Vancouver Steelworkers Pension Plan.

Each member in good standing of the United Steelworkers who is employed by a participating employer and who is covered by the collective agreement between the union and his/her employer is eligible to join the plan with immediate membership.

There will be an application for membership to complete and send to the pension office (copy should go to your employer).

Retirement usually occurs on the first day of the month following the date that you stop working. For example, if you stop working at any time in July, your pension will start on August 1.

If you stop working for a participating employer, so that no further contributions are made to the plan on your behalf, you will be terminated from the plan at the end of two calendar years in which you have worked a total of fewer than 350 hours in each year.

Vesting service is credited at the rate of 1 year for each calendar year in which you work 350 or more hours.

If you break service and are below age 55, you may leave your pension in the plan and receive a monthly pension when you retire or you may elect to have your vested pension canceled, and in lieu thereof, transfer the value of that pension to: your new employer’s pension plan, provided that plan is willing to accept such a transfer; or

a “locked-in” retirement account (“locked-in” means that it cannot be cashed out and must be used to provide a lifetime pension); or to purchase a lifetime annuity, which may commence at any time after your 55th birthday.

Under certain very limited circumstances prescribed under the BC pension laws, in the case of small pensions or pensions with small values, you may elect to receive your commuted value as either a cash lump sum or transfer it to a non-locked-in RRSP.

There is a time limit in which to make this decision.