Stephen Schoemehl, who served on the International Executive Council for nearly six years and led the IBEW's original local union through the economic crisis beginning in 2008, died on July 24 after a brief battle with cancer. He was 70.

After serving in the U.S. Army, Brother Schoemehl was initiated into St. Louis Local 1 in 1972 and served as business manager from 2001 until his retirement in 2011. He followed his father, Fred, into the brotherhood and is one of 12 family members who are either active, retired or deceased members of Local 1.

"St. Louis has had a lot of great union leadership and it's made all of its unions rise to a higher level," said Marie Casey, a longtime St. Louis public relations executive who has worked closely with several unions there, including Local 1.

"Steve was part of that. He was so smart and understood finances very well," Casey added. "Local 1 members still have world-class health care, including retirees. Their benefits exceed those of most corporate managers."

Longtime friend Steve Licari, who worked with him on the job and under him on the local's staff, said Schoemehl "knew which buttons to push in an individual to get the job done. He just had those kind of leadership abilities."

That was evident even on jobsites, where Schoemehl worked as a general foreman before moving into the Local 1 office. He signed job cards with his full name and home phone number, along with the message "any problems, call."

"Everything was in order," said Licari, who served briefly as Local 1's business manager after Schoemehl's retirement. "He knew what was going to happen one week from now. He could plan that far ahead and have his ducks lined up in a row."

Schoemehl served on several Local 1 committees and was appointed to the examining board in 1994. He joined the staff one year later as an organizer and business representative. He was appointed business manager in 2001, elected by the members later that year and re-elected three more times.

In 2005, he was appointed to the IEC by then-International President Edwin D. Hill and was re-elected at the 2006 International Convention in Cleveland. He also served in that role until his retirement.

"He was true blue IBEW," said Boston Local 2222 Business Manager Myles Calvey, who joined the IEC at the same time as Schoemehl and currently serves as its secretary. "You just liked everything about him. As soon as you saw him, he put a smile on your face, but he knew when to be serious."

Calvey, who came up in the telephone industry, credited Schoemehl with helping him better understand issues important to the construction branch, such as the National Electrical Benefit Fund.

"I learned so much being around him and he was tickled to death being a Local 1 guy on the IEC," Calvey said.

Schoemehl faced major challenges in his home jurisdiction. In 2009, at the height of the economic crisis, nearly 50% of Local 1's members were unemployed and signatory contractors were reluctant to take on work. Because of that, he convinced the membership to accept a temporary wage cut. The Local 1 staff also took cuts in pay.

He was criticized by many but the fact that Local 1 is thriving today and maintains relationships with nearly all those contractors shows he made the right decisions, said Matthew Lampe, a retired Local 1 member who was a business representative during that period.

"I was on all the labor-management negotiating committees with him and he was not afraid to make tough decisions and lead us," Lampe said. "He was convinced we had to take a cut in pay so our general contractors could keep their work."

Schoemehl and his successors at Local 1 also were challenged by Carpenters Local 57, which has tried to capture work Local 1 members have done for generations. The battle continues to this day in the St. Louis area, with Local 1 largely fending off the Carpenters' attempts to undercut it with the use of lower-waged and less-skilled workers.

"He was a good guy who cared about all his members," Lampe said.

Schoemehl is survived by his wife, Cynthia; son Nathan, a journeyman wireman and Local 1 member; daughter Jessica; and four grandchildren. He had leadership roles in several labor and charitable organizations in the St. Louis area, including on the board of the United Way.

Casey said Schoemehl also got Local 1 members more involved in Habitat for Humanity and opened the apprenticeship program to more women and traditionally underserved groups.

He also understood the importance of strong labor-management relations, including with Doug Martin, longtime head of the St. Louis NECA chapter, she said.

"They would fight when they needed to fight and disagree whole-heartedly with a lot of emotion but also find places where they could build bridges," Casey said. "Through that degree of honesty, they broke down any bickering that might have turned into a plague."

The officers and staff extend their condolences to Brother Schoemehl's many loved ones during this difficult time.

Following 44 years of membership in the IBEW, Railroad Branch International Representative Jim Meyer retired effective Feb. 1.

Meyer, a native and lifelong resident of the Washington, D.C., area, was exposed to the electrical trade early on. "When I was in school, a neighbor was a master electrician, a one-man shop," he said.

In 1978, after finishing high school, Meyer pursued his burgeoning interest and joined Washington, D.C., Local 362, a railroad local representing workers at the Washington Terminal Company (taken over by Amtrak in 1984) and the adjoining Ivy City Maintenance Facility. There, he worked on Amtrak's locomotives and coaches, performing inspections and repairs, among many other tasks, including some work in the railroad's radio shop.

It wasn't long before Meyer got active with the IBEW and Local 362. "I had just started my apprenticeship, not even a year in, and I was asked to serve on the audit committee," he said. "My dad was in the Communications Workers of America, and he told me, 'Always get involved with the local.'"

Shortly afterward, a vacancy came open for recording secretary. "They asked me if I would take it," said Meyer, still an apprentice at the time. "I said yes, but they had to get permission from the international vice president first."

Meyer "was a mechanic who took me under his wing," said fellow Local 362 member Charles Arbogast, who later served as president of the local. "He was very knowledgeable, teaching you the ins and the outs. His work ethic was always 110%.

"The guy was like a pit bull," Arbogast said. "He always had his facts, his information and his ethics. In his union capacity, he was always someone you could count on. If he told you he'd do something, he'd do it."

Meyer was an efficient worker, too, Arbogast said, recalling when Meyer worked for a time as a public address technician. "When he left that job, they put in six guys [to replace him], and they couldn't put out the same amount of work Jim did," he said.

Meyer rose quickly through the IBEW's ranks, going on to serve as Local 362's financial secretary, as its general chairman and secretary from 1986 to 2004, and then as its local chairman — the Railroad equivalent of business manager — until 2007. He dutifully represented his local's interest through the usual rounds of collective bargaining and negotiating meetings — with at least one notable exception.

"Usually with railroad negotiations, you work as a coalition with the other railroad unions," Meyer said. "But in 1992, the IBEW went alone before Presidential Emergency Board 222."

Under the Railway Labor Act, the president of the United States can call an "emergency board" should a labor dispute threaten to disrupt "essential transportation service."

President George H.W. Bush convened a board after the IBEW and Amtrak reached an impasse on several crucial concerns, including wages, skill differential, work rules and subcontracting. Meyer and the leaders of several other Amtrak-related locals "put together a presentation and got to testify before the board," he said, working with the IBEW Research Department and the union's tenth District, which at the time handled all of the IBEW's Railroad locals. When the rulings largely went in favor of IBEW, "and we got the skill differentials 'technician rates of pay' that acknowledged our members' skill levels, it felt like a big accomplishment," Meyer said.

Meyer also was on the job when Amtrak ushered in high-speed rail, better known as Amtrak's Acela service, connecting 16 East Coast stations from Washington to Boston.

"Amtrak awarded the high-speed contract to Bombardier," Meyer recalled. "That was constantly challenging, for us and for them, because they were not accustomed to working in a union shop."

Another big change came for Railroad members in 1998, when an IBEW constitutional referendum moved the department from its place as the union's tenth District and into an International Office-level department based in Washington.

Meyer had to adjust not only to that change but also to some realignments of the IBEW's railroad system councils. He served for a while as a part-time assistant general chairman for System Council 6, and then later as a full-time assistant general chairman for System Council 7.

In 2007, Meyer was appointed by then-IBEW International President Edwin D. Hill to serve as an international representative in the union's Railroad Department. He held that role for five years before being appointed by Hill to serve as director of the Per Capita Membership Department. Six years later, Meyer returned to the Railroad Department.

The Railroad Department's work kept him busy, Meyer said, although he still managed to find time to volunteer with his church and with the Boy Scouts of America — Meyer achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in his youth.

Meyer said his biggest hobby now is "fixing stuff. I have plenty of things to fix now that I'm retired," he said. He also has more time in retirement to enjoy watching the Washington Commanders play, although he admits it's "taking some time to get used to their new name." Meyer is looking forward to spending more time with his wife, Jenny, and their son, John, who also works at the International Office.

"Jim was a great guy to work with," said current Railroad Department Director Al Russo, who has worked with Meyer since 2018. "He saved everything and knew where to find it. His knowledge was by far superior. We were all learning something every day."

Perhaps best of all, "Jim wasn't just a 'yes' man," Russo said. "That's what you want — someone to have their own opinion. It makes your department work."

Please join the brotherhood in wishing Brother Meyer a long and happy retirement.