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United Food and Commercial Workers and Employers Arizona Health and Welfare Trust
The United Food and Commercial Workers and Employers Arizona Health and Welfare Trust originated in 1968 as a Taft-Hartley multiemployer welfare benefit...
United Food and Commercial Workers and Employers Arizona Health and Welfare Trust
The United Food and Commercial Workers and Employers Arizona Health and Welfare Trust originated in 1968 as a Taft-Hartley multiemployer welfare benefit plan, negotiated between UFCW Local 99 and contributing grocery employers including Fry's Food and Drug and Smith's Food & Drug Centers. The trust's sole function is administering health benefits — medical, dental, prescription, vision, disability, and accidental death coverage — for union members and their dependents. Unlike pension funds or endowments, the trust does not allocate to alternative assets or operate with a risk-seeking mandate; its invested assets exist exclusively to defease the actuarial liabilities of the health plan. The trust's investment posture is defensive by design, consistent with welfare-plan fiduciary standards under ERISA. The portfolio, managed from Phoenix, focuses on capital preservation and liquidity sufficient to meet recurring claims obligations across the plan's participant base. While specific allocations are not publicly disclosed, small health and welfare trusts of this size typically hold a concentrated mix of investment-grade fixed income, money-market instruments, and a modest public-equity sleeve. No direct co-investment, venture, or private-market activity is associated with this entity. The trust absorbed the New Mexico Health Fund in 2015, consolidating multi-state grocery-worker coverage under a single Arizona-based plan. Jim McLaughlin, a longtime UFCW official, leads the joint board of trustees — a governance structure equally split between union-appointed and employer-appointed trustees, as mandated by the Labor Management Relations Act. The trust shares administrative infrastructure with the Desert States UFCW Pension Fund, though the two vehicles maintain legally distinct asset pools and mandates. The structural differentiator is mandatory joint trusteeship — labor and management each appoint half the board, and no investment or benefit decision passes without bi-partisan approval. This governance model, standard for Taft-Hartley plans, eliminates unilateral control by any single sponsor and ties every portfolio decision to the trust's defined-benefit obligation: paying health claims on time, every time. No external investment committee or outsourced CIO structure is reported.
General information
Firm type
Pension Fund
Year founded
1968
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Phoenix
Corporate office
2401 North Central Avenue, 2nd Floor, Phoenix, AZ 85004
Principals
Jim McLaughlin
Chair of the Board of Trustees
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Is the Arizona Health and Welfare Trust an allocator that accepts outside pitches?
Unlikely. The trust is a small Taft-Hartley welfare plan with assets estimated at roughly $208 million (Altss estimate), focused entirely on defeasing health-benefit claims. Welfare plans of this size rarely maintain dedicated investment staff or run competitive RFP processes for alternative managers. The board of trustees — split evenly between union and employer appointees — typically delegates day-to-day portfolio management to a registered investment advisor or institutional consultant, none of which is publicly named.
Who runs investment decisions at the trust?
The joint board of trustees, chaired by Jim McLaughlin, holds fiduciary authority over the trust's investments. Taft-Hartley plans require equal representation from labor and management, so no single trustee controls allocation decisions. The board likely retains an external investment consultant, consistent with peers of this size, though no specific advisor has been publicly identified.
How is the trust related to the Desert States UFCW Pension Fund?
Both are multiemployer plans operating under UFCW Local 99's administrative umbrella, sharing leadership and likely back-office resources. However, they are legally distinct: the Arizona Health and Welfare Trust provides current health benefits, while the Desert States UFCW Pension Fund accumulates retirement assets. Their investment strategies differ accordingly — health trusts prioritize liquidity and capital preservation, while pension funds can tolerate longer-duration, higher-return-seeking allocations.
What is the trust's posture on alternative investments?
The trust has no public track record in private equity, venture capital, hedge funds, or direct deals. As a health and welfare plan, its mandate is claims defeasance under ERISA, not portfolio growth. Regulatory filings do not suggest allocations beyond fixed income and public equity, which aligns with the conservative investment policy typical of small welfare trusts.
Which employers contribute to the trust?
Named contributing employers include Fry's Food and Drug and Smith's Food & Drug Centers, both major grocery chains in the Southwest. The trust's coverage base expanded in 2015 when it absorbed the New Mexico Health Fund, bringing additional employer participants under the Arizona plan. The full list of contributing employers is not publicly catalogued outside collective bargaining agreements.
Does the trust participate in philanthropic structures?
No. The trust is a welfare-benefit plan, not a foundation or donor-advised fund. Its assets are restricted to providing contractual health benefits to participants and cannot be diverted to charitable giving outside the plan's ERISA-defined purpose.
Where does the trust's funding come from?
Funding flows from collectively bargained employer contributions negotiated between UFCW locals and grocery employers. Contribution rates are set in multi-year labor contracts and deposited into the trust on a per-hour-worked or per-covered-life basis. No government grants or endowment income support the plan.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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