Your Pension Under Attack
Find Out How You
Can Take Action

An IBEW Brother
At the Helm
Laird Cronk Elected B.C. Labour Federation President

California's Camp Fire
Wildfires Rip Through Communities, IBEW Members Respond

Charter/Spectrum Strike
N.Y. Governor Stands with Striking Cable Workers

North of 49°
BC Organization Looks
Past Recruiting Women
to the Next Step:
Keeping Them

Au nord du 49° parallèle
Syndiquer les femmes en C.-B passe l'étape du recrutement :
on vise à les garder

PBF Summary
Annual Report

St. Louis Members Bring Affordable Housing to Neighborhood Rich in History

The Ville neighborhood on St. Louis's near north side is an historic one for the region and the IBEW.

It was a middle-class enclave for the city's black residents for part of the 20th century while much of the city struggled with segregation. Important American cultural figures raised there include rock musician Chuck Berry, singer Josephine Baker and comedian and social activist Dick Gregory. Tennis star and human right activists Arthur Ashe spent part of his teenage years there.

In the adjoining JeffVanderLou neighborhood is the Henry Miller Museum, a renovated boarding house where Miller and nine other founding delegates convened the first meeting of the National Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in 1891.

So, it's only fitting that St. Louis Local 1 and its signatory contractors are working alongside community organizations to bring affordable housing to The Ville with construction of the St. Ferdinand II project. The 36 new and seven renovated apartments — officially called St. Ferdinand Homes II — will occupy the space where 13 dilapidated buildings once stood.

New construction in the area, which has struggled for more than 50 years, has been virtually nonexistent while community assets such as a local public hospital have closed.

"There hasn't been much built over there in quite some time," said Local 1 business agent Mike Newton, who grew up on the city's north side. "These were the first really new construction projects in that area in a while. On the residential side, it's pretty high profile."

The project is a 12-building apartment complex designed to provide quality housing in an area that has been lacking it for decades. It's being funded by the Missouri Housing Development Commission, a publicly funded state agency, along with the locally based St. Louis Equity Fund and Gateway Community Development Fund.

Local 1 members have taken a prominent role among the hundreds of tradesmen and women on site. Signatory American Electric & Data, which is owned and operated by member Tom Prade, is one of the lead contractors.

But much of the work has spread to smaller signatory contractors as well. One subcontractor working under American Electric is J West. It is owned by Sabrina Westfall, who completed a Local 1 apprenticeship and was a member until she started her company in 2009.

Stephenson:
Attacking Our Dignity
Cooper:
Keeping Our Promise

Dean Wine;
Jack Heyer;
Mike Knox;
Richard H. Silva

Michigan and Wisconsin GOP Weaponize
Lame-Duck Sessions to
Thwart Voter Will;
Report: Middle Class
Out of Reach for
6 in 10 Americans

Team Effort Delivers
IBEW Representation
For 200+ at Eversource

Maryland Members Help Preserve a Historic
Railroad 'Station';
DOE Program Could
Defray Medical Costs;
IBEW Members Honored
for House Fire Rescue;
Labour Standards Updates Aim to Improve Canadian Workers' Lives

Saluting a Remarkable Career;
Remembering My Hero;
California Fires;
Protecting Our Pensions

November 2018

Embracing Apprentice's Charity Drive, Local 413 Electricians Help Fill
Santa's Sleigh