Current "EXTRA" Stories

Second Straight Win at New Mexico Utility
The IBEW has racked up another organizing win at Public Service New Mexico. In late April, meter readers and collectors voted 74 to 8 for IBEW representation in the fourth National Labor Relations Board election since 1999.

Union Members Speak Out at Verizon Shareholder Meeting
Dozens of union members carried thousands of proxy votes into Verizon’s annual shareholder meeting in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Allentown Local and Former Unionists Revive Organizing
Deindustrialization and the outsourcing of jobs to Mexico and Asia have always been blamed for the difficulty in maintaining union density in the United States.

2008 IBEW PHOTO and VIDEO CONTEST

Spring IBEW Journal Online Now...
Download this issue of the IBEWJournal for both online viewing and printing...

>> Get the Journal in PDF via email each
month instead of paper in your mailbox...

IBEW-Style Earth Day in Providence
It started on college campuses, but Earth Day, April 22, is now a universal happening that promotes activism to save our planet.

First Contract Vote at Texas Utility Brings in New Members
Nerves were on edge at a newly-organized unit at TXU, Texas’ largest utility, when the company was sold to a private equity firm in April 2007.

OSHA Fines Verizon in Fatality
After a five-month investigation into the death of a Verizon technician in Plymouth, Mass., the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued three citations and proposed $13,500 in fines for "serious" violations of federal occupational safety and health laws.

Overwhelming Vote Brings IBEW to Arkansas Electric Cooperative
Johnny Rimmer, the son of a lineman, knew that his father was one of a special breed.

New Mexico Utility Workers Find Their Voice with IBEW
In the third National Labor Relations Board election since 1999, gas workers at Public Service New Mexico finally voted for IBEW representation.

State of Our Union Webcast Draws Crowds and Stirs Dialogue
Union members and leaders gathered at halls, stadiums, TV studios and home computers across North America on March 27 to hear President Edwin D. Hill’s State of Our Union Message for the utility industry.

Prospective Five-Year FairPoint New England Deal Reached
The ink hasn’t even dried on its acquisition of Verizon’s landlines in New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont, but FairPoint has already come to a tentative five-year agreement with the IBEW.

AMTRAK AGREEMENT OVERWHELMINGLY
RATIFIED BY IBEW MEMBERS
In a vote counted earlier today, AMTRAK IBEW members ratified by over 2 to 1 the recently negotiated agreement between Amtrak and the IBEW.

IBEW Launches National Comcast
Organizing Campaign!

‘High Road’ Campaign Brings IBEW Membership
to Montana Co-op Workers
Twenty five employees of an electric cooperative in Cut Bank, Mont., are now members of Kalispell Local 768 following an overwhelming vote in favor of affiliation by their in-house union.

Verizon-FairPoint Deal Approved;
Union Objections Win Key Concessions
More than a year of an all-out campaign ended on Monday, Feb. 25, when FairPoint Communications cleared its final hurdle to purchase Verizon’s land lines operations in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Press Release: NH provides last regulatory approval...
$362 million in new commitments from Verizon

Tentative Amtrak Agreement Out for Ratification
The recently reached tentative agreement between the IBEW and AMTRAK has just gone out for ratification. 

Former BM Ken Sagar Elected President of Iowa AFL-CIO
Ken Sagar, former business manager of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Local 204, has been elected president of the Iowa AFL-CIO.

Radio Spots Send Open Shop Electricians to Tampa Union Hall
Open shop electricians in Tampa, Fla. turned on their radios in January to a dynamic pitch from the IBEW to check out the opportunities that come with union membership.

IBEW Member Hits the Central Flyway on Escape to the Wild
Airs Thursday, Feb. 14 at 7:30 PM and Sunday, Feb. 17 at 10 AM (ET) on          

VP Lindell K. Lee Named Secretary-Treasurer
IBEW International President Edwin D. Hill has appointed, and the International Executive Council has confirmed, Eleventh District Vice President Lindell K. Lee as International Secretary-Treasurer, effective March 1, to fill the term of Jon F. Walters.

Jon Walters Retires
Secretary-Treasurer Jon F. Walters has announced his March 1 retirement, bringing to a close an eminent 48-year IBEW career that culminated with three years as the union’s top financial officer.

AMTRAK UPDATE: January 16th Negotiating Session Set

Winter IBEW Journal Online Now...
Download this issue of the IBEWJournal for both online viewing and printing...

>> Get the Journal in PDF via email each
month instead of paper in your mailbox...

Amtrak PEB Report Supports Rail Labor

A Lucky Season for Two IBEW Sportsmen
Dave Thomas and Paul Kress both have a little more holiday cheer this season, thanks to the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance, a hunting and fishing program of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.

IBEW Member Wins Dream Sailfish Trip on Escape to the Wild
New Jersey breeds a lot of fisherman, and Folsom, N.J., Local 351 member Rick DiBruno is one of the most passionate. DiBruno’s father taught him to fish when he was six, and he was immediately smitten

Amtrak Presidential Emergency Board Hearings End...
Members Now Await Board Report
After three long days of testimony, Presidential Emergency Board 242 concluded its hearings late Thursday afternoon.

PRESS RELEASE: Unions Commend Maine Regulators for Setting Hearing Date to Address Proposed Verizon-FairPoint Settlement

PRESS RELEASE: Settlement proposed to Maine PUC by some intervenors fails to protect the public interest

Boston Broadcasting Workers Sound Alarm on Job Security
Technicians and photographers in Boston Local 1228 are making their own news in their struggle to win a contract at television station WCVB that protects bargaining unit jobs in a time of increasing Internet-based broadcasting.

Convention 2006 Coverage

President Hill's "State Of Our Union" Address...2005