Local 600 question

[Eric Steelberg ASC]

I'm not in the 600 but I've been working jobs, mostly commercials, for a long time that have been paying my P&W to the union and them taking their 1% of the paycheck. What I want to know is if the P&W is set aside for when I do join or does it go into their coffers. If that is true do I not begin accumulating P&W until I'm 'in'? :huh:

[Brad Grimmett]

I'm not in the 600 but I've been working jobs, mostly commercials, for a long time that have been paying my P&W to the union and them taking their 1% of the paycheck. What I want to know is if the P&W is set aside for when I do join or does it go into their coffers. If that is true do I not begin accumulating P&W until I'm 'in'? :huh:

Interesting that you ask this question. I've done many union jobs without being a member of the union over the past 5 or 6 years. None of these have been local 600 jobs, but they have all been IATSE jobs. I worked as an electrician as well as a prop assistant before I started working exclusively in camera. Anyway, I too knew that I had Pension and Welfare that I couldn't touch, and I too wondered what would come of it. I recently recieved a letter from the company that manages the unions money that said I had been issued a check and that my current balance for pension was now zero (I had recieved some statements from them in the past telling me how much I had). I hadn't recieved a check, so I called them. Turns out, they had my old address, and I hadn't recieved my check because of that. I let them know what my new address was and they sent me a new check to my current address. They were very friendly and helpful by the way. I didn't ask too many questions, but I believe what happened was that if you don't work a job within that particular local for a certain amount of time (I'm not sure what that amount of time is) they issue you a check for what you're owed (or maybe a certain amount over a certain period). Anyway, I moved, and I don't, and won't, work with that local anymore, so I guess that's why I got the check. But I believe whatever you pay in now will still be available to you at a later date, but I don't think you're going to have the same situation that I had (recieving a check) unless you don't work within that local for a while. These are just my experiences here, so I can't really account for how true they might be for someone else, but I thought it might be good info for you. It was actually very nice to get a check since I thought that money would just vaporize. It reminded me of why it's nice to get P/W in the first place.