USW Local 2-232

formerly PACE 7-232

Representing  employees at Briggs & Stratton Corp. and Strattec Security Corp. in Milwaukee, WI

Membership Meeting 

Sunday December 7, 2008

Frank Monreal's El Matador

9155 W. Bluemound Rd. Milwaukee 

9:30a.m.

   Members are urged to Attend this Meeting.

Briggs 401k plan to make changes, offers more funds

Briggs & Stratton’s 401k Plan will be making changes effective October 1, 2000.  Putnam Securities will do the plan administration, currently done by CIGNA. The fund options will be changed. The plan will offer a choice of eight funds instead of the current four funds. Four funds will be offered with objectives similar to the objectives of the four existing funds. Four additional funds will also be made available for members.

Many members have complained about the limited number of investment options in the current plan as well as expressing their dissatisfaction with the performance of the funds in the plan. The company began investigating options for the plan and evaluating the current plan, as well as the two other 401k plans that Briggs has for salaried workers and employees in the southern plants in the fall of 1999.

Members working at Briggs & Stratton will soon be receiving communications detailing the changes to the 401k plan. There will be sessions held for members to learn about the new funds and how the changeover will be made.

Members will have an opportunity to designate how their savings will be invested under the new plan at these meetings. Those changes will take place when the new plan is up and running. Money invested in the current plan will be moved directly in the new plan, moving investments to funds with similar objectives to the funds in the CIGNA plan.

The new plan is less restrictive about how often money can be moved between the various funds than the current plan. However, there will be a blackout period when investment options will be frozen during the transition period. Members who have not made a change in the last 90 days will be able to make changes in where their money is invested prior to the blackout period.

 All funds will stay fully invested, but members will not be able to change investment options during this blackout period. This will be explained in more detail in the information members will be receiving soon.

Watch for the communication about this change and carefully read these materials. All members are encouraged to attend the sessions that will explain the new plan.