A Hall of Fame
Building Boom
Ohio Local Partners
with NFL Hall of Fame

A Punchlist for
the President
Jobs, Union Rights
Top Priorities for the
New Administration

A Worker's Paradise
Honolulu Agreement Backs Union Trades

A First in Federal Waters
IBEW, Dominion Energy
Build Wind Pilot in Virginia

A Healing Mission
D.C. Retirees Provide
Free Medical Equipment to Members in Need

North of 49°
IBEW Member Tapped to Head Ontario Tradeswomen Committee

Au nord du 49° parallèle
Une membre de la FIOE à la tête du comité pour les femmes de métier de l'Ontario

Jeffry C. Campbell

One year after the first cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed in North America, vaccines from Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna are on the verge of becoming widely available.

And while IBEW members are not the scientists creating those vaccines, they have been nearly as integral to the discovery, production and distribution process as any biochemist or virologist on the planet.

From decades of building and maintaining pharmaceutical research labs to setting up new production facilities practically overnight, IBEW tradesmen and tradeswomen have been at the forefront of the pandemic response from its earliest days, and their efforts — along with those countless others around the world — have brought us to the verge of a monumental breakthrough that will save countless lives and restore order after a year of COVID-19 chaos.

"Without a doubt the vaccine that will end this scourge has and will be brought to you by the skilled craft unions. They are every bit as important as the person working at the lab bench they built," said Tim Dickson, director of the Pharmaceutical Industry Labor-Management Association.

The vaccines from Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna are scientific achievements with few parallels in human history, victories won by researchers and the craft and trade workers who know how to take their ideas and transform them into enough medicine to heal an entire world.

According to a 2018 PILMA study, union density in pharmaceutical jobs in the U.S. is 80-90%, and the reason is clear: quality.

"It's intuitive. Millions of lives and billions of dollars hang on the effectiveness, the reliability of these facilities. These clean rooms and fume hoods — there are tons of inert and active molecules. You can't go cheap," Dickson said. "You don't go to Piggly Wiggly and get day workers to build a clean room."

Stephenson:
Doing Our Part
Cooper:
Serving Our Veterans

William R. Mundt;
George Santiago

Veterans Program Graduates First Online Pre-Apprentice;
Expanding Opportunities in Fast-Growing Solar Field;
Ontario Government Funds Initiatives for Tradeswomen and Safety

Oregon and California
Adopt Emergency
COVID-19 Standards

Denver Local Renovates Home for
Special Needs Family;
IBEW Local 1 Lights Up for Suicide Prevention

Remembering Brian Malloy

November 2020

An Unlikely Texas Leader Puts Members First, Breaks Barriers Along the Way