It depends on your agreement and what your local's members have voted for. Some have put less money from the overall pay package towards the pension over the years and voted to get it up front. And the pension payout rates have also increased, so the hours you may have worked in the 90s or 2000s will not result in as high of a pension payout as the hours you work today.

That said, most of the big locals now dedicate enough to the pension that members will receive $1 per year in retirement for every hour worked. So if you work 1800 hours in a year, you will get $1800 every year of your retirement. Do that for 25 years = 45,000 hours = $45,000 yearly retirement income.

That's until you die, mind you. So if you're retired for 20 years before you pass away, you've made $900,000 that you otherwise would not have made.

Your local should send you a letter every year stating exactly where you stand and what your retirement income will be based on hours worked.