Local 72's negotiated group life benefit provides basic death benefit coverage for active members — in a range from the low tens of thousands up into the mid-hundred-thousands depending on rank, tier, and CBA vintage. Your Summary Plan Description has your actual number — and Justin is happy to pull it with you on a free 15-minute call.
That's real value. But three structural gaps exist in virtually every union group plan — including this one.
For most Local 72 retirees, group life benefits step down substantially at 65 and end entirely at a specified age beyond that. The exact schedule is in your Summary Plan Description.
If you transfer, change contractors, or leave the trade for any reason, Local 72 group coverage doesn't travel with you. You typically have a narrow conversion window with higher-than-market rates.
Most working families need 8–10× annual income in total death benefit. Local 72's group plan provides 1–2× — it fills the floor but leaves the room empty.
UA Local 72 is the Atlanta-headquartered plumbers, pipefitters, and HVACR-technician local for North Georgia, with satellite offices in Albany, Macon, and Rome. Members run the full spectrum of plumbing, heating, air conditioning, industrial piping, commercial HVAC service, and residential service work. The apprenticeship program is unusually rigorous — a five-year path with roughly 8,500 hours of on-the-job training and 1,200 hours of classroom instruction, ending with a State of Georgia Journeyman Plumbing License, backflow-preventer certification, OSHA 30, and medical-gas installer and brazing certification.
Local 72 members have installed the piping in some of the most technically demanding projects in the Southeast: the Georgia Aquarium, major Atlanta hospital systems, multiple high-rise commercial towers, and industrial-scale plant work. The common thread is that pipe work follows the project, and the project follows the general contractor. A Local 72 journeyman may work under four different signatories in the same year — and the group life coverage from each of those contractors is only valid while you're on their job.
Atlanta-metro median home values near $400,000 and the reality that a plumber-pipefitter household income often funds a mortgage and two vehicles means Local 72 members carry real downside exposure if the worst happens. A whole-life policy locked in at age 35 is dramatically cheaper than the same coverage purchased at 55 — and it doesn't care which contractor has you next.
Free 15-minute call. He'll pull your group summary, calculate your real need, and show you what filling the gap costs at your age. No exam, no pressure.