Your Union Paycheck Stub Explained

The first union paycheck is confusing. The hourly scale was supposed to be $50. The check comes back showing $1,400 net for the week and a stub with twelve lines of deductions, contributions, taxes, and fund codes you've never heard of.

Most brothers stuff the stub in the truck console and forget about it. That's a mistake. The numbers on that stub are the most important paperwork in your career. They prove your hours toward your apprenticeship. They prove your pension contributions. They prove your dues paid. They prove your wages for unemployment claims, divorce proceedings, and Social Security calculations.

This chapter walks the stub line by line. Read it once. Then read your own check.

TWO BUCKETS — WAGES AND FRINGES

Every union construction paycheck has two distinct pieces of money flowing on your behalf:

1. Hourly wages — the dollars that show up in the "gross" line at the top of your stub. This is the money that hits your bank account after taxes and deductions.

2. Fringe benefit contributions — the dollars the contractor pays into your benefit funds (health, pension, annuity, training) on top of your hourly wage. Most fringes don't appear on your stub at all. They flow directly from the contractor to the trust funds.

A brother on the IBEW forum put it plain: "$61 is what you see in the envelope. Health and welfare (medical), annuity and pension are on top of the $61. They don't even show up on my paystub. The hall has to keep an eye on that money to be sure it's getting paid in."

This is why your hourly scale and your total compensation are not the same number. A $50/hr journeyman is often costing the contractor $75-$95/hr all-in once fringes are added.

TYPICAL STUB LAYOUT

Most union construction stubs have these sections, in this order:

TOP — IDENTITY & PERIOD

Employer name and address

Your name, last 4 of SSN

Pay period dates

Pay date

Local number / craft / classification (e.g., "IBEW 134 / JW")

HOURS SECTION

Regular hours worked (RT)

Overtime hours (OT)

Double time hours (DT) if applicable

Total hours

GROSS WAGES

RT rate × RT hours

OT rate × OT hours (typically 1.5×)

DT rate × DT hours (typically 2×)

Total gross

PRE-TAX DEDUCTIONS

Some Locals route a portion of health/welfare or 401k contributions here

Reduces your taxable income

TAXES WITHHELD

Federal income tax

State income tax

Social Security (FICA) — 6.2%

Medicare — 1.45%

Local/city tax (some jurisdictions)

State Disability Insurance (some states, e.g. CA SDI)

POST-TAX DEDUCTIONS

Working dues (1-4% of gross typical)

Local assessments

Political action fund (PAC) contributions (voluntary)

Other voluntary deductions (charity, etc.)

NET PAY — what hits your bank account

FRINGES PAID BY CONTRACTOR (informational, not deducted from your wage)

Health & Welfare contribution

Pension contribution

Annuity contribution

Training fund contribution

Vacation fund contribution

Other industry funds

LINE BY LINE — WHAT EACH ITEM MEANS

Hourly Wage (Scale): Your hourly rate per the current Collective Bargaining Agreement. Apprentices show their period and the percentage of journeyman. Journeymen show full scale.

Overtime — 1.5× Scale: Anything over 40 hours per week typically. Some contracts trigger OT after 8 hours per day. Read the CBA.

Double Time — 2× Scale: Sundays, holidays, hours over 12 in a single day, sometimes Saturdays. Varies by contract.

Federal Income Tax (FIT): Based on your W-4 elections. Withheld weekly or bi-weekly. Reconciled when you file taxes in April.

State Income Tax: Withheld for the state where the work is performed, not where you live. Travelers can owe state tax in multiple states in one year.

FICA (Social Security): 6.2% of gross up to the annual wage base. Contributing toward your future Social Security check.

Medicare: 1.45% of all gross (no cap). Plus an additional 0.9% above $200,000 for high earners.

Working Dues (Dues Check-Off): Typically 1-4% of gross wages. Negotiated in your contract. Pays the Local — see Chapter 10.

Local Assessments: Some Locals add a small flat or percentage assessment for specific projects (organizing fund, hall improvements, etc.). Negotiated in the contract.

Health & Welfare Contribution (FRINGE): The contractor pays a per-hour dollar amount to the health fund. Typical: $8-$15/hour. This is the contractor's money, paid on your behalf — not deducted from your gross.

Pension Contribution (FRINGE): Contractor pays a per-hour amount to the defined-benefit pension fund. Typical: $5-$12/hour. Hours and dollars track toward your pension benefit at retirement.

Annuity Contribution (FRINGE): Contractor pays a per-hour amount to a defined-contribution plan (401k-style). Typical: $2-$8/hour. You are typically 100% vested in your annuity immediately — that money is yours from day one.

Training Fund / Apprenticeship Fund (FRINGE): Contractor pays a small per-hour amount to fund the apprenticeship school. Typical: $0.50-$1.50/hour. This is what pays for free apprenticeship training.

Vacation Fund (FRINGE): Some Locals have a vacation savings fund. The contractor pays in per hour, the fund pays out to you quarterly or annually. Typical: $1-$3/hour.

Industry Fund / LMCC: Labor-Management Cooperation Committee or industry advancement fund. Funds joint research, marketing, and industry promotion. Typical: $0.10-$0.50/hour.

SAMPLE STUB MATH — REAL EXAMPLE

A 5th-year IBEW apprentice in a $50/hr journeyman Local, at 90% scale, working 40 hours regular + 8 hours OT:

GROSS WAGES

Apprentice rate: $50 × 0.90 = $45.00/hr

RT: 40 × $45.00 = $1,800.00

OT: 8 × $67.50 = $540.00

Total Gross: $2,340.00

DEDUCTIONS

Federal income tax (~12%): -$281

State income tax (~5%): -$117

FICA (6.2%): -$145

Medicare (1.45%): -$34

Working dues (3%): -$70

Local assessment (0.5%): -$12

Total Deductions: -$659

NET PAY (to bank): $1,681

FRINGES PAID BY CONTRACTOR (not on stub or shown separately):

Health & Welfare: 48 hrs × $12 = $576

Pension: 48 hrs × $10 = $480

Annuity: 48 hrs × $6 = $288

Training: 48 hrs × $1 = $48

Vacation: 48 hrs × $2 = $96

Total Fringes: $1,488

TOTAL COMPENSATION PACKAGE for that week: $2,340 + $1,488 = $3,828

The brother sees $1,681 in his bank account. The contractor paid out $3,828 in total compensation. That's the math.

WHAT TO CHECK ON EVERY STUB

Five things every brother should verify on every paycheck:

1. Hours match the timecard. RT, OT, DT all line up with what you actually worked.

2. Rate is correct. Apprentices: verify your current period % is being applied. Journeymen: verify scale matches the current CBA.

3. Fringe contributions are being made. Most stubs show fringes as informational lines. If they're missing, call your steward immediately. Contractors going under sometimes stop paying fringes weeks before they go bankrupt — and stranded contributions can be lost.

4. Working dues are at the right percentage. Check against your CBA.

5. Taxes withheld look reasonable. Big discrepancies mean an error or a stale W-4.

SAVE EVERY STUB

This is non-negotiable.

Every paystub is legal documentation of:

Hours worked toward your apprenticeship

Pension contributions earned in your name

Dues paid to your Local (tax records)

Wages earned (unemployment, divorce, Social Security)

Employer history for reciprocity transfers

Save every stub digitally. Take a phone photo of every paper stub. Save digital stubs to cloud storage. The IRS recommends keeping pay records for at least 4 years. The smart brother keeps them forever.

If your fund administrator ever loses track of your hours, your stub is the proof. Brothers who've lost pension hours to clerical errors and recovered them did it by walking into the fund office with a folder of stubs going back 20 years.

THE STEWARD KNOWS

If anything on your stub looks wrong — missing fringes, wrong rate, weird deduction — call the steward first. That's what the position exists for.

Stewards see hundreds of stubs and know what looks normal for your Local and your contractor. Many fringe-contribution problems are caught at the job site before they become grievances. Many never have to be filed because the steward catches the contractor and resolves it inside a pay period.

If the steward can't resolve it, your business agent files a grievance with the contractor. The union recovers unpaid fringes for members regularly. That recovery exists because someone saved the stub and brought it to the hall.

ONE LAST THING

Your paycheck is more than money. It's the receipt for a system the brotherhood built over 100 years — wages, benefits, training, retirement, and protection — that doesn't exist for most American workers anymore.

Read your stub. Save your stub. Question your stub when something looks wrong.

The brothers who built generational wealth in the trades did it not just by working hard, but by paying attention to the paper. The check is the proof. The fringes are the wealth. The stub is the record.

Don't throw it in the console.