Happy Holidays, sisters and brothers.

This is the season of giving thanks for all that we have: our families, our health, our livelihoods and so much more. We want to wish all of you and your families our very best this year and to say thank you for your commitment to the IBEW.

The holidays are also a season of reconciliation, of putting aside our differences and focusing on the things that unite us.

Next month, Donald J. Trump will be inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States.

Whatever choice you made on Election Day, it's our role at the IBEW to represent your interests in the workplace. And that doesn't change according to who's in the White House. So, we'll work with President Trump to find common ground where we can. Our commitment to all members of the IBEW remains unwavering, and we will continue to uphold our values and fight for your rights.

We want to thank our members who spent countless hours making phone calls, knocking on doors and talking to their co-workers about what was at stake in this election.

We fell short in many contests this year, but your efforts made a difference in many other races nationwide, with IBEW-backed candidate wins from local offices to the U.S. Senate.

We also acknowledge and respect that many members disagreed with us about our endorsed candidates. We understand that our union is made up of people with a diverse range of political views, and we value the individual choices and perspectives of each member.

The position of the IBEW has always been clear: Who you vote for is your choice and your choice alone.

This union proudly includes Democrats, Republicans, and independents among its members in the U.S. because, for the IBEW, politics is not about partisanship but about fighting for the issues that directly affect our members and the future of the industries we represent.

It is our job to stand up for policies that boost our wages and benefits, promote safe workplaces, and ensure the right of every worker to collectively bargain and join a union.

That is why throughout the 2024 presidential campaign, we were open about our concerns about Trump's commitment to working people, based on both his previous record in office and the agendas of some of those closest to him.

The last time he was president, he appointed open union busters to lead the Labor Department and National Labor Relations Board, expressed support for a national "right-to-work" law, gutted collective bargaining for federal workers, and tried watering down the IBEW's apprenticeship programs, which have served the electrical industry for more than 100 years.

And while Trump denies any connections with Project 2025, a 920-page policy manual written as a road map for his new administration, the reality is that most of it was authored by staffers from his previous one, including six former members of his cabinet. And it is jam-packed with anti-worker proposals, including abolishing prevailing wage agreements, gutting overtime pay, allowing companies to take away unions mid-contract and making it easier to retaliate against union organizers.

It also calls for repealing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, which could set back the energy and construction industries for years. In the days before the election, House Speaker Mike Johnson added that he planned to repeal the CHIPS and Science Act in case of a Trump victory.

Let's be clear: These three pieces of legislation are historic investments in an advanced power infrastructure that will solidify the U.S. as the world's leader in energy and high-tech manufacturing. Together, they've led to a construction boom in manufacturing facilities, power generation, transmission infrastructure and so much more.

Because of the labor standards we worked with the Biden administration to attach to these laws, they have resulted in tens of thousands of IBEW jobs, and we will resist any attempt to roll these investments back. And we'll be calling for your help in doing it.

Our strength lies in our membership, and more than 800,000 members of all political stripes speaking to their elected representatives about issues important to unions and working people cannot be ignored, even by politicians who see us as little more than a thorn in the sides of their corporate friends and allies.

But we will also seek common ground, because the battle for working families and the middle class knows no party.

The IBEW is committed to working with any lawmaker who is willing to work with us to find common-sense solutions that help our members and all working people. Our primary goal is always the well-being and prosperity of our members.

As our attention turns to the holiday season and we turn the page on one of the most divisive elections in recent memory, we ask every IBEW member to remember that we are members of one union family.

In the words of Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address, delivered just before the outbreak of the American Civil War: "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection."

These words apply to all Americans today, but especially to us, who have called one another sisters and brothers for more than 130 years for a very important reason. By working together as one IBEW family — by taking care of one another as we do for our own families — we can do so much for this union we love and all working people.

Thank you to our IBEW family, and we wish you and your families a joyful and restful holiday season.