Ullico Inc. is a privately held insurance and financial services holding company in the United States. Formerly known as Union Labor Life Insurance Company, it was founded in 1927"Company Overview." Bloomberg Businessweek. June 6, 2011. by the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and its then president, Samuel Gompers, to offer health and life insurance products specifically to working men and women. Matthew Woll, president of the International Photo-Engravers Union of North America, became the company's first president. Ullico is one of the largest insurance and investment services companies for trade union members in the United States.
Overview Ullico Inc.'s mission is to provide financial security to union members and their families. The company offers specialty insurance and investment products to labor organizations, union employers, municipalities and institutional investors, as well as union members and retirees. Ullico is a privately held, joint stock company. The company's constitution and bylaws permit shares to be held only by trade unions, union officials, union members and union benefit funds. The stock's value changes once a year when company directors set a new share price based on the advice of independent auditors.
As of 2009, the company insured more than two million union members and dependents through $25 billion in Life, Accidental Death and Dismemberment insurance. Further, more than six million members were served through $125 million in gross written Property and Casualty premiums. Ullico had $5.5 billion in assets and a consolidated GAAP Equity of nearly $240 million.
Divisions Ullico Inc. consists of The Union Labor Life Insurance Company (Union Labor Life), Ullico Casualty Group Inc., Ullico Investment Advisers Inc. and Ullico Investment Company Inc. These companies fall into three divisions: Life and Health (Union Labor Life), Property and Casualty (Ullico Casualty Group) and Investment Services (Ullico Investment Advisers Inc. and Ullico Investment Company Inc.)
Life and health More than 85 years ago, The Union Labor Life Insurance Company (Union Labor Life) became the founding unit of Ullico Inc. Today, Union Labor Life provides life and health solutions specifically tailored for the labor market. Through alliances with market leaders in risk protection, the company offers an array of insurance products for unions, jointly managed trust funds and organized employers as well as supplemental insurance programs that are directly marketed to union members, retirees and their families. Products including: Stop Loss Insurance: Protects self-funded, employer- or union-sponsored healthcare plans from incurring large or unforeseen catastrophic health expenses exceeding the plans predetermined dollar amounts. Union Labor Life helps each organization tailor their Stop Loss plans to each group's specific needs. Group Term Life and Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance: These offerings feature a unique Strike Waiver of Premium that allows premiums to be waived during sanctioned strikes when certain eligibility requirements are met. Voluntary Supplemental Insurance: Marketed directly to union members and retirees, options include Term and Whole Life, Accidental Death and Dismemberment, Accident and Hospital Indemnity Protection, Dental Insurance and Dental Discount programs. Union Labor Life also offers Group Vision Insurance, Group Prescription Benefit Management and Group Disability Insurance.
Property and casualty Ullico Casualty Group creates insurance products that mitigate fiduciary risks to union workplaces and its trustees. Products include: Fiduciary Liability: As trustees and other fiduciaries of multi-employer and public benefit funds face significant personal liabilities, Ullico Casualty Group not only updates insurance coverage as these issues evolve, but knows how to resolve fiduciary claims to protect policyholders’ personal assets. Union Liability: Under federal labor law, officers and directors of labor unions can be exposed to personal liability, but must defend themselves, in certain circumstances, at their own expense. Union Liability covers the duty of fair representation, employment practices liability, financial management of the union and personal injury liability. Commercial Lines: The Property and Casualty portfolio includes Property, General Liability, Automobile, Umbrella and Workers’ Compensation coverage. Alternative Risk Solutions: The company's captive insurance programs, managed through Ullico Captive PCC and Ullico Risk Solutions LLC, help keep costs low by allowing policyholders with similar risk profiles to share in their own insurance risk.
Investment services Ullico offers products and services designed for institutional investors through The Union Labor Life Insurance Company (Union Labor Life) and Ullico Investment Advisors Inc. (UIA). These products, including Ullico's real estate-related Separate Account J (also known as “J for Jobs”), are sold through the Ullico Investment Company (UIC).
Union Labor Life's Real Estate Investment Group (REIG) is responsible for originating, underwriting and managing the company's real estate mortgage and equity investments, while UIA, a registered investment advisor with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), provides investment advice to institutional investors with a focus on jointly managed, multi-employer Taft-Hartley funds.
The UIC is a registered broker-dealer with the SEC and a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). The company markets and sells products managed through UIA and group annuity contracts offered through Union Labor Life.
Hearthstone Holdings, Inc., a portfolio company of Ullico's Infrastructure Fund that is headquartered in Morgantown, West Virginia, owns and operates natural gas distribution systems in Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina, Maine, Montana, and West Virginia. Hearthstone also owns and operates water and wastewater utilities in Arizona and Michigan.
History On May 1, 1927, in Washington, D.C., labor leaders formed the Union Labor Life Insurance Company (Union Labor Life), providing life insurance to union workers, which was unavailable at the time. Many Americans worked in hazardous jobs with few, if any, work safety laws in place to protect them. Railroads, construction sites and factories all presented too much risk for many companies’ underwriters. Life insurance was either priced out of reach of workers or insurance companies denied coverage because of the risks associated with their jobs. Union Labor Life aimed to provide a new level of stability for workers and increase their standard of living.
Samuel Gompers, the first president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), saw the value in a union-owned insurance company. Matthew Woll, then president of the Photo Engravers Union, became Union Labor Life's first president. Soon more than 60 international unions, hundreds of local unions, and more than 300 individuals, including AFL president William Green, owned stock.
Over the years, as the needs of unions and their members evolved, Union Labor Life grew and diversified, offering health insurance, fiduciary liability insurance, investment products for pension funds and services for administering trust fund business. As other subsidiaries formed, it was clear that Union Labor Life needed another entity for future growth and diversification. In 1987, Ullico Inc. was created as a holding company for Union Labor Life and Ullico Casualty Company.
Timeline 1925: The AFL approves the creation of a union-owned insurance company.
1927: Union Labor Life opens for business on May 1, 1927, in Washington, D.C. Its first group policy was written for the Federal Employees Local 105 of Washington, D.C.
1932: Union Labor Life begins offering retirement annuities and issues its first stockholder and policyholder dividends.
1935: Company headquarters move to New York, New York.
1943: The organization begins offering group Accident, Health and Hospitalization insurance.
1946: Union Labor Life establishes company-paid-for insurance and pension plans for its own employees.
1957: The company purchases and merges with the American Standard Life Insurance Company, founded by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in 1924.
1959: Group Dental and Prescription benefits are first offered.
1961: Group annuity actuarial and administration departments are created.
1966: Group Vision, Extended Care and an extended plan of Long-Term Disability are offered.
1977: Mortgage Separate Account J (J for Jobs) is introduced.
1979: Ullico Casualty Company is created to proceed with new kinds of insurance.
1983: Ullico headquarters move back to Washington, D.C.
1986: Ullico Casualty begins to market Fiduciary Liability insurance to funds and trustees as other carriers abandon the market.
1987: Ullico Inc. is established as a holding company for the company's subsidiaries and assets. A number of new ventures quickly follow.
1990: Trust Fund Advisors, a pension fund portfolio management company, is created.
1999: UlliCare®, a managed care health plan, is introduced. Ullico also buys Tri-City Brokerage, the largest and only independent national insurance wholesaler.Greenwald, "Tri-City Brokerage, Inc.," Business Insurance, October 4, 1999.
2006: Ullico becomes a registered broker and dealer with the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and the SEC.
2008: Ullico Captive, PCC is established to offer alternative risk solutions through the Life and Health and Property and Casualty lines of business.
2009: Ullico Casualty Company posts a record $102 million in gross written in force premiums.
2010: In December 2010, the Ullico Board appoints Edward M. Smith as the company's new chief executive officer.
2020: Ullico Benefit Solutions, LLC has signed a strategic deal with Marathon Health, LLC.
Scandals Ullico expanded significantly in the 1990s, creating a large number of strategic alliances with other insurance companies and making a number of acquisitions. Beginning in the late 1990s, the organization experienced a range of problems and challenges, including a conflict of interest in pension fund management and insider trading.Fitch, "Big Labor's Big Secret," New York Times, December 28, 2005.Chen, "Labor Department Is Suing 2 Ullico Units," Wall Street Journal, March 26, 2002; Raab, "Critics See a Conflict in Union Contract," New York Times, August 9, 1999.
AFL-CIO support for single-payer health care Ullico's first conflict of interest occurred in 1991. In May of that year, the health care committee of the AFL-CIO executive council voted to reject a proposal to support a national single-payer health care plan. The stated reason was that the proposal had no chance of being enacted by Congress. But outside observers argued that the real reason was that government-supplied universal health care would have put union-run health insurance plans out of business. The deciding vote in the health committee was cast by Robert Georgine, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Ullico.
Conflict of interest in pension fund management Ullico was caught up in a second conflict of interest scandal in 2002. In June 1998, the New York City local of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America hired Zenith Administrators, a former Ullico subsidiary, to oversee the union's $1.7 billion pension and benefit funds. In 2002, federal prosecutors and the United States Department of Labor investigated the company for allegedly obtaining the contract through the influence of international union president Douglas J. McCarron—who was a director of Ullico. The Labor Department ended up suing Ullico and Zenith Administrators for mismanaging the union's funds.
Insider dealing scandal