With IBEW museum exhibits dating to the 1890s and allied venders promoting everything from time-tested boots and tools to organizing software and healthcare apps, the sprawling Electrical Industry Expo at the 41st International Convention was a testament to 135 years of innovation.
“What an incredible room full of people dedicated to our industry and our IBEW members,” International President Kenneth W. Cooper told an exuberant crowd moments before he and International Secretary-Treasurer Paul Noble cut the pavilion’s ceremonial ribbon Friday morning.
The expo’s 170 vendors and exhibitors not only broke the IBEW’s record — 114 in St. Louis in 2016 — it was nearly twice as large as the 2022 exhibition in Chicago.
Support Services Director David Salazar attributes the surge to rising membership and the IBEW’s expanding partnerships with pro-union — and often unionized, many by the IBEW —companies and nonprofits.
That list, which appears in full on the convention app, included insurers; financial and mortgage programs; healthcare providers; union-focused software developers; North American manufacturers of work gear, tools and safety equipment; T-shirt and novelty makers; and IBEW employers such as Southern Co., a major U.S. utility.
“The whole goal of the expo is to provide a platform for our partners so that members and local leaders can get face-to-face time with the people who provide products and services that help them and help the IBEW,” Salazar said.
First, though, delegates and guests entering the expo found themselves inside the story of the IBEW, as told through traveling museum exhibits going back to Henry Miller and the band of brothers who founded the union in 1891.
“This is my first time here, and it’s an honor to see the experiences of our past brotherhood,” said Angel Sanchez of Phoenix Local 769, whose 9- and 13-year-old daughters were looking up at panels showing trailblazing IBEW women as far back as 1896.
“To see where we came from and where we are now is a big eye-opener,” Sanchez said.
Although the expo closed Sunday, parts of the museum have been moved to the lobby near the delegates’ entrance to the convention hall.
“The goal of the museum is for members to not only see the progress the union has made over the past 135 years, but to see their place in it, as well,” said IBEW Museum curator Curtis Bateman. “All the objects are taken from the archive at the International Office in Washington, D.C., and many haven’t seen the light of day in decades because the collection is so large.”
IBEW pride pulsated on the promotional side of the expo, too, where exhibitors were eager to show and tell the ways their products and services can help the union thrive.
“It’s such a win-win,” said Dr. Kimberly Moore at the booth for the Clean Technology Training Trust, a nonprofit that unites labor, industry, education, government and donors to develop training for tomorrow’s workforce.
“We are building on the great history of the IBEW and using it as a bridge to move into the future,” said Moore, the organization’s executive director. “That means growing our membership, expanding our jurisdiction in the areas of transportation, advanced manufacturing, batteries, etc. It’s a huge opportunity for locals to play a major role in driving the destiny of a larger, million-member-plus IBEW.”
For Salazar, the expo was his sixth and last, as he prepares to retire this month after 30 years in the IBEW’s Support Services Department.
“It’s been incredible. There’s a buzz,” he said of his final show. “For this to be the bext expo, the most attended, the most represented by our partners, it feels like a victory lap.”
