When maintenance workers at the University of Central Missouri voted in favor of IBEW representation this summer, the celebration stretched from the school's campus outside Kansas City, Mo., all the way to Washington.

"This is a big win, a great win," said Terry Akins, business manager of Kansas City Local 124.

The campaign to organize 240 campus employees was the latest in a string of victories for IBEW locals, for the union's Membership Development department in D.C. and for the department's Professional and Industrial organizing program. The two-and-a-half year old initiative combines the expertise of professional organizers at the international and district levels with the hard work of local members from across the U.S. and Canada.

With nearly 40 people working under him, Professional and Industrial Membership Development Director Brian Ahakuelo said one of his top priorities over the past two years has been to instill confidence in his team. "It's important to show them they can win," he said.

And they have been winning, again and again. The program, put to work in about 60 organizing efforts last year, helped the IBEW score victories in three out of every four of those campaigns. The union is on track to beat that number in 2009, helping to recruit 1,000 new members into the Brotherhood so far this year. In 2006, the year before the program started, only about half the campaigns were winners. (In 2007, the National Labor Relations Board said the win rate in the U.S. was about 60 percent.)

The International Office provides local unions with organizing expertise and, in some cases, much needed financial support. Vice Presidents offer additional assistance to the campaign when requested. Local union members do the bulk of the on-the-ground work, often meeting face to face with the potential members.

"It's very helpful to get the resources we simply don't have here," said Akins of Local 124, who added that International Representatives helped him negotiate the contract for the University of Central Missouri workers.

The Missouri victory points to one of several innovative strategies membership development is employing—in this case, focusing on organizations, even non-electrical ones, that seem ripe for union membership. The maintenance workers had already formed their own employee association, a group of workers with little legal backing when it came to conflicts with their employer. Because they were already semi-organized, they were more willing to learn about the additional protections the union would provide.

The Professional and Industrial program is still evolving. Its initial focus, on smaller campaigns recruiting less than 100 workers at a time, is now being supplemented with longer-term organizing efforts designed to net bigger gains. Some of the current campaigns focus on workplaces with 500 to 1,000 workers.

Even campaigns that are not successful teach valuable lessons. Organizing teams, at all levels, take away insights that will be helpful as they move forward. The campaigns leave behind something Ahakuelo said can be priceless. "What's important is getting our name into these communities. Win or lose, people in local communities are hearing and recognizing the name IBEW. We'll have that going for us next time around."

The key, according to Ahakuelo, is working as one team with one mission: to improve the lives of working families and make the Brotherhood stronger in the process.

"The IBEW has a lot to offer and it's up to us to show people that we can help their families," he said. "If we can do that, this program and this union will be successful well into the future."