Plumbers & Pipefitters Local No. 25 Pension Fund

Plumbers & Pipefitters Local No. 25 Pension Fund

The Plumbers & Pipefitters Local No. 25 Pension Fund is a defined-benefit plan established to provide lifetime retirement income for members of Plumbers & Pipefitters Local Union No. 25. The fund is administered from Rock Island, Illinois, and operates under the Taft-Hartley framework, which requires equal representation from union and contributing employer trustees on the board. This governance model means investment decisions must satisfy both labor and management fiduciaries. The fund's portfolio is structured to meet actuarial return assumptions typical of multi-employer pension plans, likely spanning public equities, fixed income, and alternative assets — a mix designed to balance liquidity requirements for near-term benefit payments with long-term return targets. Taft-Hartley plans of similar size and geography typically allocate 10–25% to alternatives including private equity, real estate, and infrastructure, with the remainder in traditional public-market assets. The fund's investment posture is shaped by its status as a participant in a declining multi-employer plan universe — fewer than 1,400 such plans remain in the United States, per Department of Labor data. Team size and current funded status are not publicly disclosed, which is consistent with smaller Taft-Hartley plans that are not subject to public disclosure requirements that apply to state and municipal pension systems. The plan's Form 5500 filings with the Department of Labor would contain asset-level and trustee data, though those records are not summarized by major financial data aggregators. The union itself serves pipefitters, plumbers, and HVAC service technicians across multiple counties in western Illinois, suggesting a participant base in the low thousands. Structurally, the fund's key differentiator is the joint trusteeship model — a governance mechanism that forces consensus between labor and management before any asset allocation change or manager hire. This creates an inherently conservative investment culture compared to single-sponsor or public pension plans, as neither trustee bloc can move unilaterally. The fund is also a self-administered plan, meaning it does not contract with an external administrator, giving trustees closer control over day-to-day operations and vendor relationships than outsourced peer funds.