July
July Issue
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.