The IBEW officially opened a local hall in Toa Alto, Puerto Rico, for almost 1,700 members March 3, the culmination of a yearslong effort to bring the island’s utility workers into the IBEW.
The ribbon cutting included the dedication of the William “Bill” Hitt Assembly Hall in recognition of the critical role the now-retired Orlando Local 222 business manager played.
Among the many people involved in bringing the IBEW back to Puerto Rico include former Fifth District International Vice President Brian Thompson and Local 222 Assistant Business Managers Willie Zendayas and Hector Reyes. But it was Hitt who captained the ship, said John Harrell, who was appointed business manager of Local 222 after Hitt’s retirement in October.
Five years after Puerto Rico’s utility workers joined the IBEW, Orlando Local 222 opened a local office, including an assembly hall named for retired Business Manager Bill Hitt that will also be home to a new training center.
Hitt was business manager for nearly a decade but worked at the local for nearly 25 years, Harrell said.
“I’ve known Bill a long time. It was one of first times I have seen him speechless,” Harrell said. “Normally, you can’t stop him, but you could see what it meant to him. It was a very moment.”
International Secretary-Treasure Paul Noble joined the grand opening which coincided with the annual Outside Apprenticeship Conference hosted by Southeastern Line Constructors Apprenticeship & Training, commonly known as SELCAT.
The facility is already a hub for union operations and meetings for Local 222 members on the island. Harrell said the training facility will be complete later this year.
“We have equipment on site already, along with a CM Labs operator simulator. Our goal is to serve our membership and train the next generation of lineworkers through our partnership with SELCAT and relationships within the local community,” he said.
The IBEW’s return to Puerto Rico began in 2017 in one of the darkest periods of the island’s recent history. Two category 5 hurricanes, Irma and then Maria, killed between 3,000 and 5,000 people and knocked out power for the whole island. Nearly all of the 3.5 million residents were without power for months, some for almost a year.
The following year, the existing utility, the Puerto Rican Electric Power Authority, was forced into bankruptcy. In 2020, a consortium of Quanta Energy and Canadian Utilities Ltd. called LUMA won the contract to take over operation of the grid. The following year, the IBEW merged with an independent utility workers union and signed a first contract with LUMA.
(The complete story was told in “Bienvenidos, Hermanos: Puerto Rican Utility Workers Choose the IBEW” in the December 2021 issue of The Electrical Worker.)
“As big as this is, this is just the beginning of the IBEW in the Caribbean,” Harrell said. “We have crews in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, but this office is a commitment to anyone that needs well-trained organized labor. We are willing to help.”
