Local 15 members can choose either ‘BA’ or ‘A’ membership, there are currently about 300 ‘A’ members and 4925 ‘BA’ members. ‘A’ membership, available to any IBEW Local 15 member, includes participation in the Pension Benefit Fund (PBF). The PBF monthly dues are $4300. The fund, established in 1928, provides a pension benefit, a spousal benefit, a disability benefit and a $6,250 death benefit which is doubled in cases of accidental death. ‘BA’ members do not participate in the PBF.
New hires who were members of another IBEW Local shall pay three-months dues to that Local and deposit their Traveling Card with Local 15 to maintain their membership in good standing during their three-month probationary period before becoming an IBEW 15 Member and to retain accrued pension credits if an ‘A’ member.
As of January 1, 2007, an ‘A’ member of the IBEW in continuous good standing with five or more years immediately preceding his or her application, who has reached the age of sixty-five, will receive monthly pension benefits computed on the basis of four dollars and fifty cents ($5.50) per month for each full year of such continuous ‘A’ membership. There is an optional Early Retirement Pension for ‘A’ members aged sixty-two with twenty years of continuous good standing.
Retiring Member Reminder
Retired ‘A’ members and ‘A’ members nearing retirement are reminded to maintain continuous good standing. Upon Retirement, quarterly dues payment to the International is REQUIRED of ‘A’ members to remain eligible in the PBF, per the IBEW Constitution. It is imperative that members keep current with dues until they are officially approved for PBF pension. ‘A’ members who are dropped from membership for missed payments forfeit all accrued pension and death benefits from the PBF.
Visit the IBEW website at www.ibew.org/links for more details on the Pension Benefit Fund. Please contact your IBEW Local 15 Dues Clerk Katie Olbrot at 630-515-0872 or membership@ibew15.org for more information about becoming an ‘A’ member.