Proudly displayed in the offices of San Diego Local 465 is a photograph from 1915 featuring a horse-drawn float, the local’s entry in a parade celebrating the city’s hosting of the Panama-California Exposition that year.

“That float is like a storybook,” said Local 465 Business Manager Nate Fairman. “It has linemen on it. It has gas lamp workers, telegraph workers and the ‘hello girls’ who were switchboard operators.”

In 1904, Local 465 was chartered as the IBEW’s inaugural outpost in fast-growing San Diego. The festival 11 years later was meant to put a spotlight on the city as the first U.S. port of call for ships traveling west through the newly opened Panama Canal — and a thriving, world-class destination.

“Our members built the energy infrastructure that helped San Diego blossom to what it is,” said Fairman, now serving his fourth term as Local 465’s business manager. “That picture shows where we came from.”

Today, the local represents nearly 3,000 men and women in San Diego and Imperial counties, from linemen, line-clearance tree trimmers and water and natural gas workers to museum staffers and workers at the transit system serving the host city for the IBEW’s 41st International Convention.

Members also deliver reliable energy infrastructure to nearby U.S. Navy and Marine Corps bases. “We have some of the nation’s largest military bases, and one of the Navy’s biggest building programs,” Fairman said.

Fairman was hired to work for San Diego Gas and Electric in 2007. After graduating from its lineman apprenticeship, he ran successfully for the first of two terms on Local 465’s executive board. In 2016, he was 29 when he was elected as the youngest business manager in the local’s history.

Among his first objectives in that role, he said, was investing toward organizing more SDG&E workers.

“I’ve always heard from the International Office that these utilities, where we have long-standing partnerships, if there are workers there that aren’t represented, we should see about entering card-check neutrality agreements,” Fairman said. “It’s low-hanging fruit.”

With high levels of public support for unions in the U.S., he said, “we’re having conversations every day with our neighbors, friends and co-workers about providing them that pathway into union membership.”

It furthers the IBEW’s cause when unorganized workers see union-represented colleagues enjoying better pay, benefits and working conditions, Fairman said.

Local 465 is making progress at SDG&E, like a neutrality agreement and historic first contracts for 200 call center workers and over 50 workers at two power plants. (Read more in the October 2024 Electrical Worker.) Other targets for IBEW membership at the utility include thermographers, and outage workers.

Fairman noted with pride that building the local’s political power has been another accomplishment.

“Our members traditionally were not politically active,” the business manager said.

That needed to change, he said, when San Diego’s leaders were being pressured to take control of SDG&E’s operations in the city. Soon, Local 465’s members were on the forefront helping to battle against municipalization.

“When the fight came to us, when our union jobs were on the line,” he said, “we educated, we mobilized, and we fought back — successfully.” (Read more in the September 2024 Electrical Worker.)

Fairman noted other Local 465 wins of late, including organizing 175 workers at CalEnergy’s geothermal power plants in the Imperial Valley.

“We’ve really started expanding our footprint in the Imperial Valley,” he said. Last December, for example, the local decisively won a fiercely fought organizing campaign at CalEnergy’s geothermal plants.

“To get anything built in California, you need to have a good relationship with organized labor,” Fairman added. “But they were afraid that if one plant went union, another would go union next.”

The fight toward a first contract was ongoing as this article was being prepared.

“We’re using the press, our advocacy and our strength with political partnerships in the valley to put pressure on them,” Fairman said.

In 2019, political advocacy helped Fairman and leaders of California’s Diamond Bar Local 47 and Vacaville Local 1245 get legislation passed creating statewide support for line-clearance tree trimmers.

“We fought for decades to create a standard apprenticeship program and raise [LCTT] wages,” said Fairman, who noted that there are about 300 such workers in his local. Having no luck lobbying employers, he said, “we advocated at the Legislature to get Senate Bill 247 passed.”

The measure effectively doubled LCTT wages and benefits and created funds for specialized apprenticeships and facilities.

For communities in the Imperial Valley, Local 465 members help deliver water as well as electricity.

“They work in one of the most challenging climates in the country,” Fairman said. “One day, it’ll be 110 degrees and not a cloud in the sky; the next, a microburst will dump 10 inches of rain in five hours and wash out 50 poles. Our linemen will have to work around the clock to restore service.”

The local also represents Imperial Irrigation District workers, including about 200 “zanjeros,” canal operators who control water delivery from the Colorado River.

“They’re one of the strongest groups that we have,” Fairman said. “They help us in negotiations, show up to board meetings and help our advocacy.”

Delegates coming in for the convention, he said, can expect warm vibes from their local sister and brother members. “We look forward to showing the entire IBEW why San Diego is called ‘America’s Finest City,’” he said.

Fairman noted that the pre-convention Expo Hall will feature a display by Local 465’s Charlie Tuck, a retired third-generation lineworker and senior line instructor.

“Back in their era, when they were building all that stuff, it was still so new,” Tuck said. “Some of the ideas they came up with — those were some pretty sharp guys back then.”

Looking to the future, Fairman said that thousands more workers in Local 465’s jurisdiction will enjoy good union jobs because of the organizing and advocacy being done by his local’s members and the entire IBEW.

“We have a beautiful history here in San Diego,” he said, “and we’re trying to capitalize on every opportunity to deliver for our members and for the overall labor movement.

“The sky’s the limit, the potential is incredible, and we’re super excited at 465 for what the future holds,” he said. “We’re ready to build that future and maintain it.”

Ninth District International Vice President Dave Reaves praised the local for leading by example: “Local 465 inherited a proud legacy from those who electrified San Diego, and they’re honoring them by organizing, embracing new technologies and building infrastructure to power our future.”