Newsletter

S.U.B. FUND CHANGE

Travelers who are referred out on or after March 2, 2020 and subsequently meet the $1,200 eligibility requirements of the Plan will be permitted to receive only the same S.U.B. Fund benefits that are offered to Local 697 members and participants.

MONEY PURCHASE PLAN AND TRUST REMINDER

Many participants erroneously think that once they retire or stop working for a Local 697 signatory employer, they must withdraw their Money Purchase Plan and Trust account. Since 2019, this has not been true. Participants can keep their Money Purchase Plan and Trust accounts within the group Plan for as long as they like, including after the age that the law requires minimum distributions to be made.

COVID-19 AKA, THE CORONAVIR US

Coronavirus (COVID -19) is a respiratory illness caused by a virus that was first identified in China. It is highly contagious and includes symptoms like fever, cough and shortness of breath. The Centers of Disease Control reports that the risk of getting the coronavirus within the United States is low.

Travel Tips and Recaps

When traveling outside the jurisdiction of the I.B.E.W. Local 697, you always want to make certain that the other Local is correctly and timely reciprocating the employer benefit contributions back to your home Local. One of the two quickest and easiest ways to verify if that Local is reciprocating back these contributions is to check to see if the new retirement calculator module reflects those contributions.

New Words for Classic Christmas Carols

Where’s Their App?
(Sung to the tune of Silver Bells)
You are sneezing, cough unheeding
But to work you must go
In the air there’s a feeling of sickness
Nose is running, fever rising
And in the back of your mind you hear

Where’s their number, where’s their app?
I need relief rather asap
Where’s their number, where’s their app?
I am at work and I feel like crap

Feeling clammy, in your jammies
Coughing up mucus all night
And your spouse makes a call to your doctor
No appointments, there’s no appointments
And in the back of your mind you hear.

Fun Fact and Not So Fun Fact

FUN FACT

The VA (Veterans Administration) pays forty percent (40%) less for pharmaceutical drugs than what Medicare pays, commercial insurance carriers pay, or what your Health and Benefit Plan pays for the same drugs.

NOT SO FUN FACT

Federal law specifically prohibits Medicare from negotiating drug prices or creating its own formulary.