Important information will be landing in the mailboxes of Oregon/Southwest Washington Trust participants starting Tuesday, June 15th.

• The Trustors and Board of Trustees of the Oregon-Southwest Washington Carpenters Trusts and the Board of Trustees of the Western Washington Carpenters Trusts agreed to merge their trusts and fringe benefit plans, effective July 1, 2021.
• This merger will positively impact participants from both trusts by:
  • Improving portability of benefits for participants working in multiple jurisdictions.
  • Creating greater administrative efficiency and less confusion: it will be easier for participants, retirees, business agents, trustees, etc. to contact a single office for information and assistance.
  • Lowering administrative expenses due to increased negotiating power with plan vendors and slashing costs associated with necessary consultants (attorneys, actuaries, investment).
• Critical details are in the mailing, and:
  • Members of Regence/BCBS will experience little to no changes to their medical providers or other plan-related benefits. You will be mailed a new ID card in August and effective September 1st, members will need to share with providers for coverage.
  • Members of Kaiser Permanente will not experience any changes to service or plan information.
  • Retirees receiving a monthly pension benefit will continue to receive those with no change. Existing accruals for those still working will transfer to the new plan without change. Benefits earned on and after 7/1/2021 will accrue under the Carpenters Retirement Plan.
  • If you have a 401(k) it will continue mostly uninterrupted. Accounts will be mapped to the Carpenters Individual Account Pension Plan investments in late July with a short blackout period. Members will benefit from reduced administrative fees under the new plan.

For complete information call the Trust at (206) 441-6514 or visit their website.