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With the Program: October 21, 2003 Declaring an "all out push," IBEW International President Edwin D. Hill announced a major restructuring of the IBEWs organizing program, making this activity the Brotherhoods top priority in deeds as well as words. The announcement came at the IBEW Organizing Conference held October 9-11, 2003 in Chicago. "I am not satisfied that we all understand just how vital organizing is or what position it holds on our unions list of priorities," President Hill said. "So let me repeat it one more timeorganizing is the number one priority of this Brotherhood. Nothing trumps it. Nothing surpasses it. Every activity of this Brotherhood will be measured by how well it supports our organizing efforts." The changes come as the result of sustained declining membership figures and an organizing program too fixed in the old ways to adapt to changes. The National Labor Relations Board-certified election routewhich always favors the employerwill no longer be the preferred strategy for organizing, said Cecil (Buddy) Satterfield, who will serve as a Special Assistant to President Hill overseeing the membership development effort in all branches of the Brotherhood. New emphasis will be given to different organizing approaches, like bargaining for card-check recognition and strategic campaigns that force employers to recognize the union, he said. Changes will come on every level of the IBEW, from the International Office, which will place full-time organizers in each branch department of the I.O., down to each local, all of which will be monitored for organizing progress by international representatives in each district. All will report to the I.O. President Hill said the goal is to succeed by using the IBEWs resources more effectively and understanding what is needed in every individual jurisdiction and situation. "We want to share the knowledge and experience of the entire Brotherhood across geographic and jurisdictional lines to make sure that we are doing our best," he said. He denounced in strong terms any deliberate efforts to keep out electricians who want to become members. "I am going to do all in my power and within my authority as the International President to correct the course that we are following and the road that we are traveling," President Hill said. "We are throughdonefinished keeping qualified people out of this Brotherhood. No excuse nothing -- is acceptable for keeping out people who want to be part of us." One particularly well-received workshop by Education Department Coordinator Carmen Marsans addressed the necessity of reaching out to the Hispanic community, one growing demographic that IBEW has been slow to embrace. AFL-CIO Organizing Director Stuart Acuff and National Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee Executive Director A.J. Pearson also addressed the conference. Chicago was the first conference to bring the construction organizing and the industrial organizing conferences together, which resulted in a coordination among the different branches that benefited all involved, Satterfield said.
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Ed Hill speaks at the 2003 Organizing Conference...
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Approximately
850 delegates from all branches of the IBEW attended the conference,
a forum that President Hill used to issue a challenge to the local
leadership -- build a sustained and aggressive organizing program
or suffer the consequences. President Hill delivered a strong call
to action in the opening moments of the conference, which was followed
by three full days of workshops to give IBEW leaders the tools needed
to carry out the mandate.
"Everybodys
going to be working together to build some union density in the
Brotherhood, and President Hill is putting his personal stamp on
this," said Satterfield.
International
Secretary-Treasurer Jerry OConnor offered a list of consequences
to not organizingand none of them were good. "Im not talking
about consequences that the I.O. might put on you," he said.
"Im talking about the long-term damage to the labor movementthe
weakened political clout, the loss of bargaining power, and the
lack of a strong voice in our society. All of those are consequences
of not living up to our ideals by organizing."
