September 2018
September Issue
Even before Hurricane Florence made landfall last Friday, thousands of IBEW members from more than 17 states and parts of Canada had already been mobilized and were making their way toward the storm’s projected route, ready to repair damage the storm was expected to leave behind.
Folsom, N.J., Local 351 inside wireman and business agent before his 2014 election to Congress, Rep. Donald Norcross is more familiar than most U.S. House members with the roadblocks to economic security for tens of millions of American workers.
Firefighters across California are still battling dozens of wildfires as the state deals with one of its worst — and costliest — wildfire seasons ever.
Five IBEW members have been honored for acting heroically to save lives last fall during one of the deadliest mass shootings in United States history.
The Hudson River crossing between Nyack and Tarrytown, N.Y., is a terrible place to build a bridge. The river is three miles across, one of the widest spots on the entire river, where, in places, the bedrock sits deep beneath hundreds of feet of sandy riverbed.
The Oct. 1 deadline for IBEW’s 20th Annual Photo Contest annual photo contest is just around the corner.
President Trump has made his decision on whether federal workers should get a pay raise next year. The answer is, “No.”
A Republican lawsuit being argued in federal court in Texas this week would gut Obamacare and strip affordable coverage – or any at all – from tens of millions of Americans with everything from high cholesterol and asthma to cancer, heart disease and other life-threatening medical conditions.
This Labor Day, a new study confirms something union members always suspected was true: unions are good for workers. All workers.
August 2018
August Issue
Despite a well-documented labor shortage in the midst of a construction boom, the U.S. Department of Labor shockingly rejected an application for Canadian members to work on construction of the Plant Vogtle nuclear station in Georgia.
It’s been described as Procter & Gamble’s biggest
construction project ever, and dozens of electricians represented by
Cumberland, Md., Local 307 are working diligently to make the half-a-billion-dollar
manufacturing facility a reality.
Kentucky workers got a little less safe in July when Republican Gov. Matt Bevin issued an executive order eliminating an independent board that oversees the state’s worker safety program.
Canada’s recent decision to buy a western provinces pipeline and oversee its controversial expansion has many in the IBEW’s First District hoping for an increase in job opportunities for members in British Columbia and Alberta.
As California’s brutal wildfires devour forests, destroy homes and leave thousands of people without power in suffocating heat, the welcome sight of IBEW linemen is never far behind.
Thanks to the hard work and expertise of San Diego Local 569’s members, the city’s Major League Baseball franchise kicked off the 2018 season leading the league – at least when it came to solar power.
Last year’s California wildfires killed dozens of people and left more than 2,100 square miles of costly destruction in their wake. Now, with the 2018 wildfire season already underway, IBEW members in the Golden State are working with utility companies and lawmakers to craft fair legislative solutions to help lessen wildfire frequency and severity and to ensure that future wildfire victims will continue to have access to their due compensation — all without bankrupting utilities in the process.
In a resounding victory for the IBEW and working families, Missouri voters overwhelmingly rejected a right-to-work law on Aug. 7 that had been passed by the GOP-controlled state legislature and signed by former Gov. Eric Greitens.
In union-dense New York City, Local 3 has long operated a medical clinic for members from its headquarters in Queens. Its nearly 30,000 members could populate a respectably-sized small town, so it’s little wonder the local has the means to offer its Pension Hospitalization and Benefit Plan participants a wide range of services, from apprentice entry exams to X-rays.
With crucial midterm elections drawing near, America's working families are being squeezed tighter every day by anti-worker policy decisions from every branch of government.
Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Local 728 member Phil St. Jean isn’t one to walk by when he sees someone in need, especially not when it’s in Dominica, his home country.
Opponents of Missouri’s anti-worker Proposition A seem to have done everything right. First, they collected more than three times the signatures needed to get a referendum on the ballot to repeal the state’s right-to-work law.
This time, it looks like there will be no repeat of contentious contract negotiations with Verizon.
July 2018
July Issue
The Trump administration has issued three executive orders seemingly designed to undercut the federal workforce and its workers’ right to representation.
Illicit drug overdoses are claiming a staggering number of lives in British Columbia, and Vancouver Local 213 members are learning how to help.
It was already approaching 80 degrees in Washington, D.C., as more than 70 IBEW members gathered near the western edge of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool early on Sunday, July 1.
The average American workers’ paycheck has a few more dollars in it than it did a year ago, but it doesn’t stretch as far.
An Obama-era rule designed to grant more transparency to union election campaigns has been rescinded by the Department of Labor.
The IBEW and others in the electrical industry celebrated National Lineworker Appreciation Day on July 10. The timing was fitting in Southern California, where hundreds of IBEW members worked to repair power outages caused by some of the area’s hottest temperatures on record.
Six days before the filing deadline for Pennsylvania’s May primary, a texting SUV driver swerved into the wrong lane and slammed head-on into Bill Troutman’s van.
A lot has changed since 1998, when Boston Local 103 retiree Susan Eisenberg published her first book detailing the struggles of women like her in the building trades. And yet, as she notes in the preface to the recently-released second edition, a lot has stayed the same.
The multi-year campaign to cripple public sector unions did not begin with the Janus case in 2017, and it did not end with the 5-4 Supreme Court decision in June. Now the billionaires who funded the campaign are turning their attention, and their wallets, to convincing workers to quit their unions.
The IBEW and other Canadian trade unions are urging the federal government to scrap a measure that would lead to major cutbacks in retirement benefits for the country’s nuclear workers.
More than a dozen IBEW members and family members are among this year’s recipients of Union Plus scholarships. One young recipient on the list, however, never knew his journeyman lineman father.
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh would cement the court’s big-business, anti-worker majority for years to come, squarely positioning all three branches of government against the rights and financial security of working people. His track record on the federal bench – including a 2016 ruling against an IBEW local – proves it.
July 10 is Linemen Appreciation Day, a moment to celebrate the men and women who keep our country running and memorialize those who have been injured or killed doing their job.
Strolling the tidy green grounds along the gently curving streets of Electchester, Queens, you pass classic red-brick apartment buildings, playgrounds, a grade school, a public library, a police substation, a small shopping center, a medical clinic, even a 48-lane bowling alley.
IBEW officials joined with fellow transportation trades representatives in June to make an impassioned argument for stronger enforcement of federal whistleblower laws.
One of three IBEW bargaining units that represents Frontier Communications employees has reached a tentative four-year agreement with the company that guarantees wage increases and protects the current pension system.
June 2018
June Issue
It took three tries and a special election, but the resolve of Seattle Local 77 paid off this spring when Washington state lawmakers passed a move-over law to protect roadside utility crews.
In a 5-4 ruling by its conservative majority Wednesday, the Supreme Court overturned 40 years of established law in a case intended to cut the legs from under public sector unions.
Ben Nevers has filled a wide variety of roles since entering the apprenticeship program at Bogalusa, La., Local 1077 more than 50 years ago.
Alarming headlines this month are raising fears that Social Security and Medicare are going bankrupt – which is exactly what lawmakers clamoring to slash benefits want Americans to believe.
It’s that time of year again. The days get longer. The sun rides higher in the sky. And heat-related illnesses start claiming lives and sending working people to hospitals at alarming rates.
IBEW railroad branch members covered under the U.S. National Freight Agreement ratified the proposed 2015-2019 contract in May, International President Lonnie Stephenson announced, and arbitration is set to resolve the few remaining issues.
A majority of people view the role of unions as a good thing, says new research from Pew, and that’s good for working families everywhere.
The IBEW has been tapped to join a task force created by the Trudeau government to assist coal workers and communities with Canada’s transition away from coal-fired power plants.
Jennie Sherwood bursts with enthusiasm as she talks about her run for the Nevada statehouse. And it’s plain to see that the first-time candidate is brimming with a natural energy that she isn’t afraid to let show, even in the often-stodgy business of politics.
In a blow to Michigan’s working families, the Republican-led Legislature voted to repeal the state's prevailing wage on June 6.
Missouri voters will still have their chance to repeal the state’s recently-passed right-to-work law, but Republican shenanigans mean the vote will come this summer instead of during November’s general election.
Elections in Ontario take place this Thursday, and IBEW members have worked hard in the weeks and months leading up to Election Day to educate their fellow working Ontarians about what’s at stake.
The city of Henryetta, Okla., has become a favorite spot for organized labor in a right-to-work state because of its Labor Day Festivities, which are some of the largest in the state.
The stars of Hollywood shine brightly in Los Angeles, but it is the city's world-famous sunshine that has catapulted the City of Angels atop the list of America's most solar-friendly cities.
May 2018
May Issue
In 2007, Charlotte, N.C., Local 379 held its meetings in a two-car garage.
Colleen and Rich Scheid each grew up in northern Indiana, but the two journeymen inside wiremen didn’t meet until 2004, when they were working at the Pastoria Energy Facility near Bakersfield, Calif.
The IBEW regrets to announce the death of former International Treasurer Thomas P. Van Arsdale, one of the giants of the Brotherhood from a family of icons. He was 94.
Nearly eight years of high-stakes lobbying by the banking industry paid off this week when the U.S. House voted to dismantle regulations that pulled the country out of the Great Recession, put millions of Americans back to work and protected consumers from financial ruin.
Are you looking to advance your career in the telecommunications industry?
Working families in Michigan were dealt a break last week in the Republican Legislature’s extraordinary long-running attack on the state’s prevailing wage, but the state’s building trades warned the reprieve may be only temporary.
Residents in coastal and rural British Columbia, including 44 First Nations, are about to get an internet upgrade thanks in part to members of Vancouver, Local 213.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey and other Massachusetts political heavyweights joined hundreds of IBEW members on the state’s South Coast May 12 to rally against the outsourcing of more than 150 local jobs to Mexico.
A bill to repeal a new tax on union dues and unreimbursed job expenses has stalled in the Senate, a significant financial blow to many working families and union members.
The road that took Curt Minard to PyeongChang for the 2018 Paralympics wasn’t an easy one. He almost died — three times. But he wouldn’t change it for anything.
Terry Waters and his fellow Frontier technicians in southwestern Alabama and western Florida weren't upset with their employer or working conditions. They did, however, think they could do better.
For “tireless efforts to rally fellow union members for conservation,” the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance honored Washington, D.C., Local 26 Business Manager George Hogan this spring for accomplishments that include restoring a popular Potomac River fishing pier.
For more than 25 years, Paul David Ross has enjoyed a satisfying career as a journeyman inside wireman, a member of IBEW Local 317 in Huntington, W.Va.
The next two national elections could decide the future of organized labor in America.
Nearly 700 Atlanta Gas Light workers will join newly created Atlanta Local 1997 after a successful election held April 19.
For two decades, IBEW members across the U.S. and Canada have been sending us the images that tell the stories of who we are and the work we do. We've been proud to share those pictures with you, and this year we're celebrating a milestone - the IBEW's 20th Annual Photo Contest.
They’re advocates for their union and the building trades, mentors, volunteers and friends who understand what it’s like to be a woman in a male-dominated industry.
April 2018
April Issue
In 2009, then-President Barack Obama said the future of electricity was the smart grid.
Nearly 5,200 workers died on the job in the United States in 2016, the most recent year for which statistics are available. There were more than 900 workplace fatalities in Canada that same year.
Just north of Cincinnati, union activism, community service and politics go hand in hand. And Matt Von Stein hopes it stays that way.
An award honoring a successful labor-management effort to save jobs and fight for a clean energy future in Illinois was presented in March to Dean Apple, business manager at Downers Grove, Ill., Local 15, and to Exelon CEO Chris Crane.
For nearly three decades, energy consumers have been sending a clear message: they want clean, affordable and reliable power. Billions of dollars have been invested in scrubbing coal, switching to natural gas and building renewables.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership had to be renegotiated after the United States pulled out of the controversial trade agreement in January 2017. Yet, even under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s pro-labor government, the proposed deal remains a concern for Canada’s skilled construction workers.
In a major victory for the IBEW and all unions, the U.S. Senate failed to pass the Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act on April 16, avoiding what would have been the biggest rollback in workers’ rights since the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act of 1947.
Labor and working families in Wisconsin got a boost on April 3 when IBEW members and labor allies racked up impressive victories in municipal and judicial elections, sparking enthusiasm they hope will carry into the November elections.
More than 300 local leaders converged on Capitol Hill last week to talk with lawmakers about issues vital to IBEW members' jobs and economic security, as well as the broader fight for workers' rights.
A controversial Department of Labor rule that critics alleged would have allowed employers to steal their employees’ tips was stymied last month, but not before the department suppressed evidence of the potential damage to working families.
Management lawyer John Ring was appointed chairman of the National Labor Relations Board on Thursday, one day after the U.S. Senate narrowly confirmed him as an NLRB member.
A massive pipeline project spanning the southern half of Pennsylvania has helped bring steady jobs for hundreds of IBEW members across the state, but after four long years, the first phase is finally nearing completion with the second close behind.
On Feb. 26, the National Labor Relations Board reversed its previous ruling on the controversial Browning-Ferris case, a stunning backtrack of its December decision to undo the Obama-era rule aimed at protecting working people from unaccountable corporations. Are you looking to advance your career in the telecommunications industry?
Are you looking to advance your career in the telecommunications industry?
Every April, members of Augusta, Ga., Local 1579 work at nearby Augusta National Golf Club during The Masters, providing world-class electricians during one of the golfing world’s highest-profile events.
Members of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce toured a D.C.-area IBEW training facility, where they received an education of their own about the value of electrical apprenticeships.
March 2018
March Issue
Mike Ellison learned more about politics as a teenager than most people do in a lifetime.
IBEW leaders on Tuesday urged the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reverse course on a late-night deal that awarded a $200 million contract extension for power restoration work in Puerto Rico.
Michael Soriano had a college degree in hand and had worked in jobs he enjoyed. But nearly 25 years ago, he changed his career path and followed his father into the trades when he began a New York Local 3 apprenticeship.
With the U.S. Supreme Court expected to issue a major anti-union decision later this year, and the National Labor Relations Board rolling back worker protections left and right, the future might seem bleak for unions. But there’s reason for hope.
IBEW members in Kentucky joined with labor allies to put a stop to the state’s attempt to roll back unemployment benefits. The attack on working families would have had far-reaching consequences for members of the IBEW’s construction branch, in particular.
Of all the things that enthuse American teenagers, you wouldn't expect new textbooks to be high on the list.
The first ship built by Vancouver, B.C., Local 213 members under the Canadian government's National Shipbuilding Strategy launched late last year from Seaspan's Vancouver shipyards.
In a victory for working people that seemed impossible just weeks ago, Pennsylvania union members tipped a deep red congressional district blue in a special election Tuesday.
The first 24 hours are crucial when you’re nursing an emaciated horse back to health, says Tammy Barnett, co-owner of the Horse Shoe Equine Rescue. That’s why she’s spent entire nights outside, in the freezing cold, monitoring and slowly feeding the neglected animals. Now, thanks to volunteers including members of Terre Haute, Ind., Local 725, those nights are over.
Vice President Mike Pence was governor of Indiana in 2015 when the state’s GOP-dominated Legislature passed a repeal of the state’s prevailing wage laws, arguing the measure would save taxpayers money without cutting workers’ salaries.
Construction and Maintenance Department Director Jim Ross testified before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy Feb. 27 about how the federal government can improve the state of the nation’s energy infrastructure.
Senate Republicans are making a rapid push to weaken banking regulations that pulled the nation out the Great Recession and put tens of thousands of IBEW members back to work.
It didn’t take a miracle for members of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Local 163 to turn a closed Catholic school into an IBEW-NECA joint training facility, but leaders hope the building’s holy vibes will continue to bless the work being done inside
One of Bobbie Lynn Mayfield’s greatest joys is making Christmas special for people who otherwise would have little or nothing under the tree.
IBEW members working underground have experienced sweeping changes in recent years. Private contractors are performing an ever-larger share of the work once done by public utilities. Increasingly technical equipment has put more demands on everyone. And concerns about safety linger, in part because there's been little standardization throughout the industry.
Nearly 1,776 feet above Manhattan, Joe Buonocore did something very few others would: he looked down.
Instead of vertigo, Buonocore, a journeyman inside wireman and specialist climber for New York Local 3, captured his mind-bending view of fellow Local 3 member Chris Bugeaunu hanging from the spire of One World Trade Center.
February 2018
February Issue
“My vote won’t make a difference.”
Embracing the IBEW’s Code of Excellence, the Tennessee Valley Authority and its union workforce announced a historic partnership Feb. 6, intended to strengthen shared values and inspire new levels of cooperation between labor and management.
The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments Monday in an ominous case threatening the ability of workers to bargain collectively for fair wages, benefits and job conditions, the latest assault on unions financed by some of America's richest families and corporations.
On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in what some are calling the most important union rights case of the century. And many labor leaders and working people are bracing for the worst when a decision is handed down later this year.
As cruise ships began to return to St. Croix last November, tourists seemed surprised to see so many work crews busy on the largest of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Family-wage jobs. Safe workplaces. Retirement security. Tax fairness. Quality, affordable health care. A voice at work.
Thinking about retirement can be overwhelming. The list of things to consider often seems endless.
Two days before the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in a case that could have a devastating effect on working people's collective-bargaining rights, IBEW International President Lonnie R. Stephenson is encouraging members across the country to take part in a national "Working People's Day of Action."
The race to fill southwestern Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional seat ends March 13 and tens of thousands of union members will play an outsize role in determining the winner.
When the family of a paralyzed teen needed help making their home more accessible, members of New Haven, Conn., Local 90 jumped into action to donate their time and skills.
U.S. House Democrats unveiled a sweeping plan Thursday to invest $1 trillion in the nation’s decaying infrastructure, creating 16 million new American jobs by tackling everything from rickety bridges and railways to safe water, renewable energy and high-speed internet access.
One of the largest transmission projects in North America is coming to an end, and when it does, it will have connected two Canadian provinces for the first time and employed approximately 3,500 IBEW members along the way.
For decades the Democratic party has relied on organized labor for support at the ballot. Now the staff of the Idaho Democratic party has voted to join Boise Local 291 for support on the job.
The AFL-CIO and Mexico’s National Union of Workers formally complained to the Department of Labor that Mexico is violating the already low labor standards of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement.
A bill designed to wreak havoc among public sector unions in Florida passed the state House on Jan. 25, and it now awaits action in the Senate.
January 2018
January Issue
Recruiting women into the trades is getting a little easier, Lisa Langevin has found over more than 15 years as an electrician. But getting them to stay is another story – even as construction is booming across British Columbia.
Congress is close to passing the largest retreat on labor rights since the implementation of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935, and several wavering Senate Democrats will cast critical votes deciding whether the anti-worker effort succeeds or fails.
There’s an old adage that you only have one chance to make a good first impression. It’s also critical to orienting – and organizing – new members into the union.
West Frankfort, Ill., Local 702 Business Manager Steve Hughart learned recently that a 96-year-old widow of a retired IBEW member was having trouble accessing her late husband’s benefits. Business agent Jason Woolard didn’t just help her secure those benefits; he went to her home and spent several hours helping get her finances in order.
A lawyer with a history of working to promote anti-worker policies was among 17 nominees who advanced quickly this week toward near-certain appointments to lifetime terms as federal judges.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is down at least 40 workplace safety inspectors since early 2017, a troubling trend attributable to Donald Trump’s hiring freeze coupled with attrition. Budget cuts under consideration by the White House are likely to make matters even worse for worker safety.
The IBEW and other unions scored a win in Delaware on Jan. 9, when the GOP-dominated Sussex County Council voted 4-1 against a proposed right-to-work law.
The U.S. unemployment rate has remained in the low single digits for the past several years, a sign of a strengthening economy since the 2008 recession ran roughshod over millions of working Americans. But finding a solid middle-class job can still be a struggle for some, especially for someone who has spent time behind bars.
Trump Administration officials have suggested ways to save the government money in the next budget. And, no surprise, some of the savings are expected to come at the expense of working people.
The National Labor Relations Board put its first Republican majority in years to quick use, issuing a flurry of decisions in a single week in early December that unraveled important pro-worker gains made over the last eight years.
On the coldest New Year’s Eve in the history of Peoria, Ill., members of IBEW Local 34 gave residents a dazzling reason to brave the weather.
KC Matthews says she hopes to be an electrician someday and it’s thanks in large part to Bob Thomas and the Inmate Ward Labor program at the Central California Women’s Facility.