International Secretary-Treasurer Emeritus Salvatore “Sam” Chilia spoke with the voice of experience when he told delegates and guests there’s never been a better time to be an IBEW member.
“In my more than half a century in this union, I’ve seen the IBEW change a lot, change for the better,” Chilia said in a video message. “We’re a smarter, more engaged and a more inclusive IBEW than ever before. And that’s a good thing.”
He told delegates to the 40th International Convention that even though he couldn’t come to Chicago, “I am with you in spirit.”
Chilia joined Cleveland Local 38 as an apprentice inside wireman right out of high school, working the tools for more than 20 years before moving into local leadership.
“After Sam’s father died when Sam was a boy, Sam’s mother, Judy, took a job in a factory where workers were represented by Cleveland Local 1377,” International President Lonnie R. Stephenson said, introducing Chilia.
“That meant Judy was able to fully provide for herself and for Sam, her only child. Judy was Sam’s inspiration.”
Winning successive elections, Chilia served as Local 38’s business manager, as a member of the International Executive Council, and as Fourth District IVP before being appointed and then elected as international secretary-treasurer in 2011. He retired in 2017.
“The country was still recovering from the Great Recession,” Stephenson said. “But with Sam’s steady hand on the wheel, our Family Medical Care Plan flourished. Our National Electrical Benefit Fund became the envy of other building trades unions. Sam also helped grow the IBEW’s political and organizing operations.”
Connecting politics with organizing and collective bargaining, Chilia said, “We are very, very lucky today. We have an American president who is not afraid to say ‘organized labor’ or ‘union.’
“President Biden stands with us shoulder to shoulder. The public-at-large is more supportive of unions than ever, so the opportunity to organize is greater than ever.”
And when that window is open, he said “you go through it, because when it shuts you don’t want to be on the other side looking in.
“As someone who’s dedicated a lot of sweat and tears into this union, let me say this: This is a historic moment for the IBEW. Don’t let it pass us by.”
Despite the many changes since his initiation in 1967, “what doesn’t change is our values as IBEW members — solidarity, dignity, excellence,” he said. “Our mission is still the same as it was back in 1891: organize every electrical worker in North America.
“Serving the IBEW and this membership was the greatest honor of my life and I’m eternally grateful for the opportunities it’s given me,” Chilia said. “There are so many workers out there looking for those same opportunities. Let’s go out there and give it to them.”