The Electrical Worker was the name of the first official publication of the National Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in 1893 (the NBEW became the IBEW in 1899 with the expansion of the union into Canada). The name and format of the publication have changed over the years. This newspaper is the official publication of the IBEW and seeks to capture the courage and spirit that motivated the founders of the Brotherhood and continue to inspire the union’s members today. The masthead of this newspaper is an adaptation of that of the first edition in 1893.
Editor
Kenneth W. Cooper has served as IBEW International President since 2023. A member of the IBEW for more than 40 years, he got his start in the union as an apprentice with Local 688 in Mansfield, Ohio.
He served in many roles in his local union, including steward, vice president, and president, before being elected business manager in 1993.
Under his leadership, Local 688 prospered, construction market share grew, and organizing increased, including a 200-person manufacturing facility.
In 2002, Cooper relocated to Las Vegas, where he served as assistant business manager of Local 396. There, he helped organize five units at Nevada Power Company and a new power-generating plant in Apex.
Four years later, President Edwin D. Hill appointed him as an international representative for the IBEW’s Fourth District, which covers Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.
In 2011, President Hill recognized his leadership and recommended him to serve as Fourth District International Vice President.
Delegates to the 38th International Convention elected him to a full term, and he was re-elected in 2016 at the 39th International Convention in St. Louis.
A year later, thanks to his persistence and leadership, the IBEW celebrated one of its biggest organizing wins when more than 1,400 Baltimore Gas and Electric utility workers voted to join the Brotherhood.
International President Lonnie R. Stephenson invited Cooper to join him as International Secretary-Treasurer in 2017, and delegates overwhelmingly elected him to a full term in 2022.
Upon Stephenson’s retirement in 2023, members of the International Executive Council supported Cooper as the IBEW’s next International President.
During his tenure, the IBEW has broken organizing records, recruiting tens of thousands of electrical workers each year, growing at rates not seen in more than 50 years.
He has also enhanced the IBEW’s voice in Washington and state capitals across the nation.
In 2024, he helped win upgraded pension benefits for members and created the first new IBEW retirement benefit since 1946.
Cooper serves on the Executive Committee of the AFL-CIO and the Governing Board of Presidents for North America’s Building Trades Unions.
He and his wife, Gina, have three daughters and two sons.
IBEW International Secretary-Treasurer Paul A. Noble’s IBEW career began in 1986, working as a material handler out of St. Louis Local 1 in 1986.
He then joined West Frankfort, Ill. Local 702, working for Contel Telephone, before being accepted into the local’s 5-year Inside Wireman apprenticeship program.
Noble served as organizer, business representative, and training instructor before becoming business manager in 2006.
International President Edwin D. Hill appointed Noble as an international representative in the Sixth District – which covers Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota – in 2010, where he served as Illinois state political coordinator.
He helped lead two historic pro-worker and pro-jobs wins: the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, which includes some of the strongest pro-worker provisions for the energy industry in the nation, and the Workers’ Rights Amendment, which enshrines collective bargaining rights in the state constitution.
In 2022, International President Lonnie R. Stephenson appointed him Sixth District Vice President, and he was elected to the position by delegates to the 40th International Convention in Chicago.
The following year, he was appointed International Secretary Treasurer.
In his current role, Noble helps lead the IBEW’s health and benefits programs, which have experienced steady growth and rank among the strongest in the electrical industry.
In 2024, working with International President Kenneth Cooper, he helped shepherd the first NEBF pension increases for members in two decades and create the first new pension benefit since 1946, the NEIB.
Under his fiscal leadership, the IBEW has grown even stronger as one of the most financially stable and influential unions in the labor movement.
A lifelong resident of Southern Illinois, he and his wife, Gina, have two daughters and two grandchildren.
