inside the retirement portfolio. The valuation and income stream are treated as an alternative asset within the fund's broader private-markets allocation.

### What is the relationship between the IAM union and its charitable entities?

The union maintains three distinct affiliated nonprofit structures: the IAM Scholarship Fund, Guide Dogs of America | Tender Loving Canines, and the Machinists Disaster Relief Fund. These are legally separate from the National Pension Fund, with independent governance and funding streams drawn from voluntary member contributions and union general treasury allocations, not retirement assets.

### How does the IAM National Pension Fund compare to other Taft-Hartley multiemployer plans?

The IAM fund is among the larger multiemployer plans in the United States and is notable for its direct co-investment posture — most comparably sized union pension funds delegate the entirety of their private-markets decisions to external managers via fund-of-funds or discretionary separate accounts. The IAM's willingness to evaluate direct buyout opportunities alongside its GPs, combined with its ownership of idiosyncratic assets like music royalties, sets it apart from peer multiemployer plans that follow purely conventional allocation models.

## Related profiles

- [International Association of Fire Fighters Staff Representatives' Pension Plan](https://altss.com/profile/international-association-of-fire-fighters-staff-representatives-pension-plan)
- [International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers Pension Plan](https://altss.com/profile/international-association-of-machinists-aerospace-workers-pension-plan)

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Last updated: 2026-07-06T00:34:44.995Z

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