Liquor and Allied Workers Local No. 3 Pension Fund

As a Taft-Hartley multiemployer plan, investment decisions are governed by a board of trustees composed equally of union-appointed and contributing-employer representatives. The trustees are responsible for setting asset allocation policy and selecting external investment managers. Day-to-day portfolio management and specific manager selection are typically implemented through investment consultants retained by the board, though the board retains ultimate fiduciary authority.

The fund pursues a diversified strategy that includes private-markets exposure across buyout, distressed debt, venture capital, secondaries, and mezzanine mandates. Its venture commitments span from seed and early-stage to expansion and late-stage funds. These private-market allocations sit alongside traditional public-market holdings in fixed income and equities, though the precise allocation weights are not publicly disclosed.

Many Taft-Hartley plans allocate modest portions of their portfolios to venture capital and early-stage strategies as part of a broader alternatives program designed to enhance long-term returns. The fund likely gains this exposure through diversified commingled fund vehicles rather than direct investments, outsourcing manager selection to experienced venture general partners. For a plan of roughly $148 million, even a 5% to 10% alternatives allocation translates into small commitments to multiple funds.

There is no public record of the fund participating in direct co-investments alongside general partners. Given its size and governance structure, the plan relies almost entirely on fund commitments to access private markets. The board-trustee model and absence of a dedicated internal investment team make evaluating individual direct deals impractical under the plan's current operating framework.

Liquor and Allied Workers Local No. 3 is an affiliated local union of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents workers across retail, food processing, and distillery industries. The Salesmen Division Pension Fund is a separate legal entity jointly governed by Local 3 trustees and representatives of contributing distillery employers. It is not a direct UFCW plan; rather, it is one of many independently administered multiemployer funds connected to UFCW-affiliated locals throughout the United States.

The fund's current funded status is not publicly available. As a multiemployer defined-benefit plan in a mature industry, its financial health depends on the contribution base of participating distillery employers and investment performance. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's multiemployer program serves as a backstop, though many Taft-Hartley plans have faced funding pressure in recent decades due to industry consolidation and demographic shifts in union membership.

The fund does not publish a list of investment managers or specific portfolio holdings on its public website. As an ERISA-governed plan, it files annual Form 5500 reports with the Department of Labor, which can provide limited transparency into asset categories, service providers, and aggregate financial data depending on the filing detail. These are accessible through public records databases rather than the fund's own website.