# Sheet Metal Workers' Local Union No. 104

Sheet Metal Workers' Local Union No. 104 is a Pension Fund based in Livermore, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Pension Fund
- **Headquarters:** Livermore, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** Livermore, CA, United States
- **Founded:** 1958
- **Assets under management:** ~$1.4B (Altss estimate)
- **Website:** www.smw104.org

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

Founded in 1958, the Sheet Metal Workers' Pension Plan of Northern California provides defined benefits to union members whose careers mapped the commercial and industrial build-out of the Bay Area and Central Valley. The plan is a joint trust, overseen by a board of trustees split evenly between union officials and employer representatives, primarily from SMACNA. Rick Werner, as President and Business Manager of Local 104, and Mike Nesbitt, as Financial Secretary-Treasurer, serve as the named fiduciaries most visible to the membership and the contractor community. The plan's investment strategy reflects the constraints and priorities common to Taft-Hartley plans — predictable liquidity for retiree checks paired with a diversified push into non-correlated assets. Asset classes in the portfolio include private real estate, mezzanine lending, natural resources, and secondary private equity interests, all accessed predominantly through fund-of-funds vehicles. While specific co-investments or fund names are not publicly itemized, the strategy implies relationships with infrastructure and real asset managers active in Western U.S. energy, timberland, and middle-market credit. Geographic concentration remains heavily weighted in Northern California, with administrative and benefits operations in Livermore and San Ramon augmenting the union's network of dispatch offices and training centers from San Francisco to Fresno. Scale mirrors the union's footprint: approximately 1,439 million dollars in plan assets supporting a membership base that works across Sheet Metal and HVAC fabrication and installation. Ancillary structures include the Robert G. Mammini Scholarship Trust Fund and a Member Hardship Fund, both organized as 501(c)(3) vehicles that operate alongside, but legally separate from, the pension trust. The plan's offices span an administrative hub in Livermore, a health-plan office in San Ramon, and a network of union halls and training centers — a physical infrastructure that underscores the plan's roots in the skilled trades economy. The structural differentiator is the plan's governance architecture. Unlike single-employer pensions that can be terminated and handed to the PBGC when a sponsor fails, a multiemployer plan's liabilities are shared across the contributing employers. If one contractor goes under, the remaining signatory shops absorb the liability. That collective-risk design forces conservative actuarial assumptions and explains a portfolio allocation that blends long-duration private asset exposure with the steady cash-flow management required of a plan that remains fully dependent on employer contributions — no state backstop, no single corporate parent.

## Sectors

- Real Estate
- Infrastructure
- Private Credit
- Natural Resources
- Secondaries & Special Situations

## Offices

- San Ramon, CA
- San Francisco, CA
- San Jose, CA
- San Leandro, CA
- Fairfield, CA
- Vallejo, CA
- Fresno, CA

## People

- Rick Werner — President and Business Manager
- Mike Nesbitt — Financial Secretary-Treasurer and Recording Secretary

## Questions

### How is the Sheet Metal Workers' Pension Plan of Northern California governed?

The plan is governed by a joint board of trustees with equal representation from union officials of Local 104 and management representatives from SMACNA, the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association. This Taft-Hartley structure ensures neither labor nor management controls investment decisions unilaterally. The named fiduciaries most closely associated with day-to-day oversight are President and Business Manager Rick Werner and Financial Secretary-Treasurer Mike Nesbitt.

### What is the source of the plan's funding?

The plan is funded entirely by employer contributions negotiated through collective bargaining agreements with signatory sheet metal and HVAC contractors across Northern California. Members do not contribute a portion of their paycheck; the entire contribution is an employer-side obligation pegged to hours worked. This contribution model is the defining financial feature of a defined-benefit multiemployer plan.

### How does the plan relate to the broader SMART union structure?

Local 104 is an affiliate of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART). The pension plan is a separate legal trust governed by a local board of trustees, not the international union. However, the plan's benefit formulas and investment policy are influenced by the labor agreements negotiated between Local 104 and its contributing employers, many of whom operate through the SMACNA-negotiated national standard agreement.

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Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z

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