A few years back, America's multi-employer pension system was on the verge of collapse.

Through no fault of their own, some of our fellow unions had pension funds that were in deep trouble, teetering on the edge of insolvency.

While this wasn't the case for most IBEW plans, the collapse of any of those funds would have created a domino effect that could have very well brought down the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the federal agency that protects the entire system, putting the retirement security of millions of working people at risk.

Sen. Sherrod Brown led the fight in Congress for the Butch Lewis Act, which would have rescued these troubled multi-employer plans.

But despite our pleading, President Trump and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell ignored the bill.

After all his talk about supporting blue-collar workers, Trump's inaction when it came to saving union members' retirements proved his talk was just that.

Talk.

Butch Lewis remained in limbo until Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took office in 2021.

One of his first major acts in office was signing the American Rescue Plan Act, which incorporated not just the Butch Lewis bill we fought for, but went even further, turning it from a loan into a true rescue of working people's pensions.

With every Republican in the Senate voting against the bill, Vice President Kamala Harris' decisive vote broke the 50-50 tie and saved the multi-employer pension system.

Based on that vote alone, Kamala Harris deserves the support of every IBEW member and their family this November.

But the American Rescue Plan Act was just the beginning. The Biden-Harris administration passed legislation rebuilding our energy infrastructure, bringing high-tech manufacturing jobs back to America, and making our nation the world's energy and technology leader again.

We have said it many times: Joe Biden proved to be the most pro-union president in American history. He fought to attach strong pro-worker requirements to every federal dollar, which has put tens of thousands of IBEW members to work.

He nominated an actual union member to head up the Labor Department and pro-union members to the National Labor Relations Board.

Because of his leadership, today the IBEW is bigger and stronger than it has been in generations.

And working alongside the president every step of the way was Vice President Harris.

She has vowed to continue his pro-union record, which was confirmed by her choice of Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.

A former union member himself, Gov. Walz has led one of the nation's most pro-worker, pro-family state governments and is strongly supported by Minnesota's labor movement.

It is your decision who you vote for. The IBEW is proud to have Democrats, Republicans and independents in its ranks.

But our job as IBEW leaders is to speak clearly about which candidates will help us and who will hurt us.

Everything we know about Kamala Harris and Tim Walz makes it clear that they are on our side when it comes to our rights, wages, benefits and jobs.

That is why we endorsed them and are mobilizing resources to elect them.

But don't take our word for it. Do your own research. Go to IBEWgov.org and read more in this issue of The Electrical Worker to find out each candidate's real record.

For the IBEW, politics is not about partisanship. It's about who is on our side when the pressure is on. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have had our backs, and we stand with those who support us.