Pro-Worker Future

Hundreds of IBEW members, union allies and volunteers from Pennsylvania and beyond have been gathering this fall at York, Pa., Local 229 for weekend canvasses in support of the Harris/Walz ticket and pro-worker candidates up and down the state ballot. Volunteers were in for a surprise Saturday, Oct. 26, when Kamala Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff, pictured just left of center, dropped by the hall to thank them and Local 229. “It’s really uplifting to see this many people focused on elected people who won’t just be good for the IBEW but for all workers and working families,” Business Manager Tom Henchey said.
Janesville, Wis., Local 890 used their grounds on a gorgeous fall day Saturday, Oct. 26, to host one of Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s stops in her re-election campaign, kicking off a day of phone-banking and canvassing for Baldwin, the Harris-Walz ticket and other pro-worker candidates. In addition to Local 890 activists, IBEW volunteers included members from Madison Local 159, Milwaukee Local 494 and an out-of-state contingent from Chicago Local 134. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers also spoke, as did Sixth District International Vice President Mike Clemmons. “We used our front lawn area because there were too many people for our hall,” Local 890 Business Manager Ben Myers said. “It was a good turnout, and we did a lot of canvassing afterwards. We’re also canvassing locally each day.”
Canvassing, phone banks and rallies have kept Detroit Local 58 members especially busy in their swing state, where Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, have made multiple stops, along with visits from former President Barack Obama and other major political figures. But the local is fighting just as hard for pro-worker township candidates, Michigan Supreme Court justices, members of Congress and U.S. Senate candidate Elissa Slotkin. Above, IBEW members turned out in force for a canvass hosted at Local 58’s hall Oct. 12.
IBEW locals and union allies in Ohio are fighting hard to return pro-worker champion Sherrod Brown to the U.S. Senate in a race against a fiercely anti-union businessman. Top left, pictured with Sen. Brown on Saturday, Oct. 26, members from Ohio locals that include Cleveland Local 38, Steubenville Local 246, Canton Local 540, Toledo Local 8 and Lorain Local 129 get ready to knock doors in Cleveland. Above right, an IBEW group en route to Cleveland includes business managers John Novak from Local 129, Dan Gallagher from Local 38 and Kevan Brown from Local 246, along with Fourth District International Vice President Gina Cooper, center. Bottom left, Kevan Brown speaks to news media on Thursday, Oct. 24, saying, “The choice for Senate in Ohio couldn’t be more clear. Sherrod Brown is a guy who stood by workers like us every step of the way.”
Macon, Ga., Local 1316 has been in the thick of get-out-the-vote efforts, leading and hosting canvasses and phone banks as often as six days a week in October, as well as press conferences. Those include a media event on the first day of early voting in Georgia, where Business Manager Stacey Mixson, center, warned of the dangers that the Republican-backed Project 2025 poses to unions, jobs and workers’ financial security. Mixson told The Electrical Worker that “The IBEW’s been killing it” in central Georgia. “We’ve got a pretty good little ground game going,” he said. “Nobody’s sitting on their hands around here.”
IBEW locals in New Jersey regularly host six of the state AFL-CIO’s 12 weekend labor walks, which have drawn 900 or more union activists each Saturday, more than a fifth of them IBEW members. Nearly 1,100 walkers turned out on Oct. 26, including the group pictured above outside Clifton, N.J., Local 1158. While many of New Jersey’s state and local elections are held in odd-numbered years, union members are working hard to elect pro-worker candidates to Congress, including re-electing IBEW member and long-serving U.S. House Rep. Donald Norcross and sending Rep. Andy Kim to the U.S. Senate.
Saint Paul, Minn., Local 110 members turned out in force for an October phone bank at the city’s labor federation offices, where they called union homes statewide to support pro-worker candidates on the Nov. 5 ballot. President Logan Beere said, “Every time our Local 110 members volunteer, it's a powerful reminder that elections matter across all generations of the IBEW. From retirees to apprentices, when our members stand together to support labor-endorsed candidates, they're showing just how important it is to protect the rights and future of every worker.” One of their major goals this year is re-electing U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, who the Southeastern Minnesota Building & Construction Trades said, “understands the importance of investing in infrastructure and transportation that provide the economic stability for our communities.”
Detroit Local 58 members hit the streets to knock at union homes in support of pro-worker candidates up and down the ballot, including races that will determine whether the Michigan Supreme Court maintains a worker-friendly majority.
Fifty to 60 members of high-energy Boston Local 103 have been making trips every Saturday this fall to neighboring New Hampshire to knock doors for Joyce Craig for governor and other pro-worker candidates. Business Manager Lou Antonellis said volunteers are eager to help their New Hampshire brothers and sisters, who include more than 800 Local 103 members living just over the Massachusetts border. They’re also freer to help this year, with their own state’s full slate of House Democrats running unopposed and Sen. Elizabeth Warren leading by a wide margin. “It’s important to our members to be active,” he said. “They care about what happens, and it’s a pretty safe bet how the election is going to go in Boston.”
Members of San Diego Local 569 are going all out for pro-IBEW local candidates, “our labor champions,” in their hometown and surrounding counties, while also pushing hard for San Diego Measure G, a half-cent sales tax for regional transportation and infrastructure projects. The local revved into high gear in October with building trades’ labor walks on Saturdays and some Sundays to ensure that “funding exists for our current and future work through Measure G and [to support] elected officials who will fight to provide more opportunities to IBEW 569 members to uplift our families and communities.”
A core group of York, Pa., Local 229 activists in the prep area for the huge weekend canvasses they have hosted at their hall and training center this fall to elect pro-worker candidates at every level of government. In addition to IBEW and other area union volunteers, Business Manager Tom Henchey said seven charter buses arrived for the latest day of action Oct. 26.
At left, a Local 890 family listens to speakers during a campaign stop for U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin on the local’s grounds in Janesville, 40 miles south of Madison, on Saturday, Oct. 26. At right, Sixth District International Vice President Mike Clemmons, with Baldwin to his right, champions Wisconsin’s pro-worker candidates and rallies IBEW members and other volunteers for a day of get-out-the-vote canvassing and phone calls.
East Windsor, N.J., Local 827, which has offices statewide, always plays a major role in get-out-the-vote activities for the area’s labor movement. Pat Glover a chief steward pictured front left, is especially tireless, said Local 827 Business Agent Tom Kelly, president of the Passaic County Central Labor Council. “Pat does all of the logistical stuff for our walks including making all the packets on Friday nights then getting there at 6 a.m. on Saturdays. He arranges the speakers and makes sure we walk their turf that day. Last year, he battled throat cancer and never missed a week,” Kelly said. In addition to Glover and other CLC members, Kelly is pictured at left in back, next to Local 827 Business Manager Bob Speer and, at right, Mark Battagliese, Paterson, N.J., Local 102 business agent and financial secretary
At the iconic H&H soul-food diner in Macon, Ga., Gov. Tim Walz visits with Macon Local 1316 Business Manager Stacey Mixson, front right, and other labor leaders on the Central Georgia CLC. The informal, free-flowing conversation included a lot of union talk, Mixon said. “We discussed his days as a union teacher, and we talked a little smack of which union is the best between us at the table and who has the best swag,” he said. “He was the nicest, most down-to-earth politician I’ve probably ever met.”