Local 567 provides health insurance for its members and their families through the New England Electrical Workers Benefit Fund (NEEWBF). The NEEWBF consists of IBEW Locals 42, 104, 300, 567, and 1837. The benefits office is in Wallingford, CT, and can be reached at 1-800-832-6538. In brief, benefits include dental, eye care and eyeglass, prescription card, medical coverage, and $40,000 life insurance. From the moment you start work for a union contractor they pay $ into the fund for your insurance. When you have worked 500 hours you should call the benefits office and tell them, and they will send you the enrollment forms. Your insurance takes effect the first day of the month after you accumulate 500 hours. You do not need to be employed on the first for your insurance to take effect. Work over 150 hours per month and the excess hours are “banked.” You can “bank” up to 900 hours. Once covered, if you become unemployed, your insurance will last until your hour “bank” has been used up. Sometime prior to the cancellation of your insurance you will receive a certified letter telling you the ending date and giving you options such as:
The NEEWBF is a Trusteeship made up of management and labor trustees. Full information on coverage will come when you are enrolled.
Local 567’s Money Purchase Retirement Plan (MPRP) is through MassMutual. Like the Health & Welfare, it is a Trusteeship with labor and management Trustees. When you start work for a union contractor they start contributing $ for you. This is a Defined Contribution Plan. The receipt of contributions triggers the sending of an information and selection packet to you. The vesting schedule for Local 567’s MPRP is as follows:
After 3 years: 70%.
After 4 years: 80%.
After 5 years: 90%.
After 6 years: 100%.
A vesting year is one in which you work 500 hours or more for a union contractor. The vesting year follows the plan year, April 1 to March 31.
There is also a loan provision that will allow you to borrow up to 50% of your vested amount, up to $10,000. MassMutual takes a percentage fee of the interest you earn on your account and once a year the Local Trustees take a percentage of your account to administer the plan. Participants currently have the ability to access their accounts and make allocation changes over the Internet.
Recently, a 401(k) option was added to enable members to invest pre-tax dollars in the same funds available through the MPRP.
The National Electrical Benefit Fund (NEBF) is funded by contractor contributions. They contribute 3% of your gross earnings and retirement benefits are currently $33 per month for every year of service you have in the IBEW when you retire. This is a Defined Benefit Plan. Copies of the Summary Plan Description are available at the Union Hall.
Local 567 is the exclusive source of labor for our union contractors. The IBEW Constitution and Local Union By-Laws give the Business Manager the responsibility to develop a fair and practical method of distributing available work among Local members.
When you join Local 567 your name is placed on a referral list. Depending on your license and experience you may be on the Journeyman Wireman, Journeyman Technician, or the Apprentice list. Teledata members have their own list.
If there are ten men on your list when you join, you become number eleven. If someone with twenty years in the local gets laid off after you’re on the list they become number twelve. You can stay working for your current employer until you receive a job offer.
As union contractors call for men you rise through the list. Our current referral system works through a job “hot line” 207-786-9772. Jobs are posted on an answering machine at 4:00 p.m. every weekday.
If you are interested in a particular job leave your name and you will be called if you are lowest on the list of those calling in.
The contractor has the right to refuse any applicant.
In addition to “long term jobs” (remember, this is construction) you may be offered a “short call.” On a “short call” you may work a job that lasts fourteen calendar days or less and upon coming back to the Hall regain your former place on your list.
A contractor may call for someone with “special skills.”. That means someone with special training in some aspect of the trade can be called off the list before others.
If you are unemployed you must call the hall during the first three business days of the month to keep your place on the referral list. These rules, applied consistently, mean that you and all members can be sure that available work is divided fairly among those seeking it.