CHANTILLY, Va. - The Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association’s (SMACNA’s) board of directors approved the Standard Form of Union Agreement (SFUA) contract language that was tentatively agreed to by the SMACNA Labor Committee and the Sheet Metal Workers International Association (SMWIA).

The language would permit either party to a local collective bargaining agreement to reopen that agreement for the sole purpose of bargaining over the schedules of benefits and contributions that will be adopted by the National Pension Fund (NPF) if the parties’ existing contract already contains Article 16, Section three of the SFUA.

Adoption of this new SFUA language will permit the parties to address the issue of pension contributions as soon as schedules of benefits are published. It will also help contractors avoid the implementation of surcharges on their contributions, which might otherwise occur under the provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA).

A copy of the approved SFUA pension language and a question and answer summary explaining the effect of the new language are available to all SMACNA members and chapters at www.smacna.org.

For more information, call 703-803-2980.

Publication date: 09/17/2007