Members Go Online
In Search of New Skills

Baltimore Local Grows
Despite Down Economy

North of 49°
Grassroots Political Mobilization at Top of Agenda for IBEW Canada

Au nord du 49° parallèle
La mobilisation politique à la base: une priorité pour la FIOE au Canada

2009 Financial Reports

A SHORTAGE OF SKILLED WORKERS
Will Utilities Be Prepared to Face Uncertain Future?

It's a frigid January night in upstate New York. The temperature is a biting 23 degrees, and it feels even colder, thanks to a ferocious wind whipping across a massive snow bank—the remnants of a fierce winter storm that knocked out power to thousands of homes.

On a street lit only by the flashing orange lights of utility trucks, Bob Elliott, his white hair covered by a hardhat, emerges wearing a thick jacket emblazoned with the logo of Central Hudson Gas and Electric. After almost 40 winters on the job, Elliott is getting ready to once again scale the slick, icy rungs of a three-story power pole. His mission, in the wake of another wicked Northeast storm, is to get the electricity flowing to customers stuck in the dark and cold.