The Pension and Death Benefit File includes papers relating to employe pensions, staff pensions, and death benefits. It includes correspondence with employers, trustees, fund custodians, insurance companies, employe members, and government agencies. Also included in the file are fund plans, trust agreements, actuarial studies, and reports.

The Employe Pension Fund was initiated in 1950 under a trust agreement between the union and employers by which the employer would contribute as much as four per cent of their payrolls to the fund. Employes were not required to contribute. If the union member was employed on January 2, 1951, he could receive credit for every year worked for any employer within the industry between the years 1937 and 1950, provided he had been a member of the union in good standing. The first pension benefits under this plan were paid in October, 1951.

In accordance with the trust agreement, a board of trustees representing the National Association of Hosiery Manufacturers and the union administered the fund on an actuarial basis. Custodian of the fund was the Pennsylvania Company for Banking and Trusts. Employers' contributions to the fund were paid through the Impartial Chairman.

Pension benefits were payable to the employe at the age of sixty-five. Any payments of benefits accrued to a pensioned employe at death could be paid to surviving relatives or to a designated beneficiary. Due to economic conditions within the hosiery industry, the pension plan was terminated in 1954, although payments to retired employes were continued.

The Death Benefit Fund, under which a maximum payment of five hundred dollars could be made to the beneficiary of a hosiery employe became effective January 1, 1951. The plan was funded solely by the contributions of the union, amounting to thirty cents per month, which was paid by the local branches. The funding of the plan was based on life insurance policies, and it was administered by a board of trustees.

A staff Pension Plan to cover employes of branches and of the Federation was initiated in 1949. This voluntary plan was funded through equal contributions of the union and its employes. The money was invested in United States Government “E” Bonds by the board of trustees.