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There are twenty-four Locals and two
staff groups participating in the Plan
representing 26,000 members and their
dependents, with annual health benefit
premiums of $28 million. The plans are
another example where our Canadian
Locals, have worked together cooperatively
with the International to benefit
our members.
Motion Picture Industry Health
and Pension Plans
The Motion Picture Industry Pension
and Health Plans (MPI) are trust funds
established by collective bargaining agreements
between unions and employers in
the motion picture production industry.
They are administered by 32 trustees.
Like all Taft-Hartley benefit plans, half
represent labor and half management.
Of the sixteen labor trustees, eleven are
appointed by the IATSE and five are appointed
by the Teamsters and basic crafts.
International Vice President Thom Davis
continues to serve as the labor chair, a
post to which I first appointed him in
May of 2013.
During collective bargaining negotiations
in 2009 and 2012, the continued
health of the MPI was a key focus
of Basic Agreement bargaining when the
IA’s bargaining committee was forced to
address fallout from the Great Recession.
Significant investment losses, a national
healthcare crisis and pension legislation
all negatively impacted the MPI and
other multi-employer plans. As reported
elsewhere, during 2015 Basic Agreement
negotiations, the IA successfully maintained
health plan benefits. Co-pay levels
were unchanged and a 10 percent pension
increase was negotiated effective Jan. 1,
2017 and retroactive to September 1, 2015
for anyone that was an active participant
on or after August 1, 2015.
During the four-year period, which
ended December 2016, the MPI increased
the number of active participants, retirees
and survivors qualifying for health
plan coverage. This has resulted in over
120,000 individuals and family members
being covered by the MPI health plan and
18,000 pension recipients.
Active and retiree health plan costs
of $677 million were paid in 2016. $290
million in pension benefits were distributed
in 2016 and, by the end of 2018,
those obligations are currently anticipated
to be $338 million per year. Pension
payouts are projected to double in ten
years according to MPI actuaries.
Since 1996, in lieu of increases to the
pension, retirees have received a 13th
and 14th check annually, increasing their
annual pension by 16.7 percent. The retirees
were granted three more years of
the additional checks after the ratification
of the most recent Basic Agreement in
2015. The extra checks are to be provided
in November of each year. In 2016, these
checks provided retirees approximately
$22 million in additional benefits. The
Plan’s funding status is in the green zone
as defined under federal law.
The Individual Account Plan (IAP)
grew from $3.3 billion as of December
31, 2012 to over $4 billion by the end of
2016. This growth is driven primarily by
wage increases and a significant increase
in work since 2012. Investment returns
have added 6.5 percent annually over
the last twenty years to members’ IAP.
The Individual Account Plan has been a
critical component of IA members’ retirement
benefit package since it was created
in August 1979 as a supplemental benefit
to the Motion Picture Industry Pension
Plan. The IAP requires a 6 percent employer
contribution made on behalf of
each employee for every hour worked.
The IAP assets have surpassed the assets
of the Pension Plan, while maintaining a
slightly more conservative investment allocation.
Together with the Pension Plan,
the IAP provides a significant foundation
on which IA members can build a healthy
retirement package.
The amount of work available to
MPIPHP participants has increased significantly
in the last four years. In 2013,
a total of 81 million hours were paid into
the MPI. In 2016, contributed hours were
more than 94 million, a gain of over 16
percent. However, as healthcare costs
(particularly prescription drug costs)
continue to rise, health care plans of all
types have been adversely impacted including
the MPI Health Plan and other
entertainment industry plans. Pension
costs continue to climb as interest rates
remain low and investment returns lag
behind historic averages. Attaining financial
stability is more important than ever
and harder to achieve. For these reasons,
the 2015 benefits bargaining committee
developed strategic solutions to preserve
our health benefits and improve our pensions.
Fortunately, the MPI Health Plans
have remained secure. Access to a large
network of qualified physicians, hospitals
and other health care professionals
while working to keep health care costs
down are at the core of MPI’s mission
to improve the quality of life for its participants.
Since 2012, Anthem Blue Cross
has been the primary medical PPO pro-
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