The IBEW is hosting its annual Construction and Maintenance conference this month, and its theme is "Wired for Change." This is more apt than ever, because change is the only way we will navigate the challenges of today's rapidly changing construction industry and ensure that this union is North America's first choice when it comes to electrical construction.

The construction market, which has seen a historic expansion over the last few years, continues to run hot despite some slowdown due to high interest rates and new tariffs.

Employment is still increasing in most states, with demand for skilled electrical workers higher than ever.

As we reported in the January Electrical Worker, over the next eight years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that there will be more than 80,000 net new electrician jobs per year.

The IBEW has capitalized on this historic moment by organizing more construction "A" members than we have ever had and by moving aggressively to sign up more contractors and customers.

But someone else is also seizing this opportunity to grow: our nonunion competition. According to a recent report by Independent Electrical Contractors, nonunion electrical contractor firms have seen steady growth since 2017, growing by 31% over a six-year period.

Today, more than 60% of electrical construction is done nonunion.

That puts our progress in perspective, because success cannot just be measured by membership but by market share.

No matter how many members we have, If our competition dominates the market, they get to set industry standards.

Cornering the market when it comes to electrical construction is how the IBEW will cement its status as the leading supplier of skilled electrical workers for the nation.

The reality is that as much as we have been organizing, there are still too many unfilled calls each month, and every unfilled call is a gift to nonunion contractors. If the IBEW is not doing the job, you better believe someone else is.

That's a big reason I have been so passionate about ensuring that every call is filled. We all need to work not just harder but smarter by adopting new innovative policies that will give us an edge over our competition.

These include making it easier for nonunion electricians to sign up with the IBEW and speeding up the apprentice-to-journeyman pipeline.

We cannot expect to meet the challenges of the 21st century by relying on the policies we used in the 20th.

In the IBEW's 134-year history, we have survived and grown by adapting to the demands of the moment.

There is no greater demand right now than ensuring that every construction project, big and small, is built by skilled IBEW men and women. And it is the responsibility of every IBEW leader from the local level on up to make it happen.

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