An arduous five-year campaign to achieve IBEW representation is successful at last for the more than 160 men and women who work at a Conagra cooking spray manufacturing plant in eastern Illinois, after they ratified a collective bargaining agreement between Danville Local 538 and the North American food conglomerate.

Most of their struggle, though, hadn't been with Conagra, which completed its purchase of the factory only a couple of months earlier.

"The initial conversations with Conagra, before even getting to the bargaining table, were a breath of fresh air," said Local 538 Business Manager Aaron Goodrum.

Rather, campaign organizers agreed that most of the problems stemmed from the oppressive opposition to unionization of the previous owner, Full-Fill Industries, a familyowned company founded in the village of Henning in 1999.

A string of factory closures left Full-Fill one of a few area employers, with workers relating stories of sweatshop-style working conditions, draconian management, low pay and rapid turnover. In 2019, a majority of fed-up Full-Fill workers voted to organize with Local 538.

The company's managers, though, refused to bargain for a first contract and even withdrew recognition of Local 538 a year later.

"They hoped we'd lose interest and walk away from bargaining," said Shad Etchason, the Sixth District international representative who services Local 538.

Refusing to go anywhere, the IBEW filed several unfair labor practice charges against Full-Fill with the National Labor Relations Board. At the time, the board was stacked 3-1 with anti-unionists appointed by President Donald Trump, and it sided with the company.

Union activists kept the organizing campaign alive, and in 2021, they testified before an administrative law judge against Full-Fill's efforts to decertify the IBEW.

The following year, the judge ordered Full-Fill to recognize Local 538. By then, the NLRB had its current pro-worker majority, thanks to President Joe Biden's appointments, and the board upheld the judge's ruling.

"We wouldn't have won those hearings if those workers didn't step up and testify," said Lynn Arwood, a Sixth District who was involved with the unionizing campaign from the start, along with Etchason and Director of Professional/Industrial Organizing Joe DiMichele, then an international lead organizer.

"The employees at Full-Fill stuck together," DiMichele said. "I am so proud of them all for moving forward and never stepping back." (Read more in The Electrical Worker's August 2020 and April 2022 editions.)

Then earlier this year, organizers saw signs of change at the company. "Things in late spring slowed down," Etchason said. "We weren't getting a lot of responses from Full-Fill."

"We'd reached a tentative agreement with them on several things," Goodrum said. "We were getting down to basically the economic stuff, but we were still far apart."

Management representatives from Full-Fill and Conagra in June told the plant's workers about the coming sale.

"The same day, I got a call from [Conagra's] labor relations team, letting me know that this is getting ready to happen, and 'we're going to get right into negotiations,'" said Goodrum, who had worked closely on the campaign under former Local 538 Business Manager Mike Arbuckle.

"They said, 'We want to get it wrapped up, make some food, make some money and start a good relationship,'" Goodrum said. About half of Conagra's plants in North America are union facilities, he said, and close to two-thirds of its workers belong to unions.

Conagra's labor relations people acknowledged the Full-Fill workers' struggles. "They said, 'We have no intentions of continuing the same style.' It was a complete 180 kind of shift."

The sale was official July 1, and the parties quickly scheduled bargaining for August. "On our third meeting, we reached a tentative agreement," said Goodrum, marveling at how smoothly things had gone.

"More than once, I said to my colleagues, 'Do you remember the show "Punk'd"?'" he said. "I feel like I'm on that show in some of these meetings, like I'm waiting for someone in a corner to say, 'Gotcha!'"

The workers ratified a three-year agreement with annual wage increases, grievance procedures and more.

Another benefit of the Conagra acquisition is that it's helped Local 538 capture previously nonunion wire work at the plant. "Once Conagra was established, they realized that a lot of systems updating needed to take place," Etchason said.

"They had some contractors come in for quotes," Goodrum added. "One of our signatory contractors got the job and hired additional help out of our hall. It's opened the door for us to get in the facility and show them what we can do."

More work for Local 538 could be on the way for manufacturers and wiremen, he said, as Conagra assesses expansion opportunities. "I'm excited to see how it progresses here in the coming years."

The IBEW's team acknowledged all the work and sacrifice that led to these achievements.

"It was a 'one day longer' thing. We kept saying to them, 'We keep winning, we've won everything we filed,'" Arwood said.

"It shows how important it is to be committed, to be persistent," Etchason added.

IBEW Manufacturing Director Brian Lamm agreed. "It also spotlights that when the IBEW and workers persist, we win," he said.

Goodrum also noted the "ton of help" for the campaign by the Sixth District and the International Office.

"This would not have happened without the dedication of Local 538," DiMichele added.

"To finally see it come to a close and to be set, it makes you feel good," Goodrum said.

Job descriptions for a telecom worker and a teacher don't have much in common, but both have a right to be heard at work.

That's what faculty and staff at Highlander Charter Elementary School have now, thanks to Cranston, R.I., Local 2323, which has a long history as a telecommunications local.

"What it all comes down to is the IBEW is the best at representing people," said Regional Organizing Coordinator Steve Smith, who worked with school staff on their recent successful organizing drive.

There's a lot to like about Highlander, said Claribel Mejia and Michaela Wnuk, two faculty members who served as the drive's lead organizers. It's a community school with small class sizes that takes a one-student-at-a-time approach. Their own children and family members are enrolled at Highlander, which is in the state capital of Providence.

The school was named in honor of the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee, which has deep roots in the Civil Rights Movement and labor organizing. It encourages students to serve as catalysts for social change and work for a just society.

Unfortunately, the administration wasn't practicing those principals in dealings with its own employees.

"Highlander teaches its students to use their voices, to be a part of social justice, but that wasn't happening for us," said Wnuk, a math specialist who has taught at the school since 2007. "We just wanted to be heard and recognized, too."

Wnuk and her colleagues had concerns about the school's calendar and how the day's schedule was structured. Other logistical decisions were being made without their input. Concerns they expressed were going nowhere.

"The administration would let them talk, then do nothing about it," Smith said. "There was a real reduction in their quality of life."

Mejia and Wnuk initially reached out to the teachers' unions and other unions in their area, but eventually decided to go with the IBEW. The Second District counts other nontraditional workers among its ranks, but this is the first group of educators to join Local 2323, which primarily represents Verizon employees.

"This win speaks to the tenacity of our organizers in the Second District," Local 2323 Business Manager Chris Buffery said. "It's a real testament to Steve and his team."

With limited organizing opportunities in New England's telecommunications industry, locals have had to adapt when it comes to organizing, Second District International Vice President Mike Monahan said.

Smith has really stepped up to the plate, he said. In addition to Highlander, he's organized community college professors, mental health therapists, Democratic Party campaign workers and animal control officers, among other nontraditional groups.

"Steve Smith is the best communicator I have ever met, which is why he is so successful at organizing," Monahan said. "Thanks in large part to Steve, the IBEW's reputation across our district's six states has drawn the interest of workers outside our core industries because they know we can give them job security and a voice in their future."

For Mejia and Wnuk, Local 2323 was where they felt most welcome and where they knew they were being listened to.

"We hit it off right away," said Mejia, a behavior specialist who has worked at Highlander for 10 years. "They let us guide the conversation and empowered us as the experts."

The first organizing attempt at the school came in 2019 and fell short by just one vote. The COVID-19 pandemic hit, slowing the effort and causing "absolute chaos," Smith said. But he stayed in touch with Mejia and Wnuk, and all three decided to try again when the time was right.

That came last year, when conditions around the school started to deteriorate and other staff kept coming to Mejia and Wnuk to see what could be done. Pay freezes and layoffs were instituted this year, along with a change in Highlander's leadership.

And unlike the previous drive, when employees had to contend with an intense anti-union campaign from the school, the teachers and other staff weren't buying it this time around.

No one attended the anti-union meetings, Mejia and Wnuk both said. The union busters were sent home early.

"We knew we had each other's backs," Mejia said. "We all wanted the same thing, which is to make the school better for the teachers as well as the students."

The vote was held Aug. 24, and 88% of the unit voted in favor. That success is because of the commitment of Mejia and Wnuk, Smith said.

"You talk about a force. They were phenomenal," he said. "I wouldn't want to be on the other side of them."

Mejia and Wnuk credit Smith and the rest of the IBEW team with giving them the tools they needed to get over the finish line.

"We know what to do to make things better at Highlander, and the IBEW gave us the guidance and the legal framework to make that happen," Mejia said.

Wnuk and Mejia said they'd like to see other charter schools organize with the IBEW.

"Steve let us know that there's a seat for us, too, where we're the experts and the IBEW gives us the voice we deserve," Wnuk said.

Giving voice to workers is something Local 2323 is known for, said labor lawyer Marc Gursky, who worked with the local on the organizing drive.

"As a lawyer who represents a lot of different unions, I can say that charter school teachers are just like other workers," Gursky said. "They have no concern for rules about jurisdiction. They want a strong union to fight for them, and Local 2323 has a reputation as a fighting union.

"The IBEW is a great choice for non-public-school teachers because it can bring its private-sector organizing and bargaining skills and, if necessary, picket line experience to the charter school industry," he added. "I think that's why Highlander staff chose the IBEW."

Wnuk and Mejia said staff morale has improved and teachers are more comfortable speaking out. They're hopeful that when they get their first contract, they'll be able to make the school more competitive with other districts on pay, and a place where teachers want to be.

Now, they've got the IBEW by their side.

"We're going to be with them every step of the way," Smith said. "I have complete trust in them."