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Keeping Our Focus

November 2005 IBEW Journal

Two major stories that have dominated our attention this year have been the disaffiliation of several unions from the AFL-CIO and the human tragedy of the hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast, along with the political outrages that followed them.

We continue to work to hold the labor movement in the United States together. And we are certainly fighting the monumental injustice of denying jobs to the residents of the affected areas and giving them to low-bid, out-of-state contractors because of the suspension of prevailing wage laws.

Events demand our attention and action, even in the face of other critical needs. I hope that in the approaching holiday season, all of our members remember those who have lost so much due to the devastation of this year’s hurricanes, especially our brothers and sisters in the IBEW. The need is still great, and our relief fund will remain active indefinitely (see page 5). Even though the IBEW has been forced to deal with both natural and man-made disasters, the task of organizing does not stop.

Over the course of the year, you have read in these pages about some of the IBEW’s initiatives to promote organizing. These programs came about because we faced up to some hard truths about the way we have been doing business. The result has included new initiatives in referral procedures, drug testing and job classifications in construction and a new, coordinated push for selecting and pursuing organizing targets in all branches of the Brotherhood.

This issue’s cover story tells about how the IBEW’s initiatives have all come together in Florida through a massive mobilization effort to strengthen our presence in every major industry we represent.

Why Florida? The Sunshine State has the fourth-largest economy in the United States. When the Florida campaign began, the IBEW had less than a 10 percent, and shrinking, share in a fast-growing construction market. In looking at construction, we also found that we needed to bolster our presence in all our major industries in the state.

We assigned full-time International staff to Florida in addition to the Fifth District staff already in the state. Local union business managers have had direct input, and the staff has met with—and listened to—employers throughout Florida to determine why they were reluctant to work with the IBEW.

We have forged new construction agreements designed to help us get more of the work in the booming residential and heavy and highway markets. We are pursuing voice-data-video work. We have made Florida the first stop on our utility organizing initiative to bring unorganized workers at our current employers into the Brotherhood. We have targeted new units of state and local government workers, some in conjunction with other unions. We have worked with our telecom locals to enhance our membership and seek new units. We are mounting a major drive to organize the Melbourne plant of Rockwell, a company that employs IBEW members at two plants in Iowa.

We are starting to see some positive signs. More of our construction members are working on projects where they formerly would not have been considered. We have seen new energy among rank and file members in our utility, telecommunications and manufacturing campaigns. While success is still not assured, the hard work and dedication of members, local union leaders and International officers and staff show that at least the essential ingredients are in place. A similar full-scale campaign is in the works for central Pennsylvania, and other such efforts will take place in regions across the continent where we have slipped to the point where our future is in doubt.

The IBEW and the labor movement in general can become a footnote in North American history, or we can move our nations forward from this dark era. In Florida, the fight for the future is underway.

Edwin D. Hill

International President