Even before the recession hit, manufacturing in the Midwest was facing hard times. But an IBEW-represented plant in Pardeeville, Wis. has become an exception to the rule. It's still operating at 100-percent capacity despite the tough economic times, with little sign of slowdown in the near future.

More than 80 members of Madison Local 965 are employed at All American Scoreboards—a division of Everbrite, LLC—where they build scoreboards for high schools and community centers.

While scoreboards have traditionally been the plant's main product line, commercial signs have emerged as All American's bread and butter. The plant produces signs for all of Marathon Oil Corp.'s gas stations and for many fast food chains.

All American's geography works as an advantage over its cheaper Chinese competitors. The company is able to get a new sign out of the door of the factory within 48 hours of a customer order.

"Our speed gives us our edge" said Local 965 Business Manager Tony Bartels. "No Chinese factory could get a sign to the customer that fast.”

The plant's competitiveness is also a tribute to the IBEW's Code of Excellence, which All American's workers adopted last year. The Code, which is already operative in the construction and utility branches of the Brotherhood, is an agreement between managers and the IBEW to increase labor-management cooperation and professionalism in the workplace.

"(The local) is mainly utility and we were setting up Code of Excellence training for our members at Wisconsin Power and Light when we decided to invite one of the stewards at All American to attend" Bartels said.

While the Code hasn't been officially taken up by the IBEW's manufacturing branch, leaders of Local 965 saw that it could be useful in opening up clearer communication channels with management and increasing productivity.

"We're able to sit down with management to honestly and openly talk about our issues and differences" said Local 965 Assistant Business Manager Kemp Grutt. "And both sides listen to each other.”

Included in the language is a commitment to eight hours' work for eight hours' pay and a strict adherence to safety regulations.

Bartels admits the reaction from members was mixed at first, but gradually the value of the Code won most of them over. "Unions get stereotyped as just defending the bad eggs and not caring about quality" he said. "A lot of folks appreciated that the union was making sure we were doing what we are supposed to be doing."