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Telecom/Broadcasting Conference
Meets In New Orleans

June 25, 2002

The first annual IBEW Telecommunications/Broadcasting Conference in New Orleans brought together the two branches for the first time, a reflection of their growing interrelationship in the high-technology world.

The three-day conference June 3-5 titled "Securing Our Future," centered on the changing nature of both industries.

President Hill spoke about the commitment shown by IBEW locals who were motivated to swell their ranks following a telecommunications organizing conference last January.

"There is a determination to make the IBEW a more powerful voice in the telecommunications and broadcasting industries," President Hill said. "We are not there yet. We have not accomplished what we want. But we are much closer to our goal today than we were just a few months ago."

Secretary-Treasurer Jerry J. OConnor discussed the importance of cultivating an activist membership mobilized for grassroots political action.

"Our success in making our viewpoint known in the legislative arena is directly tied to the effort we put into the political arena," Secretary-Treasurer OConnor said. "It is that effortthe shoe leather, the phone calls, the flyers on the job, the gritty part of the workthat allows us to take advantage of our strength in numbers while our opponents rely on their strength in dollars."

Telecommunications Department Director Joe Penna said the branchs members have taken the encouragement to organize to heart. "Were getting there," he said, pointing to strong campaigns in Chicago, where 2,400 potential members have been targeted, as well as efforts in Baltimore, Maryland and Jacksonville, Florida. "People got the message."

An executive from Avaya spoke of the necessity for the telecommunications company to respond to the changes of the past two years by becoming more service-oriented. After a general session that included all 400 delegates to the conference, the branches split for industry-specific sessions.

IBEW Education Department Director Marty Letsinger gave an enthusiastically received training seminar on how to mobilize telecommunications members, instead of merely servicing them. Other highlights of the telecommunications conference included reports from International Representatives Martha Pultar, who updated the delegation on ongoing organizing efforts, and Jim Brimer, who analyzed trends for a forward-looking profile of the industry.

Also during the conference, longtime Local 824 President Harrison Thornhill received as a surprise a pin from President Hill for his 45 years of service in the IBEW.  Thornhill, who turns 65 in December, became a member of the IBEW as a ground man on a line truck, digging holes and climbing poles.  He went on to become a journeyman lineman.  Thornhill has served continuously on Tampa, Florida Local 824s executive board since 1968, and has been president since 1986.

On the broadcasting and recording side, the theme was "Strength Through Innovative Ideas and Approaches." The broadcasting industry is undergoing swift changes, with the increasing use of per diem workers and the challenge of organizing creative workers, like producers and writers compared to the IBEW base in technical specialists, Broadcasting Department Director Michael Pendergast said. Attorney Robert Kurnick of Sherman, Dunn, Cohen, Leifer and Yellig gave a presentation on legal issues relating to contract workers in broadcasting.

The most talked-about portion of the broadcasting conference was the video and discussion of "When a Strike is Not an Option." Frustrated by a lack of progress in contract talks, St. Louis Local 4 targeted Gannett-owned St. Louis television station KSDK Channel 5. Local 4 drew on picketing, handbilling, media advertising and other means to successfully pressure the station. Pendergast positioned himself behind television reporters broadcasting live holding signs discouraging people from watching the station.

"The public thought we were on strike, but no one was losing any pay," Pendergast said.

One of the important lessons drawn from those campaigns, in 1996-97 and 2000-01, was in the broadcasting industry, such activities can influence ratings, which eventually brought the company to the bargaining table.

"You can bring pressure onto the employer," Pendergast said. "You just have to be more creative."

Broadcasting
Department Director
Michael Pendergast.

Telecommunications
Department Director
Joe Penna

Address of President Hill to Telecom/Broadcasting Conference.

Address of Secretary-Treasurer O'Connor to Telecom/Broadcasting Conference.