Throughout my IBEW career, I have held many titles — steward, business manager, vice president, international president. But no matter what my role, I have always remained first and foremost an organizer.

Because organizing is everything to the IBEW. It is the source of our power to fight for higher wages, better benefits and more opportunities for working people.

Bringing together workers from across North America to demand a better life is what we are all about. And it is the job of every IBEW member who cares about our future to make organizing their No. 1 priority.

More and more IBEW leaders have embraced this mission at every level of our great Brotherhood. Because of that, we have seen consistent growth year after year for the last decade.

At last month’s Membership Development conference, I made an announcement I’m proud to share with all of you.

In the past 12 months, we broke records, bringing in more than 24,000 new members — more than we have in any single year in the last half-century.

After decades of playing defense, focusing on holding on to what we have, the IBEW is now on the offense, organizing new members and signing up new employers at a rate we’ve not seen since the 1970s.

And we owe so much of that to all our leaders in the field. My predecessors and I have invested a significant amount of time and resources into developing new organizing tools and programs that would help IBEW members address the challenges of the 21st century.

But as crucial as all this is, the IBEW can’t organize out of the International Office. All organizing is local. That is how Henry Miller forged the IBEW more than 125 years ago, and it is how we are rebuilding our power today. 

The real credit for this record-breaking year belongs to all the IBEW members who stepped up and led our transformation into an organizing union, where our primary goal is always growth.

You heeded the call, and I thank you.

But now I ask you to get ready to double down because we have our work cut out for us. There is a tidal wave of electrical work sweeping the United States and Canada, and we need to be ready to fill every call and sign up every worker in the industry.

If your local has not made organizing its top priority, now is the time to start. As I mentioned, the IO has the tools, training and resources locals need to develop an organizing plan.

However, it’s up to you to take the first step, so get involved. Volunteer to talk to nonunion workers about all the good things the IBEW has to offer. Find out what you can do help your local’s organizing program.

The choices we make today will decide the future of the IBEW and the labor movement for generations to come. So, let’s commit to continuing to break records and make history.