Effective September 8, 2020, all signatories will be required to increase their contribution rate to the AFofM’s Employers’ Pension Fund (“AFM-EPF”) from 16.5% to 18.15% under the AFofM Commercial Announcements Agreement (“Agreement”). By way of background, the AFM-EPF went into red zone (also called critical status) in 2010 and was required to adopt a rehabilitation plan. The rehabilitation plan required contribution increases to AFM-EPF, which were bargained into the Agreement at the time. There were no other mandatory increases required in the rehabilitation plan until AFM-EPF in June 2018 updated the rehabilitation plan to require a new 10% increase in the contribution rate. The AFM-EPF Trustees voted for the increase to take effect 180 days after the Agreement would have originally expired on June 4, 2017. Based on the current business environment, the JPC and AFofM agreed to extend the current Agreement through June 29, 2020, with additional automatic extensions until the parties can safely meet to bargain. However, the JPC was able to reach an understanding with the AFM-EPF Trustees that the new contribution rate of 18.15% would not be effective until September 8, 2020. Please notify your respective payroll department of this new contribution rate increase.
Please reach out to Kim Stevens with any questions.