Paloma Aguirre, chair pro tem of San Diego County’s Board of Supervisors, presented delegates Monday morning with a proclamation designating Sept. 21, 2026, as IBEW Day in the county.
“I am so proud of the work you have done over these last years,” she said during her remarks welcoming delegates to the IBEW’s 41st International Convention. “I am so incredibly excited of what the future holds for IBEW.”
Lauding the union’s 125-year history in the county, Aguirre noted how the three locals with jurisdiction in it — San Diego locals 465 and 569, along with Diamond Bar, Calif., Local 47 — represent more than 5,400 workers who keep the region running. “This is what power looks like,” she said.
“You’re living through something historic,” she added: “Twenty thousand projects, $2 trillion in customer spending, utilities planning $1.4 trillion on the grid over five years.”
The county supervisor, who recently filed legislation to fight craft misclassification and wage theft, was introduced by Local 569 Business Manager Jeremy Abrams, who described her as a “fierce advocate for workers, unions and every member of our community.”
“Paloma has consistently stood shoulder to shoulder with us,” Abrams said, “fighting for fair wages, safe working conditions and the dignity that every worker deserves.”
Aguirre represents the southern part of the county and is a former mayor of Imperial Beach. She said she became an activist when she learned that her community had some of the most polluted water in the U.S., contaminated by untreated waste leaking into the Tijuana River from Mexico.
“Organizing can bring attention. It can move government,” she said. “But somebody still has to build a solution, especially if it’s an infrastructure solution.
“The solution is somebody running the pipes, pouring the concrete, pulling the wires and connecting the power, turning it on, and making it work,” Aguirre said. “That’s you. That’s IBEW.”
And while the federal government may be walking back clean energy investments and canceling projects, she said, “San Diego County isn’t backing down.”
“When we build water systems, when we upgrade the grid, when we expand power to serve our growing economy, those are IBEW projects,” Aguirre said. “Those are IBEW apprenticeships. Those are local jobs. Those are IBEW family wages and standards that don’t change.”
Those standards include apprenticeships like those provided by the IBEW, which Aguirre said are the best deal for working people who don’t want to be saddled with thousands of dollars of college debt.
“People need training, a standard,” she said, “people who know the craft standing behind them.”
