Honorary Withdrawal and Conditional Honorary Withdrawal.

Brothers and Sisters,

This is a reminder to any “BA” member (that’s most of us in 1200) that anticipates being out of work in April to please contact our office to request a change to Honorary Withdrawal or “HW” status. By requesting Honorary Withdrawal a member who has no expectation of finding work may put themselves into a freeze as a member in “good standing” and will not accrue basic monthly non-working dues, nor the minimum working dues while unemployed.

Honorary Withdrawal, for those who were not aware of it, is a great strategy for freelance or daily-hire workers. This HW status is especially helpful for seasonal workers, for example a Member who only works games during the Football season. We regularly put those Sports Freelancers on HW from January to August during the off-season, and welcome them back in September by returning them immediately to Active status once the work returns.

Article XXIV of the Constitution provides;

Sec. 3. “Any member not desiring to maintain his standing who retires from the trade or is unemployed, or in such other cases as may be decided by the L.U., may be issued an Honorary Withdrawal Card  provided dues are paid for the previous month or the current month if the application is made after the fifteenth (15^th) of such month.” 

What we are now offering is a brand new Conditional Honorary Withdrawal status during this period of work stoppage associated with the Covid-19 outbreak.

For “BA” Members current in dues 

If  you are unemployed and your dues are paid up, you may want to consider requesting an Honorary Withdrawal until you resume employment. In this way, you avoid incurring $55.00/month International and Basic Local Dues, and minimum Working Dues during each month of unemployment.

For “BA” Members with dues liabilities  

If you are unemployed and your dues are not paid up, the issuance of an Honorary Withdrawal becomes problematic. After consulting with our Executive Board, we are prepared to offer Conditional Honorary Withdrawals. That is, we will recognize a Honorary Withdrawal Request from an unemployed member who owes dues, provided the member promises to take care of dues owed when the member resumes employment. Essentially, we will apply a hold on your dues liability in our records and delay further action. In this way, you also may avoid incurring the monthly International and Basic Local Dues for each month of unemployment.

To request a Conditional Honorary Withdrawal, simply send us an email to office@ibew1200.org stating you are unemployed. Include in your request a promise to satisfy your past dues when your employment resumes. Then, when you resume employment, send an email notice to us that you wish to reactivate your membership.

To request an Honorary Withdrawal, simply send us an email to office@ibew1200.org stating that you are requesting Honorary Withdrawal. Then, when you resume employment, send us an email notice that you wish to reactivate your membership.

Keep in mind, an Honorary Withdrawal will result in a break of your IBEW continuous service. And, it will affect your eligibility to be a candidate for union office for two years in any upcoming union election.

Please contact the office for more information.  I am really pleased that we are able to do this for our members during this unprecedented event.