This letter is for your information. It does not require any action on your part.
The Board of Trustees wishes to inform you that an actuarial valuation of the pension plan was recently completed to report on the financial position of the Plan as of December 31, 2024. As required by pension legislation, this valuation was conducted on two bases.
The first, which is called the going concern valuation, assumes that the Plan will continue indefinitely, in accordance with the intentions of the Trustees. On a going concern basis, the contributions and current assets together with future investment earnings are expected to be sufficient to cover the cost of all future benefits.
The second basis is called the solvency valuation. This valuation assumes the Plan ceases to operate, liquidates all its investments and pays out all benefits as of the valuation date (this is called a wind up or plan termination). There is no intention whatsoever to wind up the Plan – the results are purely hypothetical and only reported on this basis to comply with pension legislation. As with many pension plans today, this basis shows that the Plan would have faced a shortfall (a solvency deficit) if it had been wound up on the valuation date. Pension legislation provides that most pension plans that report a solvency shortfall that cannot be made up through future contributions must either increase contributions or reduce benefits. This requirement does not apply if the Plan is granted Specified Ontario Multi-Employer Pension Plan (SOMEPP) status. This special SOMEPP status is granted upon request to multi-employer pension plans like this one, where there is very little chance that the Plan will be terminated.
The Board of Trustees have elected for the Plan to be a Specified Ontario Multi-Employer Pension Plan in accordance with section 6.01 of the Ontario Pension Benefits Regulations.
As this election has been made, benefits will not be reduced.
The decision to become a SOMEPP does not change the amount of money coming into the Plan (because contribution rates are set by the collective agreements) and it does not change the amount of funding available for benefits. On a going concern basis, the latest valuation shows that the contributions and assets are sufficient to provide the benefits provided for under the Plan. However, in the unlikely event that the Plan were to be terminated, benefits would have to be reduced.
The transfer ratio was 0.97 as of December 31, 2024. This means that if the Plan had wound up as of December 31, 2024 benefits would have been reduced by 3%. Again, as this is a multi-employer plan, the likelihood of Plan termination is very low.
If you have further questions, you may contact the Administrative Agent for the Plan.
Members of the Benefit and Pension Plans can now access the Member Portal for secure, on-demand information about their benefits and pension. View your account, check eligibility, review work history, use the pension calculator, and more —all in one place.
Stay informed about the Teamsters & Toronto Ready-Mix Pension Plan, including benefits, funding, investments, and key updates for your retirement security.
Teamsters and Toronto & Vicinity Ready-Mix Producers' Pension Plan administrative services provider has switched from Benefit Plan Administrators Limited to the Ellement Consulting Group (“Ellement”), effective November 1st, 2024.
