The IBEW’s healthcare and retirement funds have grown to $41 billion in net assets, including an innovative defined-benefit plan launched in January 2025, Darrin Golden, secretary-treasurer of the National Electrical Benefit Fund, reported to delegates at the 41st IBEW International Convention on Sept. 23.
Golden described the Family of Funds, an umbrella title established in 2024, as “a substantial national benefit ecosystem” with over a million participants and 15,352 employers that contribute more than $3.2 billion a year.
Collectively, beneficiaries receive annual payments exceeding $2.2 billion. Golden said the figures “illustrate the remarkable growth and complexity of a benefit fund that began nearly 80 years ago.”
“The history of the benefit funds is ultimately a story of commitment, adaptation and stewardship,” he said. “As the electrical industry has changed, so too have the needs of its workforce.”
Four plans are under the funding umbrella: the NEBF; the Family Medical Care Plan, or FMCP; the National Electrical Annuity Plan, or NEAP, for BA members; and the newest, the National Electrical Individual Benefit, or NEIB, rolled out by the NEBF after nearly a decade of planning by the IBEW and NECA.
“Brothers and sisters, I can only best describe this benefit as an absolute game-changer,” Golden said. “It will fundamentally reshape and redefine the retirement benefits of electrical workers. It is absolutely as significant as the creation of the NEBF itself.”
An optional benefit, the NEIB is funded by employers at a rate of 50 cents or more per hour worked, providing future retirees with an additional monthly benefit equal to 1.5% of contributions made on their behalf over their career. Since Jan. 1, 2025, 13 IBEW locals with more than 870 contributing employers have chosen to participate.
Golden urged delegates to support and advocate for all four funds.
“I ask you to work to band together and use these economic tailwinds that we have been so blessed with to propel our members toward a higher standard of living,” he said, describing “a dignified retirement with multiple stable revenue streams and high-quality affordable healthcare with world-class customer service, the likes of which we have never seen.”
