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August 29, 2005 STEELWORKERS PENSION TRUST UNDERSTANDING OUR ACCRUED BENEFIT LETTERS By now everyone who
is a represented active employee with Mittal Steel USA, should have
received a letter from the Steelworkers Pension Trust explaining the
2004 contributions made on their behalf.
If you have not received this
letter, please call 1-800-848-1953 to request one. Your 2004 pension
calculates all time from 12/14/03 through 12/25/04, which includes all
time reported on paychecks beginning with pay date 1/1/04 through
paycheck dated 12/30/04. Hours
that you receive pension contributions for are:
All actual hours worked. vacation
(when taken), holidays, jury duty, bereavement leave, union business and
pay corrections, also credit up to 40 hours per week is given for
layoff, time off on Workers Compensation, sickness and accident leave,
union leave, military service and FMLA.
Your paycheck doesn’t
reflect all of these hours. BENEFIT
FORMULA The monthly benefit
paid out by the Pension Trust equals the amount of the annual hourly
contributions multiplied by a percentage set by the Steelworkers Pension
Trust, which for months January through June 2004 was at 37% and from
July 2004 through present
is currently set at 27%, and then divided by 12 to obtain the monthly
benefit. The change in the
percentage last July is why we have two lines of calculations on our
letter. See example below. First
Line: July – December
2004 2004 Contributory
Hours
1040 hours (insert your hours here) Per hour
contribution rate
x $1.80 Contributions for
July – Dec. 04
$1,872 Benefit Formula
percentage
x .27 Annual Pension
$505.44 $505.44 divided by
12 = $42.12 Second
Line: January – June 2004 2004 Contributory
Hours
1040 hours (insert your hours here) Per hour
contribution rate
x $1.80 Contributions for
Jan – June 04
$1,872 Benefit Formula
percentage
x .37 Annual Pension
$692.64 $692.64 divided by
12 = $57.72 The monthly pension at normal retirement
for 2004: $42.12 + $57.72 = $99.84 If the hours on your
statement does not reflect the correct amount of hours for your 2004
pension…you need to report this discrepancy in writing to the
Steelworkers Pension Trust. Send
any documentation that you may have that verifies your claim.
Sending a written letter to the Steelworkers Pension Trust is the
best way to make sure that your discrepancy is addressed (retain a copy
of this letter for your records) I hope this helps
you understand the letter, if you have any questions pertaining to the
calculation of hours, please feel free to call the Steelworkers Pension
trust at 1-800-848-1953 or call me at (219)762-6787. Pete Trinidad, Pension Committee |