Play Ball
IBEW saves
Little League season

Preparing for the Unthinkable
IBEW teams with
child ID programtle

A New Direction
Reversing course at
Ark. nuclear facility

Fighting for Medicare
Retirees protest health
law changes on Hill

Zombie Case Returns
Fair share unfair to
public sector workers

Undoing a Wrong
Parliament kills onerous Canadian laws

Driving a Renaissance
IBEW key to
Motor City rebirth

North of 49°
Wage Freezes Signal
Bad Times Ahead for Manitoba Unions

Au nord du 49° parallèle
Le gel salarial pour les syndicats au Manitoba s’annonce difficile

'From Zero to 100 Percent'
IBEW Hits Grand Slam in Boston

After an unprecedented four-year organizing drive, Boston Local 1228 successfully organized the entire market for sports broadcast technicians in New England.

It all started because someone laughed at Steve Katsos.

It was 1994 and Katsos was finishing up college and began freelance work as a field audio technician in and around Boston, setting up the studio and field microphones and other equipment that capture the sound of professional sports events.

Katsos noticed something weird about the jobs. He could set up the same equipment, in the same stadium for the same sport but on some days, he made $100 and on others he made $200. So he asked a co-worker, why am I making twice the money in the same building?

The $200 were union jobs, required by contracts signed by other technicians living in other cities. It made no sense to Katsos.

"So, I asked him, 'How do we make ALL our shows union?'" Katsos said. "And the guy laughed and said, 'Good luck.'"

It's not that he was a bad guy, Katsos said, but the laughter stuck with him.

"I didn't understand why anyone would take half the money. But we did. For decades," he said. "But that laughter was like a seed that was planted."

Now, 23 years later, every televised broadcast with a ball or a puck, on grass, wood or ice in Boston, is produced by the nearly 500 broadcast technician members of Boston Local 1228.

There have been five successful elections at five companies and, in April, a first contract was ratified 98-8 with the final company to be organized. The success in Boston is part of the 20 percent growth in the IBEW's broadcast membership over the last five years.

"This is a feat. This is big. To go from zero to 100 percent union in such a short period of time and get contracts is something we can all be proud of," said IBEW's Broadcasting and Telecommunications Director Martha Pultar. "As a Boston girl, I'm thrilled."

'It was the Wild West'

The deals cover the array of specialist positions including camera operators, font assistants, sound technicians, instant replay operators, assistant directors, stage managers, graphic designers, technical directors and utilities.

Stephenson:
The Possible Dream
Cooper:
GOP Health Fiasco

Larry P. Reidenbach;
Darrin Golden;
Linda Mathews

Earn and Learn Debt-Free, IBEW Tells Congress;
Oklahoma Football Gets
a Powerful Face-Lift from
the IBEW

A National Strike?;
Living the IBEW Objects;
Memorializing a
TV Trailblazer

June 2017

IBEW Brother Aims
for Higher Office in Massachusetts