IAM members enjoy top-notch retirement benefits, whether through collectively-bargained employer-sponsored plans, or through IAM-sponsored plans like the IAM National Pension Plan.

Defined benefit pension plans, which specify a formula for future benefits, provide the financial security of a guaranteed monthly benefit in retirement. Defined contribution plans (like 401(k)''s) function as savings plans, allowing employees and their employers to set aside money for retirement savings. While defined contribution plans can be good supplements to an insured defined benefit pension plan, they cannot provide the kind of security that a worker needs in retirement.

IAM collective bargaining agreements guarantee defined benefit pensions for more than 87% of IAM members.

Compare this number to figures for the U.S. workforce as a whole: defined benefit plans are available to only 15% of employees of small firms and to just 50% of employees of medium and large firms.

Roughly 60% of IAM members work under a contract with both a defined benefit and a defined contribution plan.

Some of the most important benefits that we get from Union membership are impossible to put a price tag on: representatives in the workplace of our own choosing, an active, collective voice to bargain over working conditions, and due process on the job. Most non-union employees don''t know that they check many of their rights at the office door or at the factory gate. Generally speaking, unless you work under a collective bargaining agreement, you are an “at-will” employee. That means you could be fired at any time for any reason – or even for no reason at all. Joining the IAM means you''ll work under a contract with an enforceable grievance process, protecting you from unjust discharge. The IAM has been a leader in negotiating innovative contract language to protect its members from layoffs, plant closings, and outsourcing. As Union members, we know that collective bargaining is the best way to promote the basic, democratic principles of fairness and dignity at work. Every month, more and more people are recognizing the advantages of a Union and a choosing the IAM.