December
December Issue
When three major hurricanes tore through the Caribbean earlier this year, they caused historic levels of devastation. Harvey dumped on Houston. Irma shook up Florida and Puerto Rico. Then came Maria. For Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Local 728 member Phil St. Jean, it was the island of Dominica that he kept his eye on.
New York Local 3 member Lou Alvarez has seen devastation before, but nothing prepared him for what he saw when he arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico, leading the first group of IBEW volunteers to arrive after Hurricane Maria made landfall two weeks before.
A 90-year-old Detroit woman in need of hands-on help to light and warm her home got an early Christmas visit from some community “angels,” as she called them, including a pair of IBEW representatives.
Several IBEW families are among thousands who have lost their homes to deadly wildfires that devastated northern California in October and ignited near Los Angeles in early December, propelled by hurricane-strength winds.
The contest to find the 2018 IBEW Photo of the Year is entering in its final phase.
IBEW members from across the country competed in the second annual IDEAL National Championship, and once again dominated in both the apprentice and professional categories.
Nine months after a nail-biting, one-vote organizing victory, workers at New Jersey’s Linden co-generation plant beat the odds, voting 32-5 in November to approve their first contract.
Anti-union activists in the Great Lake State moved one step closer to repealing the law that guarantees construction workers a solid, livable wage.
An IBEW local organizer is running for an Arkansas House seat with the ambitious goal of overturning the state’s anti-union right-to-work law.
Energy generation and power distribution – an $880 billion a year business -- has changed more in the last 20 years than in the preceding 100, and that change is likely to accelerate in the coming years.
Outraged by the GOP’s tax bill, a local IBEW president was among five protesters who staged a sit-in and ultimately were arrested Monday at Sen. Susan Collins’ office in Bangor, Maine.
In Iowa, it’s no longer enough to simply vote for union representation. Now, public workers – those working for the state, counties, cities and towns – are being forced to repeat the process every two or three years thanks to anti-union legislation that requires “recertification” votes in the year leading up to a new contract.
The Republican tax plan is heading for a vote in the Senate this week, and friend of labor, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, has some problems with it.
November
November Issue
Business Manager Jason Tibbs said Regina, Saskatchewan, Local 2067 has had a non-adversarial relationship with the conservative provincial legislature for the last several years. The relationship with SaskPower, its largest employer, has been a good one.
Hayden McClure didn’t know he had cancer – didn’t know he was even at risk – until he took the test offered by the Building Trades National Medical Screening Program. It saved his life.
Women make up nearly half the U.S. workforce, but they account for less than 3 percent of the construction trade.
In the United States, President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement, arguing that only a businessman like him can bring back manufacturing and restore jobs that long ago left for Mexico.
The third annual National Apprenticeship Week kicked off Nov. 13, marked by apprenticeship graduations, training center open houses and other events highlighting the benefits of on-the-job training.
On land and on sea, wind power is coming into its own and the IBEW aims to be a key part of this growth industry in renewable energy.
San Diego Local 569 joined with signatory contractor Sullivan Solar Power on a project to get middle-school age children interested in solar power, not to produce a national champion.
Wilmington, Del., Local 313 wireman Dave Amalfitano is a man bursting with gratitude and plans for the future.
Labor activists in Illinois have a chance to bury one of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s top anti-union priorities this week, and they’re putting the full-court press on wavering Republican legislators to join them.
When Tanisha Smythe started at Time Warner Cable in New York a decade ago she was living in a shelter with her newborn son. Seven months after Smythe and nearly 1,800 other members of New York Local 3 went on strike, she is facing a return to one.
The Republican tax plan released by House Speaker Paul Ryan on Nov. 2 is a giveaway to corporations and the ultra-wealthy at the expense of the middle class and future generations of Americans.
A statewide election on Tuesday could have a devastating impact on working families and labor unions in one of the country’s most union-dense states.
Excelsior College was awarded nearly a nearly $865,000 grant by the National Science Foundation to develop simulators that will prepare students to be high-skilled technicians in the energy, nuclear and manufacturing industries.
October
October Issue
A lineman’s job isn’t for everyone, but it might be great for a veteran.
Brother Paul Feeney will soon be the newest member of the Massachusetts State Senate after the Boston Local 2222 member and Verizon central office technician handily defeated his two opponents in the Oct. 17 special election.
The small town of Jackson, N.J., just half an hour’s drive from the Jersey shore, is home to the state’s first transitional housing program for homeless female veterans thanks to the vision and generosity of a local couple driven to serve.
Two years ago, the dress code for millions of U.S. workers, including more than half of the IBEW’s members, changed.
Union membership has traditionally provided working families improved health insurance coverage. A recently-released report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that might be truer ever, even in the face of rising costs.
The IBEW’s Liz Shuler was unanimously re-elected to a third term as secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO on Oct. 22 alongside AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Executive Vice President Tefere Gebre.
Virginia voters head to the polls on Nov. 7 to choose a new governor and state Legislature, and IBEW members in the state have been working hard to convince their neighbors to cast their votes for working families.
“Soundstage” began presenting musical acts on PBS stations across the country in 1974. Chicago Local 1220 has played a key role from the start.
Two progressive senators introduced a single-page bill that would end right-to-work laws.
Uncontrolled wildfires have spread across parts of northern California, killing at least 40 and leaving entire neighborhoods and communities in ruins. Among those who have lost their homes are at least 45 IBEW members and their families, who had to race away from walls of flames, some with only moments to spare.
Time is running out to share the best of what you do every day. The 2017 IBEW Photo Contest closes to new entries on Oct. 31, so get out your cameras and send us your photos if you haven’t already.
Since Memphis, Tenn., Local 474 received its official apprenticeship charter in 1947, instructors have trained well over 1,000 apprentices. But it wasn’t until this year that they finally got a building of their own in which to do it.
A new challenge to public sector workers that is expected to deal a major blow to their ability to bargain collectively is now before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The gender pay gap is shrinking, but it’s happening at a glacially slow pace. One place where it’s smaller than average though, is the unionized trades. And collaborations like that between Oregon Tradeswomen, a nonprofit that supports women in the trades, and Portland, Ore., Local 48 are bringing great career opportunities to more and more women.
Nearly two dozen IBEW wiremen and linemen are on their way to begin rebuilding Puerto Rico’s shattered electrical grid. Fifteen are going from New York Local 3 and 15 are going from Miami, Tampa, Atlanta and other locals.
Houston Local 66 Business Manager Gregory Lucero met with an apprentice recently whose home had been damaged by flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey and suggested he apply for help from the Texas AFL-CIO’s Worker Relief Find.
September
September Issue
The IBEW’s relationship with CBS began before World War II. A new contract agreement assures the partnership remains a strong one into the next decade.
International President Lonnie R. Stephenson in September joined the Council on Competitiveness, a Washington-based nonprofit whose mission is advancing American prosperity and increasing the United States’ competitiveness in the global marketplace.
The IBEW has joined with other unions, consumer advocacy groups and defenders of a free and open press to oppose Sinclair Broadcast Group’s proposed takeover of Tribune Media.
Boston Local 2222 member Paul Feeney won the Democratic primary on Sept. 19 in his special election bid for a seat in the Massachusetts State Senate. He’ll go on to face Republican Jacob Ventura and independent Joe Shortsleeve in the Oct. 17 general election.
The IBEW and working families in West Virginia suffered a setback on Sept. 15, when the state’s Supreme Court squashed an injunction that prohibited implementation of a right-to-work law and sent the case back to the circuit court level.
In Hurricane Irma’s wake, the largest power restoration force in U.S. history mobilized to repair and rebuild the Southeast, with line crews coming from as far away as Seattle, California and even parts of Canada to pitch in. With nearly 8 million out of power, approximately 60,000 line workers, tree-trimmers and support staff from 250 utilities converged on Florida, led by IBEW members, who made up an enormous share of the restoration army.
Less than a year after one of the largest organizing victories in the South, the workers at the Memphis, Tenn., Electrolux plant overwhelmingly voted to accept a first contract.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio made clear whose side they are on during a Sept. 18 rally: the 1,800 New York Local 3 members who have been on strike against Charter/Spectrum for six solid months. Both urged the company to return to the bargaining table and negotiate a contract that’s fair for working families.
Staying up-to-date on industry trends is important in any job. For telecommunications professionals, the National Coalition for Telecommunications Education and Learning makes it virtually painless.
As members of the House of Representatives scrambled on Sept. 6 to pass an appropriations bill to keep the government running, Rep. Steve King of Iowa and others tried repeatedly to attach amendments that would gut the Davis-Bacon Act, a long-standing law that assures construction workers a living wage.
In late 2012, Modesto, Calif., Local 684 needed to get bigger. Work was picking up, and in the years following the 2008 recession, the downturn in construction had seen membership slip from a historical average of around 300 to just 228. Then-business manager Billy Powell decided it was time to take action.
Steven Claywell was unanimously elected to the second-highest position in the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council, the first IBEW member to do so in almost 20 years.
Baton Rouge, La., Local 995 donated $15,000 to send children to Camp I’m Still Me, a traditional summer camp in Texas for children that have suffered burn injuries.
After 16 years of an anti-union Liberal Party in power, many British Columbia working families were ready for change and put their faith – and votes – with the New Democrats. And after a historically close election, labour is celebrating an NDP victory.
More than 10 million people are without power in the Sunshine State after Hurricane Irma churned its way up the length of the peninsula over the weekend, unleashing 140 mph winds, heavy rain and 10-foot storm surges in some coastal areas.
Hurricane Irma, one of the strongest and largest hurricanes in U.S. history, is expected to slam into Florida Saturday morning and utility executives in the state expect unprecedented devastation.
Katie Fasting figured out when she was 4 years old that her mother had a college degree and her father didn’t.
Milwaukee Local 494 member Phil Kissinger was on his way to ask a friend how he was recovering from surgery when his vision started fluttering.
David Hawkes is saddened by the destruction he’s seen in his native Texas. Yet, there’s a sense of honor in knowing that he is being counted on to help get things back to normal.
Just in time for Labor Day, a new report reveals the importance of unions to all working people and details how decades of stagnant wages correlate directly with shrinking union membership.
August
August Issue
The IBEW’s 40th International Convention will be in Chicago, International President Lonnie R. Stephenson announced on Aug. 29.
Drivers in the Show Me state will now have to treat utility workers the same as police and firefighters, says a new law.
A newly released federal report about the state of the electricity generation industry blames not environmental regulations but the low cost of natural gas for the closure of coal and nuclear plants.
Hurricane Harvey has been wreaking havoc on southeast Texas ever since it landed on Friday, and it’s shattering records along the way. Wherever possible, IBEW members are helping with rescue efforts and to restore power to the 300,000-plus residents without it.
In the midst of his own battle with cancer,
retired Worcester Local 96 member Paul Pratt is doing his part to combat
the disease for others like him.
Florida legislators acting on behalf of wealthy patrons have attacked the one law that has assured labor peace on public construction projects for years: the project labor agreement.
Donna Doherty has been a New York Local 3 member for 38 years. She’s worked for Charter/Spectrum and the companies that preceded it as the city’s cable television franchisee, serving as one of the first woman technicians on the job and advancing to foreman in the technical operations department.
When Memphis-area students returned to school this month, many were sporting new backpacks full of supplies, thanks to Memphis, Tenn., Local 1288.
While millions of Americans were outside looking up at Monday’s total eclipse, hundreds of IBEW utility members kept the lights on as the sky goes dark.
One of the first actions by the GOP-dominated Missouri legislature and the newly-elected Republican governor this year was to pass and sign into law a right-to-work bill in February.
Talks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement began Aug. 16 in Washington, but the White House objectives, released in July, have critics griping that the “new” plan looks a lot like the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that Donald Trump – and the IBEW – opposed last year
The second-generation Local 309 wireman, has taken his love for the past to the extreme, authoring a book about the remarkable story of his own grandfather’s fight through war-torn World War II Europe, and then recreating that journey for an upcoming documentary film.
The first grid-scale solar installation built by Tampa Electric Co. was supposed to be the opening chapter of the company’s green energy future. It all nearly fell apart because of one of the oldest stories there is: shoddy work by nonunion contractors.
Even after all the attention and honors, Atlanta Local 84 member Nate Dixon insists he did nothing special. Caren Senter respectfully disagrees.
In collaboration with the aboriginal community and the building trades, Vancouver, B.C., Local 213 led a pilot program to recruit and train aboriginal youth interested in pursuing a career as an electrician.
Charter/Spectrum is doing just
fine. The company took in $29 billion in revenue in 2016 and the stock price
has gone up
about 70
percent during the last year
.
Lamar Austin looks back at the earliest moments of the New Year and remains a little stunned.
Dave Fashbaugh’s jurisdiction is mostly rural, save for the influx of vacationers along Lake Michigan during the summer months.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced plans to rebuild almost 80 miles of transmission line, and it will be done by IBEW members.
New York Local 3 member Harry Garcia remembers growing up in Electchester, a cooperative housing district in Queens established by the local decades ago.
Momentum is building in the days before a planned vote of more than 4,000 workers at Nissan in Mississippi.
A new study shows the electric power industry is responsible for nearly 7 million jobs in the U.S., about one in every 20 workers.
The Code of Excellence is the backbone of everything the IBEW does. That importance is underscored with the launch of a new quarterly newsletter.
July
July Issue
Mike Duncan isn’t the only contractor providing high-quality craftsmanship in New Brunswick, but he might be the only one who gets his crew together every Friday for a group photo for the company Instagram account.
Brother Kevin Cavanaugh won a hotly contested state Senate election in New Hampshire on July 25, besting former Republican Sen. Dave Boutin to help Democrats hang on to the important seat.
About 310,000 people live in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, spread out over more than 16,000 square miles – making it geographically larger than nine states. Outside of driving for several hours through three other states, one could reach the rest of Michigan only by air or ferry until 1957, when the five-mile Mackinac Bridge was opened.
A group of 48 Democratic House members
– including New Jersey Rep. Donald Norcross, an IBEW member – are warning that
the Trump administration’s plan to cut the Labor Department budget by 20
percent would
decimate
good job-training programs that already exist.
The National Labor Relations Board is about to shift dramatically in favor of big corporations, as two controversial Donald Trump appointees cleared Senate committee hurdles on July 19.
This year, Union Plus granted over $11,000 in
scholarships to family members of IBEW workers. The scholarships were
awarded to 11 recipients who attend or are planning to attend
university, college trade or technical school.
A group of young IBEW members from New York held their first “lobby day” in Albany, meeting with their elected representatives and getting the chance to sway them on a current piece of legislation.
Last October, the Media Department told the story of Johnstown, Pa., Local 459 member Tom Whitehead, his wife Kari and daughter Emily, who was in remission from leukemia after undergoing a revolutionary treatment at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Fellow IBEW members rallied around the Whiteheads and supported them both financially and emotionally during a time of crisis.
Public employees in Manitoba are under attack, but in July, they petitioned the courts to help them strike back.
Speaking to representatives from Italian organized labor, Pope Francis blessed the work of labor unions.
Three bills approved by a key House committee in June would strip workers of rights and make it harder to organize.
As the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance celebrates a decade of connecting union members through conservation, its Brotherhood Outdoors TV series kicked off its ninth season with a new look when it returned to the Sportsman Channel in July.
If you’ve ever experienced a power outage – especially in the dead of winter or during a sweltering heatwave – and breathed a sigh of relief when the lights came back on, take a second this July 10 to thank a lineworker for making it happen.
In 2015, it was safe to say things at Entergy’s Arkansas Nuclear One in Russellville, Ark., were not going well.
IBEW members have been an integral part of the Motor City for more than 100 years, and now they’re part of its resurgence.
When Japanese utility executives came to the U.S. to learn about protecting their workers from falls, they came to the IBEW for advice.
June
June Issue
Three months into their strike
against Charter/Spectrum, and even with
public
support from many local politicians
and surveys that show the company is
one of the most disliked
in the country, New York Local 3 members find
themselves in much the same position as they were in late March.
Opponents of Michigan’s prevailing wage are campaigning for a ballot initiative as well as legislation to repeal the law that guarantees fair pay to hardworking men and women.
It’s a horrible time when a child is reported missing or abducted – a scenario parents understandably don’t want to think about much.
North Carolina adopted its right-to-work law in 1947, the same year the Taft-Hartley Act, which empowered states to curb the sources of union funding, passed the U.S. Congress. No move to repeal it has gained any noticeable momentum since.
On June 6, the same anti-worker groups who brought a 2015 California union-busting case to the Supreme Court petitioned the justices to weigh in on an eerily similar case, this time out of Illinois. At issue – again – is whether public employees can be compelled to pay “fair share” fees to a union to cover the costs of collective bargaining and representation performed on their behalf.
Legislation in Canada designed to cripple unions was undone with the passage of a new bill on June 19.
While Senate Republicans work behind closed doors to deliver a version of an Obamacare repeal that can pass the upper chamber, retired Americans are pushing back on the House version, passed in May, that would prove devastating for older workers and retirees.
When the Oklahoma Sooners decided in 2015 it was time for a major upgrade to the Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, the university’s Board of Regents turned to the same IBEW contractor it’s used on the historic football structure for decades.
The IBEW apprenticeship program took center stage before the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee on Capitol Hill June 15, with a member telling lawmakers that IBEW training makes graduates immediately employable with journey-level skills that are valued anywhere.
In Iowa, they had the power to put criminals behind bars, but Linn County Sheriff’s Department sergeants didn’t have a seat at the bargaining table.
If you’ve ever considered beefing up your earning potential, now may be just the right time.
The last time Grand Island, Neb., Local 1597 Business Manager Dan Quick was elected to a government position was his successful campaign for Hordville High School student president.
An Obama-era rule designed to ensure that people get unbiased financial advice went into effect June 9 – mostly.
Paul Feeney is a little surprised to be a candidate for the Massachusetts State Senate.
A longtime youth baseball and softball program in Missouri saw its season put in jeopardy by an aging, dangerous electrical system.
The Trump administration’s budget would slash federal pensions for current and future federal retirees by thousands of dollars a year.
Kevin Cavanaugh won the Democratic primary on June 6, the first step in his bid for a seat in the New Hampshire state Senate.
It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of former International Executive Council Chairman Robert Pierson.
Members of Chicago Local 134 gathered on Memorial Day this year, just as they have since 1935. It’s a different kind of Memorial Day gathering than anywhere else in the IBEW – or in the entire labor movement.
Five years ago, Charleston, W.Va., Local 466 member Tara Turley was, in her own words, broken.
Hiring the best trained, most productive electricians in the business – IBEW members-- leads to successful contractors and happy customers.
The construction industry is booming across the South, but it’s resulting in too many low-wage, dead-end jobs, according to a new report from the Workers Defense Project.
May
May Issue
It took eight weeks and the help of a federal mediator, but negotiators for striking New York Local 3 members finally got a chance to sit down with Charter/Spectrum officials on May 23.
Until now, when someone has helped a member get back home to their family after being in a life-threatening situation, the IBEW has had two ways of saying thank you.
The seeds for a successful organizing campaign sometimes are laid many years in advance. New York Local 1212 members saw that firsthand this spring, with the blossoming of a new unit across the river.
In New Hampshire, momentum is building for Kevin Cavanaugh, an alderman and assistant business manager for Manchester Local 2320 who is running in a special election for the state Senate.
During the 2016 campaign, candidate Donald Trump promised a trillion dollars in infrastructure spending if elected. The news was met with cautious optimism by the construction industry, which stood to gain the most from a major spending spree by the federal government.
Missouri has been battered by
anti-labor legislation in recent months. That didn’t stop the IBEW and its allies
from fighting off an attempt to repeal the state’s prevailing wage statute.
In their first 100 days in power, the Trump administration and the Republican Congress have repealed and blocked worker safety regulations that were years, sometimes decades, in the making.
On May 16, side cutters in hand,
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau snipped the No. 4 bare copper wire marking the
opening of a permanent monument to the men and women of Canada’s building
trades.
In Canada, young workers are three times more likely to be injured or killed in a workplace accident than their more experienced counterparts. That’s why an organization called My Safe Work goes into high schools to educate students on workplace safety—before they enter the job market.
At its core, the IBEW/NECA Family
Medical Care Plan has a pretty simple mission –
to provide high-quality health insurance to IBEW members and their
families at the best possible price.
After more than a decade of planning and construction –and watchful attempts at destruction—the most advanced space telescope in history left the hands of members of Baltimore Local 1501 May 7.
Signals and communications workers at CN Railway in Canada ratified a new 5-year contact at the end of April, beating back company demands for concessions and ensuring stability for the more than 700 IBEW members through 2021.
Four years ago, Richmond, Va.,
Local 666 built a new event room at the local hall to hold the hundreds of
members who showed up for meetings and events.
Long-term harmony between labor and
management is difficult to come by in the tumultuous telecommunications
industry. IBEW System Council T-3 has found it with one of the nation’s leading
companies.
In this month’s Electrical Worker, we shared the news of Wilmington, Del., Local 313 wireman Dave Amalfitano, who found a kidney donor in Chicago Local 9 apprentice Rob Vargas after the 28-year-old read an Electrical Worker story last August.
Emery Generating Station in Clear Lake, Iowa, has been
recognized as one of the best power plants in the nation and it’s due in part to
the work of its employees, many of whom are members of Cedar Rapids Local 204.
Trains, trolleys and legendary sleeping cars rolled out of the Pullman Company’s Chicago factory for a century until it was shuttered in 1981. Its demise signified the end of railcar production in the United States.
It’s time to get out your cameras and show the world what you do every day. The 2017 IBEW Photo Contest is open and all members are encouraged to enter.
April
April Issue
Every year, thousands of people in North
America leave for work and never come home. Millions more come home, but
they are sick or injured.
When Fredericton, New Brunswick, Local 37 Business Manager Ross Galbraith learned NB Power had won Canada’s Best Health and Safety Culture award for 2016, he was happy for their achievement, but not especially surprised.
When the Davis-Bacon Act became law
in 1931, there was a belief that government should use its buying power to
enhance the welfare of working people. It was a way to ensure a good wage and
that those wages would go to the local economy. That point of view is slowly
losing sway as the race to the bottom continues in the construction industry.
New York Local 3 isn’t getting anywhere with Charter/Spectrum officials in its battle for a fair contract for striking workers.
It was 2009 and Tim Tsotsonis wanted to work as an electrician again after a nearly 22-year absence. And he wanted to help others as a way of saying thanks for the help his family received caring for son Alexander, who has cerebral palsy.
The IBEW officially has a new local: Baltimore Local 410.
A rule designed to help working people better save for retirement has been halted by the Trump administration.
More than 1 million people came out
for Denver’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade March 11.
Scientists from across the globe may
soon be uncovering the secrets of the universe, and they’ll have hundreds of
IBEW members to thank.
Continuing a new tradition, Boston Local 103 hosted more than 350 girls from eastern Massachusetts area high schools on March 2 for a conference and career fair to encourage their interest in the skilled trades.
This is a story about two brothers.
New York Local 3 members employed
by Charter/Spectrum Communications had worked under an expired agreement for
nearly four years.
Jeff Thomson appreciates the importance of skilled workers on projects that provide affordable housing for people in need. That’s why he was thrilled when members of Hutchinson, Kan., Local 661 volunteered to help renovate a duplex that will be home to two military veterans and their families.
The Wisconsin GOP and Gov. Scott Walker have become the poster children in recent years when it comes to an anti-working family agenda. They’re about to strike again.
March
March Issue
If you’ve ever thought about furthering your education, IBEW partner Excelsior College may have the online program for you.
Construction is on an upswing in Evansville, Ind., a city of about 120,000 people nestled in a bend in the Ohio River.
Four members from Dallas-Ft.Worth, Texas, Local 20 took time out to help make improvements to a nearby state park as part of the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance Work Boots on the Ground initiative.
After nearly 50 years of service to the IBEW and the North American organized labor movement, International Secretary-Treasurer Salvatore J. Chilia announced his retirement March 20.
Three members of Boston Local 103 resuscitated a passenger
on the platform of the city’s subway system March 2.
Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan have a plan to overhaul the American health care system, but their proposal preys on the old, the sick, the poor and the middle class while rewarding the super-rich and drug companies with a $600 billion tax cut.
President Donald Trump released his first budget proposal March 16, calling for the largest cuts to the federal government since the drawdown after World War II.
Aaron Zboch-Alves and Greg McFarlane are following a tradition of new leadership in the IBEW’s First District.
The IBEW has joined with other unions in opposing proposed federal legislation that would thwart legal protections for employees who work for private businesses that Native American tribes have even a small financial interest in.
From 2008 to 2009 the U.S. economy collapsed into the steepest recession it had seen since the 1930s. The $8 trillion housing bubble burst, thanks to largely unregulated, reckless financial dealings by big banks and Wall Street. Nearly 9 million Americans lost their jobs, 7 million more lost their homes and more than $2.8 trillion in retirement savings flew out the window nearly overnight.
An IBEW signatory contractor filed
suit against the Trump
organization for skipping out on $2 million of work
done on the luxury Washington D.C. hotel in the Old Post Office Building.
February was a devastating month for unions in Iowa. Following November election wins in the House and Senate, Republicans, already in control of the governor’s office, commanded the entirety of the state’s legislative process for the first time in two decades. And they wasted no time in coming after unions.
In December, four Beebes stepped to the front of Albuquerque, N.M., Local 611’s hall to take their oaths before their union brothers and sisters.
With new advocacy groups popping up all over the internet, members of Congress using Snapchat and worldwide marches starting on Facebook, it may seem old-fashioned to think that organizing lessons can be found in not just a book, but one about someone born at the beginning of the last century.
Members of Philadelphia Building Trades and IBEW Local 98 are volunteering their time and resources to make it known that hate has no home in the City of Brotherly Love.
February
February Issue
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad signed a law Feb. 17 dramatically reducing the power of public-sector union members to negotiate with the state.
New Hampshire’s nickname is the Granite State, a salute to the hard rock that is plentiful there and used in construction. Perhaps it’s only fitting its people held firm against right-to-work laws.
On Feb. 16, Donald Trump nominated lawyer Alexander Acosta to replace failed labor secretary nominee Andrew Puzder, who was forced to withdraw his name from consideration less than 24 hours earlier.
America’s energy infrastructure was on Capitol Hill’s agenda last week, and the IBEW was there to provide some expertise.
With winter comes snowstorms, and with normal snowstorms come power outages and emergency work for the tens of thousands of IBEW lineworkers. Even a few inches of snow and ice can knock out power for hundreds of thousands of people.
The members of Wilmington, Del., Local 313 are willing to do their part for their neighbors, whether they’ve got two legs or four.
The young members of the Electrical Workers Minority Caucus are growing their ranks and the next generation of the IBEW, and that includes a commitment to service.
Emboldened by the frenzied first days of single-party control of the federal government, Republicans in Congress took aim on Feb. 1 at a longtime target – working people.
Leif Andersen heard fellow workers on a jobsite at the BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver last spring talk about their union failing to listen to their concerns and continually siding with management.
There is a constant demand for telecommunications workers but the best jobs –the ones that become careers-- are only open to people who understand the industry’s rapidly changing technology.
The IBEW has worked successfully with Jobs to Move America to ensure public transportation projects create good paying jobs for working families in the communities they serve. The next success story might be in New York.
The march by GOP-controlled states to take away rights from working families continues as newly emboldened representatives and governors – elected with sweeping majorities – make their first order of business to cut paychecks and limit the voices of workers.
Bertha is a very big part of a very big project, and Seattle Local 46 members are helping to steer her, and the project, to the finish line.
January
January Issue
America’s bridges, roads and tunnels are in a sorry state, desperately in need of major investment, but Republicans on Capitol Hill are trying to make sure union labor has no part in rebuilding the country’s infrastructure.
On Jan. 10, America’s first large-scale “clean coal” power station was declared operational, and IBEW members from Houston Local 66 are playing an integral part in making the groundbreaking technology work.
New Jersey Rep. Donald Norcross -- the only active member of the IBEW in Congress—has been appointed to serve on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
It was a normal January night like any other. Members of Boston Local 103 were doing routine maintenance on an above-ground part of Interstate 93. They had no idea they were about to turn into local heroes.
FairPoint’s purchase of Verizon’s landline business in northern New England eight years ago was beset by problems from the beginning.
Lamar Austin became an unwitting
public figure when he was fired because he missed work to attend the birth of
his son on New Year’s Day. News of the incident spread on social media after it
was reported by newspaper and television stations in New England.
Donald Trump’s nominee for labor secretary routinely stole from his workers and fostered an unsafe work environment in pursuit of personal and shareholder profit, according to current and former employees who spoke on Capitol Hill Jan. 10.
After an 18-month organizing drive, a majority of Baltimore Gas & Electric's 1,418 gas and transmission-distribution workers voted to join the IBEW on Jan. 12.
For many, Sunday morning starts with a lazy cup of coffee, maybe the sports page or readying the kids for church. But twice a month for nearly a dozen members of Detroit Local 58, Sunday starts at the union hall with 120 pounds of raw chicken.
Business Manager Michael K. Daley and everyone with Providence, R.I., Local 99 had reason to celebrate when the first offshore wind farm in U.S. waters became fully operational in mid-December.
On their first session of the new year, House Republicans brought
back a rule
written three years before the invention of the lightbulb that
would allow Congress to target specific federal workers and programs.
Rail infrastructure between Washington and New York has been suffering for decades, falling victim to heavy traffic combined with a lack of investment. But federal regulators have a plan for sorely-needed upgrades that could shorten commutes and lead to IBEW jobs.
Kentucky is poised to become the 27th state, and the last state in the South, to pass so-called “right-to-work” legislation.
This crew of young, volunteer-oriented IBEW members is making their mark, one can of yams at a time.