L.U. 2 (catv,lctt,o,t&u), ST. LOUIS, MO — With our 2023 local election, President Mike Greene has decided to step away from his position. Mike is a 38-year member of the IBEW who started his career in line clearance in 1985. He was indentured into the line apprenticeship at the age of 38, earning his journeyman lineman ticket in 2003.

Mike has mentored many apprentices and young journeymen, and he served Local 2 in contract negotiations, apprenticeship subcommittees and several special committees over the years. Mike was elected president of Local 2 in 2011 and has led our local with honor and integrity.

Local 2 thanks Brother Greene for his dedication and leadership. Our local is stronger because of you.

Mike Keith, A.B.M.

L.U. 16 (i), EVANSVILLE, IN — It was a busy spring for our union and community activities. In March, the local hosted Mudbug Madness; April saw the Turkey Testicle Festival; May brought the PBR Challenge Series; and the William Jason "Flounder" Blanton Golf Tournament was held in early June. Each of these events promoted the Brotherhood and what it means to be part of the IBEW family. Thanks to all who made each of these worthwhile events possible.

Congratulations to Business Manager Ryan McRoberts, Vice President Ben Ipock, Recording Secretary Brian Diehl and Treasurer James Stidham, who were unanimously returned to their offices. For more election results, please check the hall's website (ibewlocal16.com).

Indiana's first historical marker to recognize the efforts of early labor reformers was recently dedicated on Evansville's riverfront. The plaque, titled "Activism in Indiana," reads as follows: "Revered by Evansville's labor leaders, Mother Jones fought for child labor laws and advocated for miners here. In 1916 she spoke before 10,000 people at a Labor Day picnic in the city. She believed workers deserved the full value of their labor and control of their workplace."

Sponsors of this effort included Local 16 and Bill and Kim Musgrave.

Donald P. Beavin, P.S.

L.U. 24 (es,i&spa), BALTIMORE, MD — Greetings from Charm City. We are happy to announce the reopening of our Frederick, Md., office. The Frederick location, along with our Salisbury office on Maryland's Eastern Shore, allows us to better service our entire jurisdiction. We also purchased a new van to promote Local 24 and our NECA partners at industry events. Together, these actions will help us grow our market share and work opportunities for all our members throughout the jurisdiction.

In May, Gov. Wes Moore signed House Bill 2, which allows Marylanders to once again subtract their union dues from their state income taxes. This deduction was lost as part of the federal tax law of 2017, as Maryland traditionally follows federal tax policies on deductions. This legislation is a great win for all labor in our state for many reasons, one being that there is no cap on the amount that can be subtracted. Local 24 is proud of its outreach to our legislators about this issue, making sure it continues to pay to be union.

Live Better/Work Union.

Michael J. McHale, B.M.

L.U. 26 (ees,em,es,govt,i&mt), WASHINGTON, DC — The 77th JATC graduation ceremony was held June 3. Congratulations to all the graduates!

On June 5, the annual DADs Day golf outing took place at five golf courses in Maryland and Virginia. The Manassas, Va., and Roanoke, Va., picnics were in June and July, and the Maryland picnic in Edgewater will be Aug. 26.

Congratulations to the four winners of this year's Local 26 scholarship award:

1. Bailey Ancell, daughter of Brother Clarence Ancell III, graduated from Luray High School and will be studying elementary education.
2. Brendan Ridings, son of Brother David Ridings, graduated from Sherando High School in Stephans City, Va., and will be attending Virginia Tech to study engineering.
3. Tanner Seiss, son of Brother Brian Seiss, graduated from Catoctin High School in Thurmont, Md., and will be attending Virginia Tech to study engineering/computer science.
4. Marley Cosgrove, daughter of Brother Atticus Cosgrove, graduated from River Hill High School in Clarksville, Md., and will be attending the University of Maryland to study science/medical.

Best wishes to the following new retirees: Steve E. Baldwin, Keith G. Bender, James C. Bethinger Jr., Michael B. Blum II, Elizabeth L. Bukowski, Jerome D. Bullister, Carson R. Clark, Keith E. Coleman, Edward H. Collins, Jeffrey P. Courtney, Jesus E. Cueva, Gary M. Downing, Douglas W. Fleming, Jose T. Huarniz, Darryl A. Johnson, Robert L. Loveless, Wade E. Morgan, Roberto Negron, William H. Redd, Carlton W. Robinson and Curtis L. Sylvia.

The following members have passed away since our last article: William R. Alexander, Elmer "Skip" McConkey, William C. Raines and Lawrence J. Widener.

Joseph F. Dabbs, B.M.

L.U. 40 (em,i&mps), HOLLYWOOD, CA — The Writers Guild of America is on strike as of press time, and Local 40 is in full support of its members. We have been handing out buttons and stickers to our members to show our support for the writers in their fight for a fair contract. We believe every worker should have their contributions recognized, whether their labor is on or off screen.

Producers have slowed the number of television and film productions, and Local 40 members have seen fewer work opportunities because of it. It is time for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to come back to the bargaining table and negotiate in good faith so our members can get back to work.

A fair contract for the Writers Guild uplifts every worker in the film and television industry, and it will affect our negotiations next summer. It is imperative that the labor movement continue to stand together in solidarity as we fight for a fair share of what is ours. Solidarity is not to be underestimated.

Stephan Davis, B.M./F.S.

L.U. 46 (as,c,cs,em,es,et,i,mar,mo,mt,rtb,rts&st), SEATTLE, WA — Our local is happy to report that we celebrated our annual pin night. Members turned out to celebrate their years of being part of this amazing union.

Each year we kick off our celebration with a retirees' luncheon at the hall. Our retirees also meet for breakfast the Thursday after our general meeting in Silverdale.

My favorite part of pin night is seeing people reconnect and hearing their stories — that and the cake! We were fortunate this year to have a few brothers share some of their wisdom: Brothers John Sahelaris (receiving his 75-year pin) and Gordan Dudley and Bruce Smith (receiving their 65-year pins).

The thing I took away from their speeches is the importance of safety, always looking out for our family on the job and making sure we all go home in one piece. I want to see our members making it to retirement healthy and ready to enjoy what their years of hard work provides.

As we roll through summer and into picnic season, I hope everyone is keeping safety in mind, looking out for one another on the jobsite and calling out hazards when they see them.

Megan Kirby, P.S.

L.U. 50 (u), RICHMOND, VA — Our local has more than 150 stewards, and all of our stewards and representatives work tirelessly to support the local union and its members. These stewards and representatives excel at policing contracts and outreach to new employees, signing them up for membership and encouraging them to attend union meetings regularly. Educating our members on their collective bargaining agreement and the benefits of being represented by a union is one of the highest priorities of Local 50 Business Manager John Albert.

One of Local 50's unit chairmen and a senior chief steward, Chris Goodrich, continuously encourages members to attend unit meetings and learn about their union. One of the ways Brother Goodrich accomplishes this is by stressing the importance and function of the new-member obligation in the IBEW Constitution.

Local 50 represents approximately 3,000 employees of Dominion Energy, Virginia Natural Gas, Monongahela Power and Craig-Botetourt Electric Cooperative.

Jason Davis, P.S.

L.U. 100 (c,em,i,rts,st&ptc), FRESNO, CA — As we all know, our JATCs have the best training programs and produce the best electrical professionals in the industry. In May, the Fresno Area Electrical Training Center hosted its annual apprentice rodeo competition, with the winner to represent IBEW Local 100 in the western states competition.

This event has been not only a symbol of the end of the school year, but also a showcase that allows graduating apprentices to put their skills and knowledge to the test. With 24 competitors in this year's contest, Jackson Watts took the top spot over Taylor Ferguson by a very tight margin.

Local 100 thanks all of the volunteers who helped make the event a success and congratulates all of the apprentices on a job well done. Congratulations, Jackson Watts, and good luck at the western states competition!

Local 100 congratulates the graduating class of 2023 for their hard work and dedication throughout the apprenticeship. We wish you all the best in the next chapter of your careers and know that you will represent Local 100 and the IBEW well. May God bless you and your families to keep you safe and healthy, and may God continue to bless the IBEW!

Jake Piland, R.S.

L.U. 124 (ees,em,i,mar,rts,se,spa,t&ptc), KANSAS CITY, MO — Brothers and sisters, we hope everyone is staying cool and safe outside on jobsites. A special thanks to everyone out there manning the work in our local. There are many jobs in Kansas City, and the following projects are underway or upcoming:

• Meta data center buildings 1, 2 and 3 are ongoing and full steam ahead.
• The Panasonic Energy plant in DeSoto, Kan., is expected to man up in the fall and to be fully completed before the second quarter of 2025. This facility will span over 3 million square feet and is expected to have utility-scale solar on site. There are also two other utility-scale solar sites in the design process across the Kansas City metro region.
• Coca-Cola is building a new bottling plant in Olathe, Kan., that will span over 1 million square feet.
• The American Royal has begun with temporary power, and the site package was awarded to Capital Electric. The American Royal is an 80-acre site with multiple buildings totaling approximately 1 million square feet.

A raise of $3.10 will go into effect Sept. 1. We thank the negotiating team for all their hard work.

Wade Kiefer, Bus. Rep.

L.U. 130 (i&ptc), NEW ORLEANS, LA — We held our Outstanding Apprentice of the Year competition. Congratulations to participants Tyren Fobb, Chris Lackey, Miguel Miranda, Rene Reeb and Vu Trinh for their hard work and dedication. Special congratulations to Apprentice of the Year Colin Borrouso for his outstanding achievement.

We also recognize and appreciate the instructors and judges who attended the competition: John Bilich, Sean Calloway, David Crumb, Arasimo Geraci, Butch Naquin, Rickie Salathe, Rodney Wallis and Ronald A. Wolf Jr. Their guidance and expertise play a crucial role in shaping the apprentices' skills. Well done to everyone involved!

Butch Naquin, R.S.

L.U. 146 (ei,i&rts), DECATUR, IL — Our local congratulates its 2023 apprenticeship graduates: Dalton Anderson, Zach Apke, Kyle Brumleve, Logan Bruner, Lucas Duckett, Zach Foor, Lance Hunt, Austin Mann, Zach Massey, Jordan Mette, Brent Perry, Bryan Ray, Jed Shumaker, Riley Smith, Earl Taylor Jr., Stephen Thornton and Jake Wade. We wish the graduates much prosperity in their new careers!

Steven Tilford, B.M.

L.U. 150 (es,i,rts&spa), WAUKEGAN, IL — Summer has finally arrived, and with the season comes another successful graduating apprenticeship class. Local 150 congratulates the following graduates on becoming inside journeymen wiremen: Branden J. Boeing, Nicholas S. Burbank, Douglas P. Carr, Tyler M. Colton, Danny S. Contreras, Mateo J. Dituro, Timothy H. Forro, Conner J. Geidner, Abraham Guerra, Patrick M. Keefe, Joshua R. Kurtz, Zachary R. Marabella, Jorge L. Salinas, Cody J. Vanderspool, Brett A. Whitlow, Timothy H. Zegers and Joshua J. Zimmerman.

Local 150 congratulates the following graduates on becoming VDV journeyman wireman technicians: Joseph P. Hatton, Eric L. Kirt and George K. Tuhowski IV.

Local 150 would also like to congratulate our incoming apprentice class. We accepted 20 new inside wireman apprentices and three new VDV journeyman wireman technicians. Welcome to the IBEW!

Local 150's work outlook is good for the rest of the year, and we look forward to the work to come. Brothers and sisters, be safe out there and look out for one another!

Aaron M. Rendon, R.S.

L.U. 158 (i,it,mar,mt,spa&u), GREEN BAY, WI — In May, our local held its 104th annual awards banquet. It was well attended, and everyone there had a great time.

During the banquet, we handed out IBEW years-of-service pins, from 20 years through 70 years, to our members and retirees. I would personally like to thank everyone who received a service pin at this year's banquet. I would also like to thank the retirees of Local 158 for paving the way to success at our local. Now we must continue to move forward, and we have accepted that challenge!

We recognized our officers, office staff and apprentices at the banquet. Marsha Nebel, a retired Local 158 journey worker, awarded her inaugural scholarship to a female apprentice who has proven to be outstanding in the program, Emilee Vandenbush. Congratulations, Emilee!

Jesse A. Jacques, B.M.

L.U. 164 (c,em,i,o&t), JERSEY CITY, NJ — On April 23, five of our fourth-year apprentices ran in the inaugural Jersey City Marathon. Slater Brown, Steven Capone, Andrew Dorian, Oscar Rivera and Michael Wolfanger all completed the full 26.2-mile event. This marathon was sanctioned by USA Track & Field and was a 2024 Boston Marathon qualifying event. The marathon course took the participants through the uniquely diverse and culturally rich neighborhoods of our beloved Jersey City.

Michael Wolfanger took the lead in organizing participation in the event, but each of the apprentices took part as a way to accomplish something challenging while focusing on the camaraderie. All the while, they encouraged and pushed one another as they ran dozens of miles in training for the event.

Wolfanger said after the marathon that the group hopes to participate in these types of events regularly and encouraged others to join future road race events that support good causes and good health. Local 164 congratulates these young members on a job well done.

Warren M. Becker, P.S.

L.U. 302 (i,rts&spa), MARTINEZ, CA — Work in our local continues to be strong. We are regularly getting into Book 2, with calls continuing throughout the summer.

Our local recently had our annual golf tournament. The weather was great, and everyone had a very enjoyable time. Special thanks to one of our retirees, Steve Sloper, who was responsible for making the tournament happen. We would also like to congratulate the winning team, who happened to be the defending champions: Hunter Dennison, Tim Gross, Brandon Torchia and Justin Torchia.

This June, we celebrated the graduation of our inside apprentices. Local 302 would like to congratulate them and wish them well in their future careers: Brian Anderson, Stephen Birkhauser, Daniel Cardenas, Elviz Ceja, Carlos Cervantes, Justin Cervantes, Eric Doyle, Rene Huerta, Daniel Hurtado, Christopher Jovel, Eraclio Lopez Jr., Amaris Lujano, Michael Lumsden, Louis Montano, Steve Perry, Domonic Quilici, Eric Rickard, Jacob Rios, Bryan Sanchez and Donald Sloan. Congratulations to them and their families!

Tom Hansen, B.M.

L.U. 332 (c,ees,i&st), SAN JOSE, CA — The work picture for our local has been impacted by economic pressures that have affected most of the country. With many tech-related companies cutting back on their workforces, projects that were expected to break ground have been postponed, and some have simply been taken off the docket completely. This slowdown has given us the opportunity to reflect on the challenges and opportunities we will experience in the future. It is also the time to reflect on how blessed we have been with an extended period of full employment and a reminder that we should never take anything for granted.

As the work picture began to slow down, many of our traveling brothers and sisters returned to their home locals. Without them, we could not have addressed the demands of the workforce and met the needs of our signatory contractors or their customers. To all those traveling brothers and sisters who had been so helpful and supportive in that endeavor, we thank you wholeheartedly. We hope that the work picture will improve soon and that we will return to full employment and more.

Like many other locals, we celebrated the graduation ceremony of the class of 2023 from both our inside and residential wireman programs in June. We congratulate these new journeymen for their earnest efforts and wish them a long and successful career with the IBEW and Local 332. You are the future, and you make us proud!

Javier Casillas, B.M.

L.U. 340 (i,rts&spa), SACRAMENTO, CA — As this reaches everyone, our local will have a change in our inside wireman wage and fringe package. We are looking at a $2.25 increase, and we will have our membership vote on allocating these funds. I have faith in our membership that we will make a sensible decision.

In other news, we have had many successful events this year. Our RENEW committee held a cornhole tournament as well as its first ever billiards tournament. Our Women's Committee held its first event ever, a bingo night. The softball team brought back their crab feast, and it was a huge success as usual. There were many prizes, good eats and great laughs.

As far as office events are concerned, the picnic was held in September at the Hagan Community Park in Rancho Cordova. We appreciate everyone who helped make this event one to remember. It takes a huge team to put this event together, with volunteers, sponsorships and coordination with many vendors.

We hope the rest of the year will continue to be a success.

Robert D. Ward, B.M.

L.U. 364 (catv,ees,em,es,i,mt,rts&spa), ROCKFORD, IL — We've just about completed this year's summer school work, and what a summer it was! We had a higher-than-average amount of school work, but we were able to complete these projects. Many thanks to all the traveling brothers and sisters who continue to get the job done here in Local 364.

Our Hard Rock project is rolling right along, with the steel completed in June and the exterior walls and roof taking shape. As of mid June, Morse Electric had 12 wiremen onsite. We have been waiting decades for this project to begin, so you can imagine our anticipation for this work.

The Meta data center in DeKalb has surpassed 1,000 IBEW members onsite and continues to impress with all project completion dates on time or ahead of schedule. Once again, we could not do this without all the help from our traveling brothers and sisters from throughout the country.

Local 364 hosted our annual family picnic in July. Every year, this event keeps getting better, from the water balloon fights and the large water slide to the bags and horseshoe competition, plus all the large carnival rides. A special thanks to our picnic committee, which coordinates and runs this massive event voluntarily. Your dedication to this local along with all the hard work and time you put in helped to make this year's event a success.

Brad F. Williams, P.S.

L.U. 424 (as,ees,em,es,i,mo,o,ptc,rtb,rts,spa&u), EDMONTON, AB — With the provincial election now over, our local looks forward to working with the new provincial government. Local 424 member Jon Carson will not be running for a third term. We wish Brother Carson well with all of his future endeavors.

A reminder to interested members about the Edmonton Elks Labour Day rematch with the Calgary Stampeders: Members interested in obtaining tickets to the game need to contact the business office at 780-462-5076 or by email at ibew424@ibew424.net.

Local 424 held a course on stewardship May 18-19 at the Electrical Industry Training Centre of Alberta in Edmonton. International Representative James Watson of the Education Department presented at the stewards' course; attendees can be seen in the accompanying photo.

Scott William Crichton, P.S.

L.U. 640 (em,govt,i,mo,mt,rts,spa,u&ptc), PHOENIX, AZ — The weather in Phoenix has warmed up, but it's not as hot as our job market! We have a lot of work going on around the valley on microchip plants, data centers, hospitals and more. We appreciate the help throughout the year from our traveling brothers and sisters, and we could always use some more. We have been organizing like crazy, and it's not slowing down anytime soon.

If you want to come on out, we just need a travel letter and paid-up dues receipt. And remember, it's a dry heat here.

Best wishes to departing Business Manager Dean Wine, who has accepted a position as the renewable energy/government affairs coordinator for the Seventh District. He is leaving our local in great shape, and we know he'll do a great job in his new position! Until next time, stay well!

Tim Wilson, P.S.

L.U. 654 (i), CHESTER, PA — Our local extends a huge congratulations to our graduating apprenticeship class of 2023. This group includes Nicholas Apgar, Michael Caratello, John Chambers, Dylan Cox, Brandon DeJesse, Vincent Demitis, Derrick Dinkins, Timothy Dougherty, Ron Frank, Colin Hickey, Shane Huston, Heath Lawrence, Matthew Manocchio, Joseph Parris, George Renzulli, Marc Sessa and Andrew Wechsler.

Their apprenticeship started in September 2018, and this class powered through the pandemic without missing stride. With a blend of in-class, virtual and hands-on training, the class worked hard to build their skillsets, benefiting themselves and the local. Everyone at Local 654 would like to wish these graduates the best of luck in their careers as journeymen wiremen.

Chris Schieler, P.S.