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Message from International President Ed Hill to all IBEW Members

January/February 2001 IBEW Journal

At a time like this, it is easy to spout words like "challenge" and "honor" and "working together."  And those words are fitting for the occasion.  But there is more to be said than the usual nice phases.

The IEC has vested me with a tremendous responsibility, one I accept humbly and sincerely.  To be the International President of the IBEW means hundreds of thousands of the finest trade union men and women in the world are looking to me for leadership.  While IBEW locals and local union members have always taken care of business in their respective communities, we have also built a great International organization that is a tremendous force for good in the lives of our members and all working people.  Never before have I quite appreciated the full meaning of the phrase, "The buck stops here."

From the courage and vision of our first president, Henry Miller in 1891 to the administration of Jack Barry, the IBEW has been blessed with strong, courageous leaders who have guided the union though struggles for recognition, depression, war, prosperity and constant technological change.  The first task of any new president is to uphold that legacy and build upon it, just as President Emeritus Barry and those who went before him left the IBEW stronger for their efforts.

I am one of you.  I am a straightforward guy from Western Pennsylvania who has never forgotten the values of family, loyalty, equality and hard work that I learned there.  Some leaders in Washington revel n hobnobbing the powerful.  I recognize the importance of a strong presence in the halls of power, but I know that any power we wield comes from our strength in numbers and our solidarity as working people.  We must protect our voice and our ability to fight for what is right, whether it be through collective bargaining or political action.

We have a lot of work to do, sisters and brothers.  The boom times of the 1990s are fading.  Technology continues to change the nature of our jobs and our very lives.  We can adapt and help shape the changes affecting our world, or we can be shaped, and ultimately defeated, by them.

I pledge to all of you here and now that we will continue our reinvigorated commitment to organizing and training, and we will together find answers for the new and unprecedented problems we confront.  As President, there will be one guiding principle that affects all my decisions; to do what is best for the members.

We will meet that challenge.  We will move forward.  And we will make the 21st century the best yet for our great Brotherhood.

Ed D. Hill, International President