Dillon Gorman was new to the IBEW and had a good job as a meter reader with Alliant Energy. But at 19, he wasn’t sure where he fit into the union as a young member.

So, when the IBEW began encouraging locals to establish young members’ committees in 2011, Gorman jumped at the chance. He helped form Madison, Wis., Local 965’s RENEW committee with assistance from then-Business Manager Tony Bartels.

RENEW and its counterpart NextGen in Canadian locals were formed because the IBEW understood that young members are essential in growing the union’s power.

Gorman credits the groups for getting those 35-and-under members to play a more active role in their local unions and their communities. In turn, younger IBEW leaders have more avenues to provide their input on issues that matter to them, and more seasoned IBEW leaders are listening.

More than a decade after their formation, RENEW and NextGen are more important than ever, a point that was made at their recent conference in Portland, Ore., where the theme was “Powering the Path Forward.”

Those are more than just words, organizers said. It’s a call to action at a critical time.

Opinion polls in North America consistently show that support for unions is at its highest level in more than 60 years, especially among younger adults.

More young people see union trades as an alternative to a costly college education that often leaves students with a massive debt, instead finding out about wages and benefits that can support a family.

If the IBEW and other unions are going to thrive, young members will play a crucial role.

“Look at where we are today,” said Gorman, who is now the Local 965 business manager and serves as the Sixth District representative on the international RENEW/NextGen Committee. “It’s an established group of people that have a lot of power. They are embracing what we have to say and bringing it to the table.”

He said RENEW will continue to grow by focusing on issues that are important to all members and empowering their ability to make change.

His time in RENEW is nearing an end as he ages out, but he plans to continue to support Local 965’s committee in his role as business manager.

Skills for Leadership

Local committees must take an active role in their local unions’ day-to-day activities, said Civic & Community Engagement Director Jennifer Gray, who oversees RENEW at the International Office.

“The message is: How should we assist our local unions, whether that’s political activism, community engagement or organizing members?” Gray said. “To me, that’s key.”

This year’s conference included a conversation with international vice presidents, who spoke candidly about what leadership requires.

Fourth District International Vice President Austin Keyser said RENEW can be “about learning the things and the hard skills you need to be a leader.” He said the program is a success in getting younger members involved but told attendees that it is incumbent on them to learn the “foundational skills,” such as becoming an expert on legal terms in a collective bargaining agreement at their local, to be leaders and make the IBEW stronger.

“It’s more than just stepping up and saying, ‘I want to be a leader,’” he said. “You should be able to educate and defend yourself against people who attack us.

“A lot of folks in this conference have the characteristics of a leader,” he added. “Now you have to learn a way to weaponize it.”

Gray said there are now 215 RENEW and NextGen committees at local unions across North America. They routinely perform good works in their communities.

But as the program has matured, the focus has shifted to how members can make their own local unions — and by extension the entire Brotherhood — stronger.

Part of that is helping add more members. IBEW membership continues to rise, now up to 873,000 active members and retirees across North America. As International President Kenneth W. Cooper told the conference, the IBEW added about 24,000 net new members in the past 12 months — a 50-year high — but that is merely scratching the surface on what needs to be done.

Tens of thousands more are needed to meet the demand for skilled electricians and for local unions to increase their market share. They’re needed to address the boom in data centers and power generation. Many more members are needed in line work, utilities and manufacturing to support the ever-evolving electrical grid.

“We simply must not only grow but grow at a faster pace than ever for the IBEW to remain the leader it’s always been in the electrical industry,” Cooper said. “Our RENEW and NextGen members will play a critically important role in that effort.”

It was a theme Gray and others echoed throughout the conference.

“We need everyone to step up and grow our union,” she said.

“Growth does not happen by accident,” she told the conference. “It happens because members step up, learn, participate and lead. Each of you — whether from construction, utility, manufacturing, railroad, government, broadcasting or telecommunications — builds on the foundation of those before us and now.”

Focus on Organizing

“Message received,” was the reply from conference attendees and other leaders in RENEW and NextGen.

“I try to use it as a tool to help our local and try to push that message to our district as a whole,” said Sidney Jablonski, 24, a fourth-year apprentice at Providence, R.I., Local 99 and the committee’s Second District representative. “It’s not just to help young people but the union as a whole.”

Stephanie LaPrairie said she probably would not have advanced to leadership positions at Baton Rouge, La., Local 995 without RENEW.

She attended college for one semester and found that it wasn’t for her. She performed a Google search for programs and employment opportunities that might interest her. LaPrairie learned about Local 995’s apprenticeship program, applied and was accepted.

A Local 995 organizer encouraged her to get more involved not long after starting her apprenticeship, and she attended a RENEW conference in St. Louis.

LaPrairie, now 32 and a journeyman wireman, serves as Local 995’s lead inside organizer and recording secretary and is a member of the JATC committee — along with continuing to serve on the local’s RENEW Committee.

For her, getting RENEW members more involved in organizing is a priority. In the Deep South, where people often grow up hearing anti-union messages from politicians and corporate leaders, it might be even more important.

LaPrairie didn’t grow up in a union household and heard those messages herself. A current high school student or recent graduate will react more favorably when learning the benefits of an IBEW career from someone not much older than themselves at career fairs and other venues, she said.

“It gives them a better idea of what is going to happen after you graduate than from a journeyman who has been in the trades for 40 years,” she added.

Building a RENEW committee in a Southern city can be difficult. Many Local 995 members are travelers because the market share for the IBEW and other construction unions is so low in the area.

“We really need to go out and work with local organizers and talk to communities about who the IBEW is and what we do,” LaPrairie said. “That way, when someone hears about us, it’s not in a negative context. Part of that is highlighting our apprenticeship programs.”

Jordan Layhew has the perspective of being a journeyman lineman and member of Pittsburgh Local 29, where he serves on the executive board. He is the Third District representative on the RENEW/NextGen Committee and helped start the Local 29 committee after attending the last International Convention in Chicago in 2022.

“Once we started planning events and I saw the interest in younger workers, it really lit a fire in me,” said Layhew, 27.

He said Local 29’s RENEW Committee has been overwhelmingly successful. Younger members feel more empowered and are regular participants in local union meetings and activities. He credits Business Manager Josh Ewing and the office staff for much of that.

On the larger committee, he’s trying to pass on the lessons he’s learned in Pittsburgh. Some local RENEW committees have languished after the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

“It’s in the title,” he added. (RENEW stands for Reach Out and Engage Next-Generation Electrical Workers.) “Getting members involved and piquing interest now will only help us down the line when our current union leaders step down.”

Added Jablonski: “My business manager and president back me up with everything.”

A Call to Action

Manny Randhawa, the First District representative on the RENEW/NextGen Committee, has been active in Vancouver, British Columbia, Local 213’s committee for nearly 10 years. Now 31, he’s the membership development director for a fast-growing inside construction local with a diverse membership.

RENEW and NextGen committees must be flexible to meet the needs of the locals they serve, he said. Being in Canada, he knows Local 213’s committee might be different from some of its American counterparts.

Randhawa said Local 213’s committee is a “soft entryway” for young members. The group attends sports events and pub nights to encourage fellowship, which has led those members to get more involved in the local overall.

“We’re in a unique spot,” he said. “We’re growing really heavily. We have a large influx of new members. We’ve found it helps to keep it light and keep it airy.”

But he agrees that for NextGen to remain relevant, members must make use of the foundational skills that Keyser talked about at the conference, especially as older members age out. Those skills vary from local to local, he said.

“You have to be open to change,” he said. “But there has to be an understanding in my mind that some things have to be maintained.”

Keyser, for one, is pleased by the changes taking place in RENEW/NextGen, noting it is becoming more of an academy to learn the business of the IBEW.

“I feel like the biggest change is how we approach the next generation,” he said. “Our union is growing rapidly, and we have to continue to engage it.”

International Secretary-Treasurer Paul Noble told the attendees at the conference in Portland: “We don’t need your leadership down the road. We need it today in organizing campaigns, on community projects and in political actions that defend collective bargaining, safety, pensions and healthcare.”

If it sounded like a call to action, it wasn’t by accident.

“The renewed commitment could not come at a more important time,” Gray said, “because this generation is changing the face of the labor movement.”