Plumbers & Pipefitters, Local #274

Plumbers & Pipefitters, Local #274

Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 274 represents union pipefitters and plumbers in northern New Jersey, operating their defined-benefit pension fund from Parsippany. The fund serves members who work under collective bargaining agreements negotiated between the United Association — the international parent union — and signatory contractors, many organized through the Mechanical Contractors Association. Business Manager Edward F. Driscoll and President Mark Zaremba sit at the nexus of labor relations and fiduciary oversight, a dual-hat structure common in Taft-Hartley plans where elected union officers also serve as pension trustees. The fund's investment strategy skews toward buyout-oriented private equity and real assets. This aligns with the capital-preservation and growth requirements of a mature defined-benefit plan covering a skilled-trades workforce with predictable retirement timelines. Geographic focus remains heavily domestic, with New Jersey real estate forming a tangible component. The union hall and training center at 205 Jefferson Road in Parsippany, owned directly by affiliated entities, reflects the preference for local, mission-aligned property holdings that serve both financial and operational union purposes. Separately, the Journeymen of Plumbing and Pipefitting Ind Welfare Fund and related entities in Hopatcong and Parsippany round out a constellation of benefit and training funds that support members across their careers. Total assets are estimated at approximately $176 million, a scale that makes the fund a small institution by pension standards but a critical economic stabilizer for its membership. Adjacent vehicles include the Pipefitters Education Fund and the Pipefitters Local 274 Scholarship Trust, which provide apprenticeship training and educational grants — functions that are structurally separate from the pension trust. These entities reinforce the union's closed-loop model: organizing labor, training the workforce, contracting with employers, and securing retirement outcomes through the same set of institutional relationships. The fund's structural differentiator is its single-local independence. While many building-trades pension funds have consolidated into regional or national pools, Local 274 retains a bespoke governance model where trustees directly represent the Parsippany-based membership and their signatory employers. This keeps decision-making tightly coupled to local wage scales, contractor health, and project pipeline visibility — a trade-off that sacrifices scale for alignment, but demands rigorous fiduciary discipline from a small board with limited staff.