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(The following is a summary of President Hills and Secretary-Treasurer OConnors remarks to the IBEW Organizing Conference on October 9, 2003.)

We are throughdonefinished keeping qualified people out of this Brotherhood. No excusenothingis acceptable for keeping out people who want to be part of us. There are answers to all the issues you may raise.

If they are illiterate, teach them to read and write.

If they do not understand or speak English, we have a program that you can use to teach them.

If they are not proficient in parts of our trade, train them.

If they do not present themselves correctly, start a program to teach them.

We are going to grow this union. We are going to do what we said we would do at every International Convention of the IBEW since 1986four in allthat the IBEW and its local unions will intensify their efforts to organize and take into membership all unorganized workers in all branches of our Brotherhood so that these workers may improve their working and economic lives.

As Lane Kirkland, former president of the AFL-CIO, once said "We have come too far,struggled too long,sacrificed too much and have too much left to doto allow that which we have achieved for the good of all to be swept away without a fight. And we have not forgotten how to fight." We are going to come out of the bad times. We are going to grow the IBEW together.

We and the Vice Presidents and our IEC members will stand together to instill in each of our members the pride, the confidence and the intestinal fortitude to see us through the troubled waters ahead.

We will by the end of the year have in place committees that will address the issues between branches so that these issues do not interfere with or impede our organizing efforts or our efforts to enhance our growth opportunities. These committees will be made up of equal representation of each branch that interfaces with one another, along with a Vice President and/or an IEC member. They will be charged with developing guidelines for us to make informed decisions as to the resolution of any disputes between branches.

We have made some structural changes at the International Office and in the Districts, consolidating our organizing operation while at the same time bringing more people under it.

We are also going to take a much more active role in the districts. We will charge one of the International Representatives in each district with the responsibility of ensuring that organizing is a top priority in each local union and they will report simultaneously to the International Office and the Vice President. Someone from the district office will be visiting each local union to identify targets, discuss the obstacles to organizing and find out what could work.

This information will be passed up the line, tabulated, and evaluated. The aim is not to punish anybody, but to set the union up to succeed by using our resources most 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. Were going to be in closer touch with each other using all the modern technology at our disposal. Well determine what is needed to get the job done in campaign after campaign.

Each local union will be tracked individually and judged by the reports that they file with the District Organizer and the Vice Presidents office. The business manager will be held accountable for the organizing effort in his or her local union, which is their constitutional responsibility. Each of the district organizers will also be held accountable. We do not intend to merge local unions for failing to organize their jurisdiction. We will, however, exercise our constitutional prerogative to either charge local officers for failing to carry out their constitutional duties or rearrange jurisdictions and give parts to locals who will do the job.

With that program and with its refinement and expansions, we are going to succeed. We are going to come out of the bad times we are going to grow the IBEW together.

We have been through bad times before. Weve seen the economy tank before. Weve seen our membership numbers take a nosedive before. Even when things were bad, we always seemed to have in the back of our minds that the good times would come back. The numbers would go back up. Everything would be all right.

Brothers and sisters, everything will NOT be all right unless we all put forth the effort to fight to capture the work that rightfully belongs to us. Our numbers wont go up by themselves. There are economic, political and social obstacles to organizing, and they are scary. But they are not insurmountable, and we cannot let them intimidate us or keep us from what we have got to do. We are fighting for our lives and for our futurenothing less.

There can be no doubt that if we continue to see membership losses like those we have recently sustainedwe will become only a marginal force in the industries we represent. And all of the hard work of the past will have been for nothing. And future generations of IBEW members will have to start over again to rebuild the Brotherhood.

Dont be fooled into thinking it cant happen. It will happen. It is already happening. There is no room for argumentno excuse. We have to organize to survive.

We have had some outstanding victories in recent years. And we have tried to learn from our defeats. We can tolerate defeats, as long as we dont knuckle under and give up. But what is hard to swallow is the fact that there are people out there working in our tradein every branch we representwho have never been seriously approached by anyone from the IBEW to join. There are employers and their workers who are doing our jobsundercutting our pay and benefits. Meanwhile, too many of us would rather fight with our unionized employers, with other trades, or with each other, than go out and confront the unorganized sector of our industries.

We are not satisfied that everyone in the Brotherhood understands just how vital organizing is or what position it holds on our unions list of priorities. So let us 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.

We believe in this Brotherhood. We believe in the people in it. And we know deep in our souls that our officers, local leaders and members are going to do what it takes to make the IBEW grow and prosper no matter how long the odds against us, no matter what they throw at us. It is our history and our birthright. Lets live up to it.

[ Full text of the officers' speeches to the Organizing Conference ]

More information on the IBEWs new organizing structure will appear in the next issue of the Journal.