Three locals were honored by International President Kenneth W. Cooper at a Washington event in March for their efforts to preserve IBEW jobs.

Cooper presented an Edwin D. Hill Award during the annual National Labor and Management Public Affairs Committee meeting to St. Louis Local 1439 Business Manager Jeremy Pour and Ameren Corp. Chairman, President and CEO Marty Lyons. Last year, members of the local successfully lobbied alongside the utility for state laws designed to protect IBEW work on the construction of data centers and their power sources, as well as the making of electrical components for both.

Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Local 204 Business Manager John Van Zante; Burnsville, Minn., Local 949 Business Manager Rick Bartz; and Alliant Energy President and CEO Lisa Barton also received honors. Members of both locals collaborated with Alliant on a campaign against a March 2025 ballot initiative in the northeastern Iowa city of Decorah to create a city-owned utility to replace service from Alliant. Voters defeated the initiative, which would have threatened numerous IBEW jobs had it passed.

The annual LAMPAC conference brings together union and utility representatives for presentations and panel discussions. This year’s topics included data centers, labor-management partnerships and government relations.

The Hill award, named after the IBEW international president who helped form LAMPAC in 2007, acknowledges those who exemplify the partnerships between the union and the investor-owned utilities represented by the Edison Electrical Institute.

Also at the conference, Rep. Donald Norcross, a member of Folsom, N.J., Local 351 and the only card-carrying IBEW member in Congress, presented Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Jack Reed of Rhode Island with an award recognizing their support of the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.