RETIRED — Third District Regional Organizing Coordinator Stephen Rockafellow, a veteran IBEW activist whose organizing efforts improved the lives of thousands of workers, retired on April 15.
“I worked with good people that I liked, so it wasn’t hard,” said Brother Rockafellow, a native New Yorker for whom electrical work was part of his post-school plans.
“I liked working on cars and mechanical stuff,” he said. After graduating, he earned an associate’s degree in electrical tech from a local community college.
His first application to Newburgh, N.Y., Local 631’s apprenticeship, though, was declined.
In 1978, “I’d been banging around doing dead-end jobs and decided to apply again,” Rockafellow said. Gaining an interview, he learned that failing to include his high school transcript had kept him out of the running before.
“I’d thought they sent it in for you,” he said with a laugh.
One of Rockafellow’s apprenticeship classmates was Samuel Fratto, now business manager of New City, N.Y., Local 363.
“Work was slow, so they only took five apprentices,” said Fratto, who remains close friends with Rockafellow. “You’re not going to find anybody who’s more fun to hang out with than Steve.”
The apprenticeship was his big break, Rockafellow said: “It was my first real job. I was aware I had to take it seriously.”
Rockafellow, officially initiated into the IBEW in 1980, enjoyed attending union meetings and rallies, and he frequently volunteered to help with the local’s social activities.
When he finished his apprenticeship in 1983, his enthusiasm had caught the attention of Local 631’s leaders, who offered him what became a 10-year stint as a second-year apprentice instructor while he continued to work with the tools as a journeyman wireman and foreman.
“Steve’s good with sending people in the right direction. He loves the IBEW, and he’s a great asset to it. No question.”
– New City, N.Y., Local 363 Business Manager Samuel Fratto
In 1988, he was serving his third year on the local’s examining board when he was appointed to fill a vacancy as treasurer and asked to become asked to become a business representative and organizer.
“I thought, ‘Let me take a shot at this,’” said Rockafellow, adding that Business Manager Dutch Hughes encouraged him to take classes at what is now the State University of New York’s Empire State University.
“I really had a bug for learning,” said Rockafellow, who earned a bachelor’s degree from the school in 1992 and a master’s degree in 1999.
In 1992, Rockafellow successfully ran for the first of three terms on Newburgh’s City Council. “I had a friend who was on the council, and he kind of talked me into it,” he explained.
The following year, Local 631 was amalgamated into Local 363 and Rockafellow became a full-time organizer for his new local. Doing so many jobs, he admitted, “was really taking me away from my kids too much,” and he ended his city council service in 2003.
In 2006, International President Edwin D. Hill hired Rockafellow to serve in the newly created Membership Development Department as organizing coordinator for the Northeast, which covered the IBEW’s Second, Third and Fourth districts — from Maine to Kentucky.
“I really liked the traveling,” Rockafellow said, “seeing different places and meeting workers.”
When the union later allocated one organizing coordinator to each district, Rockafellow was assigned to the Third District.
“There were 471 campaigns that went either to an election or to voluntary recognition,” said Rockafellow, reflecting on his almost 20 years of district-level service. “Of those, 358 were successful.
“Some days, it looks like it’s all falling apart,” he added. “But there’s no better feeling than when you win elections.”
Three of the successes resulted in new locals being chartered. Two were in Trenton, N.J.: Local 30 in 2013, to represent managers in state government, and Local 33 in 2014, to represent the state’s deputy attorneys general, or DAGs.
“They all start with a call, and I’m a guy looking for business,” Rockafellow said. “Then, I find out New Jersey deemed DAGs confidential employees and they didn’t have bargaining rights.”
Fortunately, he said, a lobbying effort led by Third District International Representative Wyatt Earp, who retired in December 2025, persuaded the state’s Governor and Legislature to pass a law granting DAGs organizing rights.
The third charter was for Monaca, Pa., Local 724, “after an organizing campaign over the last several years for Shell workers in western Pennsylvania,” Rockafellow said. (Read about Local 724’s recently reached first contract in the cover story.)
That campaign allowed Rockafellow to work with the organizer later selected to replace him, Third District Lead Organizer Michael McGee, whom Rockafellow called “a very hard worker.”
The Shell campaign was huge, McGee said.
“I couldn’t have done it without Steve’s advice,” he said. “When it comes to organizing and the National Labor Relations Act, he’s so sharp.”
Rockafellow has a knack for leadership, Fratto added. “Steve’s good with sending people in the right direction,” he said. “He loves the IBEW, and he’s a great asset to it. No question.”
Topping Rockafellow’s retirement to-do list is spending time with Peggy, his wife of 44 years, and their two adult children, son-in-law and granddaughter.
“When I realized I needed a diversion from work, I took up boating,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll spend more time on it now.
“I’ve always enjoyed working on my house,” Rockafellow added. “And my parents are still alive, and now I can help them out a little more.”
That kind of helpfulness defines Rockafellow, McGee said. “Even now, Steve calls me to check in,” he said. “He’s happy, cordial, professional and always a gentleman.”
Please join the IBEW’s officers and staff in wishing Brother Rockafellow a long and happy retirement.
