This month's Electrical Worker features stories of IBEW members making the most of their retirements, but in the years before the advent of collective bargaining, a dignified and secure retirement was out of reach for most working people.

People generally worked until they could not physically do the job anymore, relying on private charity and family to survive their golden years. For many others, they literally worked until they dropped dead.

The growth of the labor movement helped change all that. It was a long and arduous process, but by the 1920s, the IBEW established its first-ever pension plan.

Modest at first, it grew as the IBEW's membership and power grew, setting the stage for the creation of today's National Electrical Benefit Fund.

In the years after World War II, many local unions would establish their own pension plans, and a long and secure retirement became a reality for the first time for workers across North America.

Unlike the 401(k) plans most workers have today, a pension is an unbreakable promise, money that workers and their families can count on until the day they die.

But starting in the 1980s, the attack on organized labor caused a decline in the pension system as corporations looked to squeeze profits however they could out of their employees.

Well-funded pension plans were attractive targets for Wall Street raiders, who looted working people's hard-earned retirement funds to boost shareholder value.

From 1980 until today, the percentage of workers covered by a defined-benefit retirement plan shrank from 38% to under 15%.

And that has made retirement an impossibility for millions.

The FINRA Foundation reports that nearly 51% of Americans worry that they will run out of money when they are no longer earning a paycheck, while one in four of those over 50 report that they will never be able to retire.

While retirement security has been chipped away in the private sector over the past four decades, the IBEW and NECA have stood firm against the current.

We protected our defined-benefit plans, making union electrician one of the few jobs in the private sector that still came with a pension.

Not only do we continue to offer the best retirement plans in the industry, but we are also making them stronger and more comprehensive.

Last year, we reported on the changes we negotiated with NECA for the NEBF.

Working with our contractor partners, we raised NEBF benefits for the first time in two decades. The IBEW is bigger and stronger than it's been in generations, which is reflected in our retirement funds' health.

Our members are working harder than ever, and they deserve a piece of that success.

All members who retire starting this year will see their NEBF payout increase to $33 per month per year of service. And that's retroactive for every year worked. Current retirees will receive a one-time "13th-month" check later this year.

We also set up the first new pension benefit since the IBEW and NECA started the NEBF in 1946. The National Electrical Individual Benefit, or NEIB, is a defined-benefit plan like the NEBF. But while the NEBF bases its benefits on how long a member has been in the system, the NEIB is based on the number of hours worked.

So, with the NEIB, you will get double the benefits if you work double the hours as someone in the NEBF, even if you both have been working the same amount of time.

The electrical construction industry is booming, with IBEW members working more hours than ever. With the NEIB, members can make a substantial down payment on their retirement starting now.

But setting up a NEIB plan in your local requires leaders to negotiate one with your NECA chapter. So every construction business manager must take the first step.

With the NEIB, our members can convert every hour worked into a more secure future, so don't wait. The time is now to take advantage of this new benefit.

The IBEW's goal has always been to ensure every electrical worker's dignity, from the day they first strap on the boots to the day they lay down their tools. We will continue to fight to ensure that every working person in the electrical industry enjoys the same retirement security opportunities that we have.