Plumbers & Steamfitters Local #81

Plumbers & Steamfitters Local #81

Plumbers & Steamfitters Local #81 administers the pension, insurance, and annuity funds for union plumbers, pipefitters, and HVAC technicians across central New York. In 2013, the former Local 267 merged with Local 73 in Oswego to form the present Local 81, consolidating its jurisdictional footprint. Gregory Lancette serves as Business Manager and fund trustee, while employer trustees from the Mechanical Trades & Master Plumbers Association of CNY provide joint governance — keeping asset-management decisions tied directly to both labor and signatory contractors. The pension fund allocates exclusively to buyout strategies, a concentrated equity orientation for a Taft-Hartley plan. Deployment is executed through manager commitments; the board has historically prioritized relationships with established middle-market private equity firms. Its real property holdings — which serve dual functions as union meeting halls and apprentice-training facilities — form an idiosyncratic direct real estate portfolio spanning Syracuse, Ithaca, Oswego, and Gouverneur. The fund's Training Center in Syracuse, located at 150 Midler Park Drive, anchors a five-year apprenticeship program that supplies journeymen to regional construction sites. Total assets are estimated at $155 million (Altss estimate). The office maintains a satellite presence through training campuses in Ithaca and Oswego. Institutional affiliations reflect a dual operational and investment purpose — Local 81 participates in the Business Council of New York State and sits on the Oswego County Micron Strategy Steering Committee, positioning its beneficiaries for the semiconductor megafab project planned in Clay, New York. The Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee (JATC) operates as a separate committee but draws funding and faculty from the same member base. Structurally, Local 81 exemplifies a joint-labor-management Taft-Hartley plan where investment decisions run through a board of trustees split evenly between union and employer representatives. Michael D. Nanno manages day-to-day fund operations. The fund's real asset strategy — owning the physical infrastructure that trains its own future members, then leasing it back to the training program — creates a built-in, recession-resistant tenant and a direct line of sight from investment performance to workforce development, a structure unusual among small and mid-sized union pension plans.