About the Funds

The Building Service 32BJ Benefit Funds (Benefit Funds) is the umbrella organization responsible for administering five multiemployer funds—the Building Service 32BJ Health, Pension, Supplemental Retirement Savings Plan, Thomas Shortman Training and Legal Services Funds. Together these funds provide about 65,000 Local 32BJ members, 70,000 of their dependents and 30,000 pensioners and beneficiaries from Connecticut to Washington, D.C. with health care, a defined-benefit pension, retirement savings through a 401(k) program with employer contributions, free skills-development training classes and legal services. The Benefit Funds also provides administrative services to several other multiemployer funds that cover Local 32BJ members.

The Benefit Funds’ main office is in New York City, with satellite offices in Newark, N.J. and New Rochelle, N.Y. and elsewhere.

Who pays for 32BJ members’ benefits?
Employers (currently about 1,800) pay for benefits by making contributions according to the terms of collective bargaining agreement(s) that they have negotiated with Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Local 32BJ members work in the property services industry; their ranks include doormen, building cleaners and engineers, window cleaners and security officers. A 32BJ member’s benefits depend upon the contract that covers his or her workplace.

Who governs the Benefit Funds?
A board of trustees, made up of an equal number of union and management appointees, governs each fund. Based upon available resources and a firm commitment to keeping costs under control and benefit standards high, each fund’s board determines the specific benefits that it will provide. A list of the Benefit Funds trustees is below.

Administrators with extensive experience managing complex multiemployer benefit funds carry out the daily operations of delivering benefits efficiently and cost effectively. A list of key Benefit Fund administrators is below.

Benefits and services
Click here for an overview of each Fund and the provided benefits. The Benefit Funds Call Center is staffed by specially trained member services representatives who work to answer any benefit question and help resolve any problems. Through a translation service, they can provide help in more than 35 languages. Member services representatives answered more than 310,000 calls in 2007.

Several key benefits and services are available to fund participants at the Benefit Funds’ headquarters in New York City (which is located at 101 Ave. of the Americas in Manhattan):

• The Walk-In Center in the lobby is staffed by member services representatives. Nearly 64,000 fund participants sought information at the center in 2007.
• The Health Fund Dental Center provides comprehensive dental care.
• Lawyers in the Legal Services Fund Office provide free legal representation in several areas, including immigration, buying and selling a home, debt problems and family law.
• The Shortman Fund Training Center offers dozens of free skills-development courses in specially equipped classrooms.

For more information about the Benefit Funds, call (212) 388-2000.

Building Service 32BJ Benefit Funds Board of Trustees

Employer Trustees For All Benefit Funds

• James F. Berg, Secretary of the Building Service 32BJ Benefit Funds and President of the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, Inc.
• John Santora, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President, Asset Services, Cushman & Wakefield, Inc.
• Charles Dorego, Esq., General Counsel, Glenwood Management
• Fred Ward, Vice President for Labor Relations, One Source

Union Trustees For All Benefit Funds

• Michael P. Fishman, Chairman of the Building Service 32BJ Benefit Funds and President of Local 32BJ, SEIU
• Kevin J. Doyle, Executive Vice President, Local 32BJ, SEIU
• Héctor J. Figueroa, Secretary-Treasurer, Local 32BJ, SEIU

Additional Union Trustees

• Health Fund: Brian Lambert, Vice President, Local 32BJ, SEIU
• Pension Fund: Kyle Bragg, Vice President, Local 32BJ, SEIU
• SRSP: Thomas Giordano, District Leader, Local 32BJ, SEIU
• Shortman Fund: John Pagnotta, District Leader, Local 32BJ, SEIU
• Legal Fund: Lenore Friedlaender, Vice President, Local 32BJ, SEIU

Building Service 32BJ Benefit Funds Administrators

Fund Directors

• Susan Cowell, Executive Director
• Mario Bulding, Pension Fund & SRSP
• Angelo Dascoli, Health Fund
• Linda Nelson, Shortman Fund
• Alan Snyder, Legal Fund

Department Directors

• Barbara Caress, Strategic Policy and Planning
• Natalie Fein, Internal Control and Quality Assurance
• Alberta Galdri, Eligibility
• Larry Gonzalez, Finance and Administration
• Peter Hamarich, Human Resources and Staff Development
• Roy Laverty, Member Services
• Carolyn McCullough, Special Projects and Communications
• Peggy Napier, Esq., Compliance
• Kevin Toomey, Employer Relations
• Nelson Valle, Billing and Collections