From left: Local 266 Business Manager Ramon Nunez; Director of Support Services Will Paul; International Representative James Pelley; Eleventh District Vice President William Eads; Local 266 member Sharlene Nunez; International Representative Jerry Harris; International Office employee David Salazar; International Representatives Tad Gusta and Lindell Lee are shown at the IBEWs booth during the Union Industries Show.

IBEW Exhibit Shines at AFL-CIO Union Industries Show in St. Louis

July/August 2004 IBEW Journal

More than 300,000 visitors saw "America at Its Best," at the annual AFL-CIO Union Industries Show at the Americas Center in St. Louis, April 23-26. The show featured the latest in union-made-in-the-USA products. The exhibition emphasized making young people familiar with organized labors achievements.

Interspersed with product displays were exhibits by skilled craft workers demonstrating everything from electricity to decorative plastering while offering information on how to get training to prepare for good union jobs.

The IBEW exhibit area was regarded by many as the best presentation of union craftwork in the show. Members of local unions 1,2,4,1439 and 1455 created a 130-foot long display that illustrated how electricity is transported to the average home. A model generating station led to transmission towers, then to distribution lines. The electrical lines ended with a service drop into a house containing a ceiling fan, lights and a home entertainment system, including a big screen TV.

Visitors were captivated as IBEW members demonstrated their hot sticking skills by laying small tree limbs on a 2,000 volt line and cooking hotdogs. When the linemen were not hot sticking on the ground, they were climbing the wooden poles demonstrating their proficiency in changing out transformers and insulators high above the trade show floor.

"Visitors with questions relating to work practices and job functions got immediate answers from qualified journeymen and women," says IBEW Support Services Director Will Paul.

IBEW-organized employers Rockwell Collins, Solo/Sweetheart Cups and GE all had displays, along with the NJATC.

Seventy-two Boy Scouts were awarded the American Labor Merit Badge by AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka and Missouri Gov. Bob Holden at the opening of the show. The ceremony marked the largest single group ever to receive the American Labor Merit Badge, which requires Scouts to study the history, objectives and contributions of U.S. workers and their unions. (See: "Boy Scouts Learn Unionism from IBEW and Teamsters.") "The story behind every product you see here is the story of what makes our country great."

The show also reached out to educational systems in the St. Louis area by hosting some 500 local schools.

Other highlights included the popular "If I Had a Hammer" program that demonstrates elementary school children mastering mathematics and communication skills as they build a mini-house. Show goers also talked to local first responders about fire safety and took home thousands of dollars worth of complementary union-made products, foodstuffs, appliances, cars, trucks and a Harley Davidson motorcycle.