We had the official opening and dedication of the new IBEW headquarters on April 21. It was an opportunity to spotlight the state-of-the-art building constructed by the best in union labor. Introducing members and friends to the IBEW’s new home was a proud moment for us at the International Office.

The new building represents the IBEW’s physical place in the world, but at the Construction Conference that followed the next day, we tackled a tougher subject—our future in the industry. I emphasized to the one thousand-plus local union leaders in attendance that the IBEW is not just in the hands of a few officers. The future of the IBEW is in your hands. And I mean you, the brother or sister reading this magazine.

You might think that your job is to show up at the hall, get your assignment and report for work. It goes beyond that.

You might not realize it, but everything you do on the job reflects on the IBEW. The people who use union electrical contractors probably don’t know me or your district vice president, or maybe not even your local’s business manager. But they know you, at least by sight, because you’re the one on their property doing their work. How well you do it, along with the attitude and work ethic you bring to the job, can make all the difference on whether or not that customer stays with union labor or goes nonunion, because in this day and age, our customers do have a choice.

In the IBEW’s construction branch, great pride is taken in being the best in our industry. Any individual or organization that is consistently the best stays that way by constantly thinking, planning and, most important, changing when necessary.

It’s necessary.

There is no shortage of challenges in the construction industry. There is a constant battle with the nonunion for market share so that our members have work. We are working hard to become the provider of choice in the rapidly expanding field of voice-data-video. We still face unacceptably high unemployment in many areas. We are falling behind in some of the rapidly expanding areas of North America to the point where we will only be a marginal presence if we don’t do something fast. At the same time, we are beginning to experience a wave of retirements that are predicted to be the start of an industry-wide shortage of skilled trades workers over the next ten years. We still are not doing enough to organize nonunion contractors and the work they would bring with them. We are engaged in a constant effort to upgrade and adapt our excellent training programs to suit the needs of the modern industry. And that’s only part of the story.

In the weeks and months ahead, you’ll be seeing changes in the IBEW. A tremendous amount of time and effort have gone into addressing the challenges and problems that are affecting your job and your future and doing something about it.

We are implementing union-wide, uniform rules for the referral system. We are mounting a major coordinated effort in Florida to win more of the work and organize more of the workers in that state. We have chartered a new construction local in Puerto Rico to establish a union presence there. We are creating a new job classification in the industry to ensure that all of our members have the appropriate training and experience in order to achieve journeyman status. We are expanding our apprenticeship and training programs.

This is the cutting edge of the kind of change that is needed to keep us strong and enable us to back up our claim to be the best for decades to come. How well we do, and how successful these changes will be depends largely on you—because the future of the IBEW is in your hands.

Edwin D. Hill

International President