IBEW members and workers fighting to exercise their rights have two of Illinois’s highest-ranking politicians in their corner.
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Another powerful Illinois politician with a strong pro-worker track record, U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth sent a video message to delegates pledging her continued loyalty. “Know this,” she said. “You have an ally in me.”
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Illinois Senate President Don Harmon and U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth delivered brief but moving remarks to the 40th International Convention on Tuesday that underscored their strong pro-worker voting records.
“Senator Harmon is a lifelong supporter of people in the labor movement. He proves it every day,” said International President Lonnie R. Stephenson, welcoming the morning’s first speaker.
“I’m proud to say that my family is part of your history,” said Harmon, who has spent 20 years in the Senate and is up for re-election this year.
“Harmon Electric is no more, but for years it was the economic lifeblood of the Harmon family,” he said. “Founded by my grandpa and my uncle on the west side of the city in 1924, Harmon Electric helped build the old Chicago Stadium. It also secured the Harmon family’s place in the middle class.”
Duckworth, who is one of Capitol Hill’s strongest voices for veterans in addition to her advocacy for workers, was elected to the U.S. House in 2012 and the Senate in 2016. She spoke via video, apologizing for not being able to join the delegates in person.
“As a senator, I’m working to make it easier, not harder, to join unions like the IBEW because all Americans and their families deserve access to a safe working environment and fair employment practices,” she said.
Like Harmon, Duckworth is up for re-election in 2022. Praising her track record, Stephenson said it “includes her stalwart support for the bipartisan Infrastructure and Jobs Act, which is bringing 17 billion dollars in federal funds to Illinois for roads, bridges, public transit and airports, clean water, broadband expansion, and EV charging stations.”
Harmon said he’d always been told that his family’s business was a strong union shop, but recently he found proof in a World War II-era Chicago Tribune article.
“The story goes like this. Harmon Electric was the low bidder on a South Side water plant.
It was a quarter-million-dollar project, which was certainly a lot of money then. But my Uncle Art refused to sign the contract.
“He refused because the terms were changed, and it didn’t include paying workers overtime. Uncle Art stood with his union workers and the terms of his contract with them.
“So it is an honor for me to be able to stand before all of you today as an ally in our fight to protect the rights of working men and women all across this great nation,” Harmon said.
Duckworth echoed that commitment.
“Every day, millions of people across America rely on the hard work, skills, and expertise of workers like you,” she said. “So know this: you have an ally in me, and day or night I’m going to keep working for you in the Senate, supporting policies that protect American jobs and don’t put corporate profits over hard-working Illinoisans and Americans.”