Fall 2025 Meeting Highlights

The Joint Labor Management Committee of the Retail Food industry (JLMC) held its Fall Trustee and General Membership Meetings on September 30th and October 1st in Atlanta, Georgia.

At our meetings, we bring our Trustees and members together with industry experts to discuss issues in the retail grocery industry and benefit issues in multiemployer trust funds that we are all concerned about. Our goal is to provide a forum for the discussion of these important issues.

At the fall meeting, members heard from recognized experts on a variety of topics, including:

• A comprehensive overview on the state of health care in the United States, including cost trends, regulatory developments and best practices by Stephanie Patrick from Horizon Actuarial
• An update on federal legislation and regulatory oversight from the JLMC’s legal counsel, Jeff Endick of Slevin & Hart
• An update on retirement benefits, including trends, regulatory developments and best practices by Ken Densmore from Horizon Actuarial
• A discussion about the current state of food stamp programs, Make America Healthy Again initiatives, pharmacy benefit manager reform, credit and debit card payments reform, trends in the retail grocery industry, and more from Jennifer Hatcher of FMI—The Food Industry Association
• A benefits administrator’s perspective on artificial intelligence and benefits administration from Bill McDonough and Cameron Miller from Southwest Service Administrators, Inc.

The JLMC had hoped to have an update from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, but the presentation was cancelled as a result of the government shutdown.

In addition to these discussions, the Trustees voted to continue the Tuition Award Program for a second year, after the success of the first year.

The Trustees also approved an updated antitrust policy.

The JLMC holds two meetings each year over the course of two days for each meeting—one in the spring and one in the fall.