Current News
When the Seattle City Council started considering proposals to raise the city’s minimum wage, Seattle Local 46 knew it was their duty to step right up to help.
Last year, a public policy center at Northeastern University in Boston released a report stating that the lack of affordable housing in Beantown could hurt the city’s e conomic recovery.
Critics of raising the minimum wage claim it will hurt businesses and cost jobs, but the experience of one California city is refuting the naysayers.
North Carolinians from all walks of life continue their Monday protests against the state GOP’s extremist agenda.
In the race of advancing telecommunications technology, the National Coalition for Telecommunications Education and Learning is helping workers keep up the pace.
IBEW Locals in California are standing up for housing rights for our nation’s veterans.
Hundreds of IBEW sisters are expected in San Antonio Sept. 17-20 for the Seventh IBEW International Women’s Conference.
Manufacturing workers at Greenbrier Rail Service in Hershey, Neb., are the newest members of the IBEW family after voting to join North Platte Local 1920.
President Barack Obama announced the creation of a presidential emergency board June 15 to end four years of stalled contract negotiations with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, the IBEW and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority.
Through helping residents, building a reputation as a good neighbor and working in coalition with other community organizations, Modesto Local 684 is winning new work.
Union members recently volunteered to build a roof on the youth archery range at the J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area’s Everglades Youth Conservation Camp in West Palm Beach, Fla.
When it comes to renewable energy, Rhode Island lags far behind its neighboring New England states.
Two hundred and ten graduates crossed the stage to receive their diplomas from the National Labor College at the end of this spring semester. It was the institution’s largest graduating class, and also its last.
Outsourcing by state and local governments increasingly means that the middle-class jobs of today are becoming the poverty-level jobs of tomorrow.
Moms employed by the mega-retailer Walmart walked off the job in more than 20 cities last week to protest continuing low pay and disrespect.
In Minnesota, everyone agrees that when it comes to taxpayer-funded construction projects, contractors must obey the law.
Summer is here, but only a few months ago, North America was suffering through record freezing artic temperatures, ice storms and massive snow flurries.
Billions of dollars of new transmission work is coming to the Midwest and Great Plains, making outside line construction one of the hottest job fields in the country.
The EPA has a track record of underestimating the impact of its rules, making faulty predictions that have cost tens of thousands of good jobs.
Nearly 2,000 ADT employees across the U.S. and Canada enjoy better job security, fair wages and other benefits of an IBEW contract.
As you get ready to hit the highway this summer, crews working on or near roads have a request: slow down and stay alert.
Approximately 30 skilled tradesmen donated their time to rehabilitate a fishing pier at Houston’s Sheldon Lake State Park May 3.
A power outage… A college graduation. They mix about as well as electricity and water.
A big crowd at a local meeting is often one of the most reliable signs of a union’s strength.
In 2007, as Congress considered approval of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, the IBEW joined 10 other unions in a letter opposing the pact with the most dangerous country in the world for unions, with 72 trade unionists assassinated the year before.
The 2014 legislative session in Missouri ended May 16 with the defeat of two major anti-labor bills long sought after by anti-worker special interests.
IBEW members are usually on the go. Many depend on their phones or tablets to check the latest news and keep in contact.
In the days and weeks after March’s tragic and sudden mudslide that devastated the small Washington community of Oso, the nation watched as newscasters and reporters piled up grim figures.
The Trans-Pacific Psartnership – a trade agreement under negotiation by the United States, Canada and 11 other Pacific Rim nations – could end up making it harder for consumers to fill their prescriptions.
A popular button often seen at labor rallies and conferences reads, “A woman's place is in her union.”
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) rejected federal efforts to end four years of stalled contract negotiations with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the IBEW on May 8.
On May 12, executives and shareholders of Charlotte, N.C.-based FairPoint Communications gathered for the company’s annual shareholders meeting. The meeting took place amid widespread rumors, reported on www.ibew.org, the company is seeking a merger or sale.
The Erie County Vietnam Veterans Memorial is shining a little brighter after a new set of lights were unveiled May 3
For years, high-school students have been told there is one path to success – a four-year college degree.
Business and labor may not agree on everything, but when it comes to investing in America’s aged industrial infrastructure, both sides are sounding the alarm.
Members attending the 2014 Broadcasting, Manufacturing and Telecommunications Conference in Connecticut in late April loudly applauded after hearing from George Farrell, a retired fire chief who coordinates Rhode Island’s “honor flights” program.
Like many high school seniors, Brian Hobbs and Jacob Bates weren’t looking forward to four more years of sitting in the classroom – all while racking up major college debt.
Talgo is vacating its factory in Wisconsin, four years after Gov. Scott Walker rejected millions in federal stimulus money to create a commuter line.
During President Obama’s recent tour of Asia, many issues were discussed with foreign heads of state. At the top of Obama’s agenda was the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed trade agreement among the United States and 12 other Pacific Rim nations.
GlobalFoundries ,the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, is building a new manufacturing campus in upstate New York.
Letter carriers across the country are getting ready for the 22nd annual Letter Carriers’ Food Drive.
Just weeks after failing to garner enough support to put right-to-work-for-less on the Missouri ballot, anti-worker state legislators are resurrecting another bill aimed at weakening workers’ rights.
When telecom company FairPoint Communications first bid to take over Verizon’s New England landline service in 2008, there were both promises and worries.
Business and labor leaders are in agreement that President Obama’s April 16 announcement of $600 million in federal grant programs to boost workforce training is the right decision for the economy.
As president of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka hears and reads a lot of horror stories about workers being abused by employers.
Last year, one story struck home in a uniquely personal way for Trumka, a former coal miner whose father, grandfathers and uncles died from black lung disease, suffocating from the effects of years of breathing coal dust.
Vistas at Providence Canyon State Park, known to locals as Georgia’s Little Grand Canyon, will be enhanced by seven miles of restored trails, thanks to union members.
IBEW and NECA are recognized for their concern for the environment and support for their cities.
Matt Harlow, an inside journeyman wireman member of Birmingham, Ala., Local 136, learned a lot about the value of on-the-job training during his five years as an apprentice instructor.
After Dan Sullivan topped out of San Diego Local 569’s apprenticeship program in 2001, he went back to the training center for the class that changed his life.
Seven years after the onset of the Great Recession, nearly all economists agree that we are in an economic recovery.
Drive down any wide, open highway across Missouri and you’ll see something big, heavy and plentiful on the plains.
An IBEW request has helped initiate a timely hearing to discuss how the shutdowns of coal-fired power plants will affect the nation’s electrical grid, especially during extreme weather emergencies.
Automated electricity meters have been a double-whammy for many locals. Meter reader jobs disappear and the replacement work has proven extremely resistant to organizing on both sides of the border.
The U.S. Senate voted April 7 to restore unemployment benefits for the 2.8 million Americans who have been out of work for six months or longer.
Efforts to make Missouri the 25th right-to-work-for-less state came up short April 9, with anti-worker state legislators failing to garner enough votes to send their bill to the state Senate.
Muskegon, Mich., Local 275 invested in a camcorder and asked the local’s new members to say on camera why they decided to join the IBEW – in their own words.
Leading union activists representing broadcasting employees cheered a move that will help promote diversity in local media markets while saving jobs.
With technology moving so quickly, success in the telecommunications industry requires commitment to lifelong learning.
Lineman put their lives on the line every day to ensure that electricity is safely delivered to our homes and businesses.
Flat wages have been pushing American workers backward for decades, but Minneapolis Local 292 member Kent Blachowiak’s employer was trying to push him all the way back to the 19th century.
Trentice Hamm and Robert Bausch started out their day hoping to inspire some nonunion Oklahoma construction workers during an organizing blitz.
It is unlikely that most of the long-term unemployed will find their way back into the labor market without an effort by Congress and business leaders, a new report says.
It can seem tougher these days to find products on store shelves that don’t have a “Made in China” label.
It’s one of the inevitable laugh lines in tens of thousands of workplaces, public and private. A senior manager tells workers that some of their duties will be outsourced to cut costs. Around the water cooler employees snicker about how contracting out work often backfires, costing employers more than they save.
U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, are actively supporting a request from IBEW, the United Mineworkers Union, the Utility Workers and others to hold a hearing on the stability and reliability of the nation’s electrical grid.
The Koch brothers are trying to buy elections. Anti-labor lobbyists helped defeat VW workers’ effort to organize in Tennessee. And right-to-work may be coming to states like Missouri, Ohio and Maine if anti-union lawmakers succeed in carrying out their corporate donors’ wishes.
The industry leader in the manufacture of arc-rated fabrics is helping to create a program to help train the next generation of electrical workers.
Many World War II factories operated with the assistance of women, some of whom are coming to Washington, with the help of IBEW members.
There is one television concert show where the technical engineers behind the broadcast are as talented as the people on the stage.
You never know when you could use a helping hand. Hardships can hit at any time: layoffs, natural disasters, medical emergencies or a strike.
Activists in Missouri are working to remind businesses that everyone in the Show Me state benefits from good union jobs – every time a member makes a purchase.
Each St. Patrick’s Day, we honor North America’s Irish heritage.
Franklin Roosevelt was in office and Mickey Mouse first hit the screen when most of New York City’s sewer mains were installed. The Cold War was just starting and home TVs were still a rarity around the time when most schools were built in the five boroughs.
Collinsville, Ill., Local 309 has launched an unprecedented, multiplatform advertising campaign that Business Manager Scott Hassall expects will dramatically raise the profile of the local and its signatory contractors throughout their southwest Illinois jurisdiction.
America’s building trades unions are strongly opposing President Obama’s recommendation to privatize the Tennessee Valley Authority, calling it a budget gimmick that would set back a model institution that has improved the lives of millions.
Every economic sector reserves a special place for pioneering companies. Respect grows when, more than a century after the formation of an enterprise, it continues to provide innovative leadership in its industry.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers joins the growing number of labor unions, community and civil rights activists and lawmakers in calling for an end to Kellogg Co.’s four-month lockout of more than 220 workers at the company’s Memphis, Tenn., plant.
Union members and pro-worker activists took to the heart of Toronto’s retail district Feb. 15 to call on Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne to raise the provincial minimum wage.
Politicians talk a lot about jobs, but there is one surefire way Congress can help create millions of jobs according to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute: crack down on currency manipulation.
When legislators in Pennsylvania decided to follow the lead of Wis. Gov. Scott Walker and propose a bill to weaken the state’s public sector unions, so many unionists showed up at Harrisburg’s capitol rotunda on Jan. 28, many were forced to stand outside in the freezing cold.
With a New York Bank data center project, upgrades to a General Motors auto plant and a new convention center job on the books, leaders of Nashville Local 429 figured the time was right to move an electrical licensing law through the Davidson County Council, a 40-member body that covers the celebrated music city and surrounding suburbs.
For nearly 125 years, the IBEW has relentlessly fought to improve on-the-job safety for electrical workers, and the positive impact of the Brotherhood’s advocacy is unquestionable.
The United Auto Workers is asking the National Labor Relations Board to set aside the results of the certification election at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga, Tenn. assembly plant decided after a three-day vote Feb. 14.
On Valentine’s Day, while much of the nation faced frigid temperatures, in Cape Coral, Fla., cancer patient Frances Ballester wasn’t just struggling with a lack of air conditioning. Her breathing machine, too, was shut down after the local utility turned off her electrical power over landlord’s unpaid bills.
Less than 200 Maine residents earn their living catching lobsters. But nearly 20,000 state inhabitants work in call centers, like legendary retailer L.L. Bean’s, employing 2,000.
Tens of thousands of people enjoy bass fishing. When they are not on their favorite lakes, many watch fishing tournaments on TV.
In a victory for American jobs and fair pay, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld Department of Labor wage rules requiring non-agricultural foreign workers be paid prevailing wages.
The IBEW is asking regulators to carefully review the proposed merger between Comcast and Time Warner.
Talk about a dirty job. TV host Mike Rowe is the voice for Walmart’s new TV ad campaign promoting American manufacturing
If you want to know where the jobs are, follow the sun. That’s the conclusion of a new report from the Solar Foundation, which says solar employment in 2013 grew by 20 percent over the previous year. That’s 10 times faster than the national average employment growth rate.
Last week, we reported on Worcester, Mass., Local 96 member Ekaterina Pashkevitch, who is in Sochi, Russia, playing center for the Russian Women’s Olympic Hockey Team.
At any gathering of union members, you can always count on one thing: T-shirts. Bearing the union’s colors and announcing--often quite loudly and creatively –their cities or towns, T-shirts help members express their pride.
The skewing of national income to the top 1 percent of the country threatens upward mobility, which is the core of the American dream, says a new study from the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Labor and Employment Relations.
For IBEW member Charles Horhn, the fight for civil rights, voters’ rights and workers’ rights are one. In honor of black history month, he told his story to the AFL-CIO blog.
The Supreme Court of Canada struck a blow for pensioner rights Jan. 30, reinstating a lower court’s decision that a $43 million pension surplus that existed when Manitoba Telephone was privatized in 1997 belonged exclusively to retirees.
When most people think about solar power, New Jersey doesn’t immediately come to mind. They might think of thousands of photovoltaic panels sprawling across barren stretches Southwestern desert. Solar, many people suppose, thrives not in New Jersey but where New Jersey goes on vacation.
Ekaterina Pashkevitch is taking to the ice in Sochi, Russia this week, playing center for the Russian Women’s Olympic Hockey Team.
You’ve heard the reasons why union manufacturing can’t make it in America anymore: Union workers get paid too much. American manufacturers can’t afford to build here. Unions just get in the way of management.
Four project labor agreements between IBEW and PPL Electric Utilities in Pennsylvania to upgrade miles of aging power lines will soon require 400 to 500 outside journeymen linemen. This is good news for Keystone State members and for travelers from as far away as Alaska.
Vacaville, Calif. Local 1245 member Erick Varela was at the White House Jan. 31 to introduce President Barack Obama at a discussion with the heads of some of America’s top corporations about combating long-term unemployment – something the two-tour combat veteran is all too familiar with.
Is the Show-Me State about to get a new motto? As in, “Show me a smaller paycheck?”
The outlook for more than 50,000 American jobs in manufacturing could be determined by a bill under consideration in Congress that places more than a dozen significant new restrictions on the export of civilian nuclear technology.
Two years ago, the Pennsylvania legislature, looking to keep the state’s unemployment benefit fund solvent, came up with a plan to alter an eligibility rule for collecting benefits.
More than 30 freelancers working for Program Productions, Inc., voted overwhelmingly to be represented by Boston Local 1228 in an NLRB-certified election Jan. 8.
Clergy, civil rights activists, union members and education advocates from throughout North Carolina are converging on Raleigh Feb. 8 for what is expected to be the largest ever “Moral Monday” march.
IBEW members who become electrical contractors have the advantage of knowing not just a trade and an industry, but how to unleash the powerful contributions of the men and women who work on their projects.
Activists are calling on Congress to say no to fast-track legislation that would take away its ability to negotiate the biggest free-trade agreement since NAFTA – the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
A new system to increase the capacity of transmission lines is being used for the first time by members of Syracuse, N.Y. Local 1249.
Who said it?
“[Unions] are a key driver in the creation of the middle-class, for the reduction of work hours, paid vacation, all sorts of benefits that we all enjoy.”
Contrasting the chilly stillness of winter with the energy of a lineman in action, Casper, Wyo., Local 322 member Levi Gossard’s photo won top honors in the 16th IBEW Photo Contest.
The best apprenticeship programs depend upon students who are well-prepared at the secondary education level for success in the academic rigors of the electrical trade.
For 20 seasons, “American Woodshop” has been a favorite show on PBS channels across the U.S.
It’s an innovative idea in education – a maritime-trade focused school for students in the 5th to 12th grades.
Following a dramatic campaign that tapped the resources and verve of workers and organizers, 78 employees at Sunoptics – a Sacramento-based manufacturer of high-tech skylights – are the newest members of Vacaville, Calif., Local 1245.
We support the Jan. 14 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirming the authority of the Federal Communications Commission to regulate broadband access.
Like your weekend? Well if you live in Wisconsin, a pair of Republican state legislators has an unpleasant surprise for you.
A policy think tank has a new fact sheet that shows that worker misclassification is a serious problem everywhere – even in states with relatively strong labor protections, like Oregon.
As Kansas City and Local 124 host the 24th annual leadership conference of the Electrical Workers Minority Caucus on Jan. 16, members will reflect upon the legacy of one of the longest-standing minority caucuses in the labor movement formed 40 years ago in the same city during the 30th IBEW Convention.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers welcomes the decision by the International Union of Operating Engineers to formally re-affiliate with the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO.
One of the main arguments in favor of voting and engaging in the political process is the importance of electing friends who will appoint fair-minded judges. When we fail, important gains won at the bargaining table or in legislation can be negated by the courts.
The U.S. Senate narrowly voted to extend unemployment benefits to the long-term unemployed Jan. 6. These expired at the end of last year for 1.3 million workers who have been unemployed for 26 weeks or longer.
Since 1950, New York State’s substantial hunger for energy has historically been quenched by big servings of coal-fired steam generation. And, since 1950, one of the largest plants was Dunkirk Station, on the shore of Lake Erie, 55 miles southwest of Buffalo, employing members of Syracuse Local 97.
Supporters of workers’ rights won an important legal victory Nov. 21, after the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board found contractor Magna Electric Corp. guilty of unfairly terminating pro-union employees.
Verizon Business technicians in Andover, Maine, voted overwhelmingly to join Augusta Local 2327 Dec. 11.
While some members of Congress continue to push for further cuts to federal spending, one government watchdog group says our elected leaders need to focus on a more pressing debt: the industrial investment deficit.
From contemplative landscapes to jaw-dropping heights, participants in this year’s IBEW photo contest showcased an array of stunning images – displaying that our membership’s talent extends far beyond the tool belt.
The lockout that forced the 225 members of Vancouver, British Columbia, Local 213 out of their jobs at FortisBC is over after nearly six months.
St. Louis Local 1 electricians Sylvester Taylor and Leon Arties were ready for the cold weather, adhering to the advice of all workers who brave the elements on their jobs: “You can always put on more clothes than you need and take off what you don’t.”
The hectic life of an IBEW business manager offers few reprieves and little free time.
But for Eric Patrick, leader of Rockford, Ill., Local 196, such hard work was rewarded earlier this year when the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance invited him to coastal Louisiana for a fishing expedition.
In the surge of goodwill that accompanies the holiday season, IBEW locals across the U.S. apply their skills to light displays and community celebrations, winning praise in the media and respect from hundreds of thousands of neighbors for whom a visit to the displays is often a yearly custom.
The fate of a proposed $7.7 billion liquefied natural gas export facility in Oregon will likely be decided in the next few weeks and members of the IBEW are lobbying for the project’s approval.
When workers vote “union yes,” it’s often a hard-won victory. But tougher still can be the path to a first contract, where the skills of newly-minted activists are put to the test against the possibility of continued company resistance and difficult negotiations.
Bridging differences between members is often difficult enough for local unions. Deciding how apprenticeships will be filled can sometimes be a point of controversy.
Unions representing more than 1 million federal workers in Canada – including the IBEW – are coming together to take on anti-worker legislation that threatens collective bargaining rights and on-the-job safety
Longtime members of N.Y. Local 1212 who perform all video, editing and broadcasting at the U.N. were deeply worried.
A record 67.5 million women are working today, but many women suffer from low-pay and a gender-based wage gap that makes it hard to get by.
Math isn’t just important for balancing checkbooks and passing tests. It’s vital to a career in the electrical trade.
Stan Osnowitz, an unemployed journeyman electrician member of Baltimore Local 24, said he hates being unemployed. “It is a waste of my abilities. I love being an electrician,” he says. Out of work since July after working for three years straight, Osnowitz is one of more than two million unemployed job seekers who could lose federal jobless aid if Congress does not act to extend it before the end of the year.
Missouri Republicans are looking to start the New Year off on the wrong foot, with another legislative battle over right-to-work-for-less legislation.
Here are just five ways Comcast has given workers a raw deal in one of its most financially successful years on record.
Fed up with poverty wages, fast-food workers across the country are holding a one-day strike Dec. 5.
A new, custom-built deer blind in Texas Hill Country set the stage for kids with mobility issues to experience the thrill of the hunt safely and comfortably, due to the completion of a conservation project organized and sponsored by the Houston-area union community and the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance.
When FairPoint Communications bought Verizon’s New England landline holdings in 2008, the company announced that fears among IBEW members who had worked for Verizon that the new company would outsource and cut jobs were unwarranted.
Too often when school boards face budget shortfalls, music education is the first to go.
But for Washington, D.C., students, music in the classroom is alive and well thanks to a donation from Local 26 and CBS EcoMedia.
Most Americans reject slashing Social Security benefits, but that hasn’t stopped well-funded lobbyists on Capitol Hill from continuing to push Congress to make Social Security cuts.
Ontario Conservative Party Leader Tim Hudak’s antipathy toward unions is no secret, but a recently leaked internal campaign document reveals just how anti-labour a potential Tory government could be.
Across the breezy expanse of Iowa, clean wind-powered energy is abundant.
But for workers in this booming industry, safety on the job can be scarce. That’s one reason why nonunion employees at the TPI Composites plant in Newton are looking to the IBEW for representation.
Dick Yuengling, president of the nation’s oldest brewery, has rarely kept his contempt for unions under wraps. In 2006, he supported a move by workers in his Pottsville, Pa., brewery to decertify their Teamsters bargaining unit.
The deadline was already extended to Nov. 30, so you have no excuses!
How the nuclear power industry will find enough qualified workers to build, operate and maintain plants in the future was the topic of an online conversation featuring International President Edwin D. Hill and senior executives from industry.
Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp. announced Nov. 12 a multibillion-dollar effort to overhaul and expand its electrical transmission network, ensuring reliable service and enhanced capacity to meet the demands of a growing economy.
As any member can tell you, the IBEW isn’t just about good wages or strong contracts. It’s also about commitment to community.
Alaska possesses one of the stronger labor movements in the United States, with a union density rate only second to that of New York State.
As the economy continues its steady recovery, demand for telecommunications workers is picking up. But many of the best jobs are only open to people who keep up with the industry’s rapidly changing technology.
The Labor Department’s jobs report released last week revealed some interesting data about the health of the economy and the industries represented by the IBEW.
For many decades, IBEW members have skillfully brought news and entertainment to local audiences across the nation, working for major broadcasting companies like CBS, Fox and ABC.
Nova Scotia Power’s announcement that it was considering outsourcing at least 250 utility jobs is being criticized by workers and consumer activists as a threat to good jobs and reliable service.
As millions of Christmas and holiday season displays take shape across the nation, picking the best is surely a difficult task. But some shine brightest.
The federal Davis-Bacon Act – along with its state and local counterparts — helps keep construction jobs good jobs and maintain high standards in the industry by requiring contractors receiving public funds to pay the local prevailing wage.
The 2010 midterm elections brought to power a wave of anti-worker governors and legislators. Some are notorious for their attacks on workers’ rights: Scott Walker in Wisconsin, Rick Scott in Florida, Rick Snyder in Michigan.
Amtrak has long been the whipping boy of congressional right-wingers, who decry federal spending on the nation’s passenger rail line as wasteful.
You hear it from the mouths of young people every day: I can’t afford college. The debt would be too big. I’m not sure what to do.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government launched a sneak attack on federal workers’ rights earlier this month with the introduction of a new budget bill.
After a generator failed at a Montana coal-fired power plant on July 1, the operator, PPL Montana, announced that some members of Colstrip Local 1638 would later be placed on furlough for at least 90 days.
The nation’s economy showed disappointing growth in September, with only 148,000 jobs compared to 169,000 jobs created in August.
The Northeast Line Constructors chapter of the National Electric Contractors Association has donated $1 million to support the national outside apprenticeship program. Chapter Manager Mike Gilchrist said the donation was the groups way of saying thank you to the linemen and contractors who helped rebuild after Superstorm Sandy destroyed billions of dollars of property and cut off power to more than 8 million homes across New Jersey, New York and New England.
Labor unions and allies in the city of Watsonville, a fertile agricultural center on the central coast of California, have had much success in 2012 convincing progressive candidates to run and win seats on their city council. Many council members had labor union backgrounds, says Castroville Local 234 Business Manager Andy Hartmann.
A Michigan judge took an anti-union city manager to task last week, ruling that Lowell City Manager Mark Howe lied and unfairly targeted union activists – just to punish workers for joining the IBEW.
The construction industry is making a strong comeback in Arizona, with the number of construction permits up in 2012. But the state actually lost construction jobs over the summer. The reason, says many industry observers: worker misclassification, which is a way for contractors to keep employees on the worksites but off the books.
Leaders of the Danish Union of Electricians, along with their counterparts on the employer side, visited the IBEW International Office Oct. 1.
In the midst of the chaos of Hurricane Sandy, National Grid, employing thousands of IBEW members in New York and New England, decided to roll out a new computer system to account for overtime pay and expenses.
Rice Electrical Services and Controls is the latest member of the St. Louis Local 1 family after the business terminated its contract with a rogue electricians union – the Associated Electrical Contractors Local 57.
The officers of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers sadly report that IBEW Government Employees Director Chico McGill passed away Sept. 27. With a generous spirit and an outsize personality, he was throughout his career an outspoken voice for workers.
The annual IBEW photo contest is a showcase for members to demonstrate their skills with a camera and shine a light on their too-often overlooked jobs. For 15 years, the IBEW Journal and The Electrical Worker have printed hundreds of photos of and by IBEW members at work—turning the lights back on after storms, building architectural marvels and performing hundreds of other jobs that contribute so much to communities across North America and even beyond.
In today’s economy, education is vital to getting ahead. And the National Coalition for Telecommunications Education and Learning is the place for telecommunications professionals looking to gain an edge through advanced online learning.
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers President Edwin D. Hill issued the following statement today:
“The draft regulations issued by the Environmental Protection Agency regarding emissions from newly-constructed power plants threaten economic growth and America’s energy future. Read more...
More than 100 young IBEW members from across the United States and Canada will be in Washington, D.C., Sept. 27-29 for the first ever Reach out and Energize Next-gen Electrical Workers conference.
We know the professionalism and skill that members of the IBEW bring to the job every day.
Now hundreds of millions of TV viewers know as well.
Coming on the heels of last year’s national ad campaign, a new IBEW spot – titled “Power Professionals” – went on the air this month.
The Department of Defense has canceled repairs for a damaged nuclear submarine and ended a program that monitors orbiting space junk, two striking examples of consequences of a federal austerity program that could lay off dozens, potentially hundreds, of IBEW members.
The IBEW’s efforts to tap into good jobs in the booming energy sector are seeing big results in West Virginia, with hundreds of members hard at work building and maintaining the infrastructure needed to get the Mountaineer State’s rich natural gas load to market.
Two years after the launch of the first IBEW app, the IBEW is putting the finishing touches on a new news app for digital readers.
Volunteers from Richmond, Va., Local 666 joined members from the plumbers and pipefitters and the Virginia Building and Construction Trades Council on Aug. 21 to help create more accessible walkways for York River State Park visitors with mobility issues.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans are expected to be in Washington, D.C., Aug. 24 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
Diesel bus mechanics employed by the Delaware Transit Corp. never had much need for a union. That is until one of their own was fired – all because of his breakfast.
ADT alarm system installers know that when they finish work at a new customer’s home, they’re offering something priceless – greater peace of mind for the whole family.
A toll-free call center connection to someone in India has been a punchline for comedians and TV sitcoms for years, but for the thousands of Americans who have lost their jobs in call centers, outsourcing is no laughing matter.
The United Food and Commercial Workers, which left the AFL-CIO eight years ago to join the Change to Win Coalition, is rejoining the nation’s largest labor federation.
A coalition of 20 unions including the IBEW has already seen progress from a campaign to challenge the furlough of 650,000 Department of Defense civilian employees. Since July 1, the Federal Workers Alliance has been urging members of Congress to eliminate 11 unpaid furlough days that are part of the federal government’s budget sequester. The furloughs amount to a 20 percent reduction in pay.
Family members of IBEW members have been awarded scholarships worth $6,250 by the Union Plus Educational Fund. The grantees were among more than 100 winners, representing 36 unions who were awarded up to $4,000. They were chosen out of a pool of more than 5,300 applicants based on their academic performance, financial need and a 500-word essay describing their career goals and their relationship with the labor movement.
One year before his city made headlines as the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, Detroit Local 58 Business Manager Mike Richard was meeting with his member of Congress to underscore the need to give Detroit and Michigan residents the first crack at construction jobs on several Detroit-area projects that were in the planning stage.
Raise the Minimum Wage - President Obama reiterated his call for raising the federal minimum wage in his speech on the economy last week.
D.C. Apprentices Get Organized - Washington, D.C., Local 26 journeyman wireman Adam Reed started out in the work force at just about the worst time imaginable.
In the midst of the Great Depression, a still photographer shot a picture of 11 ironworkers eating lunch on a steel girder 840 feet above the streets of New York City. The photo, entitled “Lunch Atop a Skyscraper,” was staged. But the workers who demonstrated the lengths and heights people will go to for a job, were real. And their lack of safety equipment symbolized the sacrifices workers made just to find any job and feed their families.
Union sportsmen take a back seat to no one when it comes to expert, responsible hunting and fishing and working to preserve habitats for wildlife from neglect or abuse. But the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance, a union-dedicated outdoor organization, is setting an even broader example by infusing the principle of solidarity into a new program that brings together volunteers—including IBEW members—to tackle conservation projects in parks across the U.S.
Toronto, Ontario, Local 636 utility workers and Hydro Ottawa partnered earlier this month to help power up a group home that serves residents with physical disabilities and seniors.
Electrical workers and their employers are raising the alarm about loopholes in the Affordable Care Act that threaten to undermine quality coverage for more than 26 million Americans.
Pittsburgh Local 5 members are being credited with saving dozens of local senior citizens from a fire that tore through a nursing home June 25.
The President’s statement on energy today is a step in the right direction on the long road to reaching a balanced, workable consensus on energy issues.
A recent poll shows a strong majority of citizens opposing the use of more foreign guest workers in the trades. And labor leaders are bringing that message to lawmakers as they debate new immigration proposals that would have far-reaching effects on the industry.
Some say religion and politics don’t mix. But politicians often call upon their religion as an inspiration or justification for their actions. Nowhere is this truer than in North Carolina, where both houses of the state legislature are under Republican control by Tea Party conservatives who often cite scripture to support their agenda.
Like nonprofit organizations across North America, the Boys and Girls Club of Green Bay, Wis., is scraping for funds to keep its programs alive even while the need to help struggling citizens grows due to a still difficult economy.
What if the controversy raging over the National Security Agency’s surveillance of domestic phone calls is overshadowing an abuse of privacy that could undermine our nation’s democracy in a myriad of ways that the NSA spying never could?
In what organizers are calling a stellar campaign victory, a determined group of skilled technicians working for SimplexGrinnell in Winnipeg stood up for rights on the job and voted IBEW May 22.
In a genre best known for caped crusaders and mutants saving the universe, one IBEW local is using comic books to tell the story of another kind of hero: the union men and women who made the American middle class.
On June 3, with a little over one year to go before their contract with FairPoint Communications expires, business managers and co-workers representing 1,700 IBEW members in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont traveled to the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Charlotte, N.C.
Two Harbors, Minn., power and water workers are going public about stalled efforts to renew their two- year contract.
Dublin, Calif., Local 595’s new training center formally opens on May 30, instantly becoming one of the most efficient and technologically advanced commercial buildings in the country.
With sadness, the IBEW announces the death of First District Vice President Phillip Flemming on May 25. He was 68.
Federal shipyard workers across the United States won a temporary respite May 14, when the Pentagon announced that they were exempting employees from mandatory unpaid furlough days.
Front and center of a new Memorial Day dedication in Minnesota is an IBEW member and one of the once-anonymous Marines who were the first to raise the American flag on Iwo Jima.
Summer is coming. For many, this means vacations on the beach, kids lounging at home and trips to the pool. But for utilities, summer means raging thunderstorms and hurricane season.
The Union Sportsmen’s Alliance, originally sponsored by the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, has maintained conservation as a core mission since its founding in 2007.
The mile-wide tornado that tore through Moore, Okla., May 20 killed dozens and left a swath of destroyed homes, businesses and schools in its wake.
When it comes to attitudes about unions and our members, Americans often summon the negative images spread by our adversaries, rather than considering the contributions of union members who could be their neighbors like the firefighters, police personnel or nurses. Or electricians.
Seventh District International Vice President Jon Gardner will retire from office on June 1.
For the IBEW's Darrell Taylor, organizing water treatment workers at the Alberta oil sands has been a lot like the tricky process of extracting raw fuel from the soil - slow and steady, but promising in the end.
Effectively bridging the different perspectives and experiences of three and, sometimes, four generations in the same workplaces can be a daunting challenge for seasoned leaders and emerging activists alike.
Eric Varela’s story is all too common. After serving as a combat infantryman in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division, Varela returned to California in 2008 to record high unemployment.
When Dave Royle was a student at central New Jersey’s Woodbridge (N.J.) High School in the late-1980s, he was well known for his smile.
Missouri’s House Workforce Development and Workplace Safety Committee approved “paycheck protection” legislation on April 10. The bill would weaken public-sector unions by prohibiting members from having dues earmarked for political action from being automatically deducted from their paychecks.
When Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican, joined with his Democratic colleague W. Va. Sen. Joe Manchin, to propose a bill on background check for gun owners, he was hailed as a “voice of reasonable compromise.” Not so fast.
To honor those who have lost their lives as a result of job-related illness or injury, dozens of countries around world have designated April 28 as Workers Memorial Day.
The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) today salute the nation’s men and women who risk their lives daily to keep electricity flowing to the nation’s homes and businesses.
Labor unions and progressive activists are speaking out and organizing in opposition to President Obama’s proposal to reduce Social Security benefits as part of his budget proposal announced on April 10.
Labour activists in Western Canada are calling for a moratorium on the federal temporary foreign worker program, saying that the system is rife with abuse.
Celebrated poet Maya Angelou once said, “Living a life is like constructing a building; if you start wrong, you'll end wrong.”
If the same statement can describe a career, Michelle Braga, a 17-year-old Pittsburgh-area vocational-technical high school student who is aiming for an IBEW journeyman wireman apprenticeship, is on the right track in both spheres.
The best way to keep working is to keep up with the work, an increasingly demanding task with telecommunications technology.
IBEW members in Canada are cheering TransCanada Corp’s. proposal to build a pipeline to transport crude oil from Western Canada to refineries in the east.
The Philadelphia City Council passed a bill last week that would require virtually every employer in the city to provide their workers with paid sick days – earning the enmity of Comcast, a major player in Philly politics.
Workers across the nation rallied March 20 and 21 to protest likely furloughs brought on by the more than $1 trillion in automatic federal spending cuts known as the sequestration.
IBEW leaders are praising President Obama’s March 13 nomination of civil-rights attorney Thomas Perez for Secretary of Labor.
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers President Edwin D. Hill says President Obama’s nomination of Ernest Moniz to be the next U.S. Department of Energy secretary “is the right choice to lead our nation as we enter a new era of energy policy.”
It’s not easy finding common ground in Washington, D.C., these days. Getting Democrats and Republicans – not to mention business and labor – to agree on anything seems an impossible challenge.
Thousands of IBEW members who work for the federal government or for private government contractors awoke Friday morning facing a shaky economic future. The sequestration – the series of draconian federal spending cuts totaling $1.2 trillion – went into effect March 1, meaning that more than 1 million federal workers face unpaid leave or worse unless Congress takes action to rescind the cuts.
It’s one of the biggest challenges facing the economy today: providing retirement security for America’s work force.
If you think the looming “sequester” – the series of automatic federal spending cuts set to go into effect Friday, March 1 – doesn’t affect you and your family, think again.
Few words are as chilling to workers as “corporate merger.” Too often the aftermath is slashed jobs, cut wages and managers acting unreasonably.
It’s one of the most powerful lobbying organizations in the United States today, exercising an outsized influence in the Republican Party and driving policy decisions in state houses and governors’ mansions across the country. And chances are you’ve never heard of it.
The Department of Defense is sending out dozens of contract cancelations and preparing to lay off ten, possibly hundreds of thousands of workers because they can no longer fund projects started after 2009, dues to the inability of Congress to pass a budget.
Years of management favoritism, lack of respect on the job and the threat of declining wages had been wearing on hundreds of Sears service technicians in the upper Midwest for years.
Austin construction workers and workers’ rights activists are accusing hotel developer White Lodging Inc., of cheating employees out of tens of thousands of dollars in wages on one of Austin’s most high-profile construction projects.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has introduced a bill on Feb. 5 that would impose so called right-to-work laws nationally.
Union members and public safety officials are calling on President Obama to finalize an Occupational Safety and Health Administration standard that would reduce workers’ exposure to silica and save lives.
Dial One Wolfdale Electric Inc., was one of the Toronto area’s largest nonunion contractors, performing millions of dollars in commercial and industrial work each year.
The AFL-CIO Now blog is publicizing a list of union-made food and drinks for members to enjoy on Super Bowl Sunday.
Victor Lovelady’s family members say he was a hero long before the project manager for a Houston-based energy firm was killed at an Algeria natural gas plant after being held hostage by Al Qaeda terrorists.
While gridlock reigns in the legislative halls of Washington, D.C., states are churning with anti-union bills, including Pennsylvania, where activists are fighting back.
Kansas lawmakers are considering legislation that would drastically curtail the rights of teachers, firefighters and other public workers to participate in the political process.
On Jan 15, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration and leading freight railroad BNSF Railway Co., marked a big step forward for on-the-job safety by signing an accord that protects from retaliation workers who report on-the-job injuries.
Ross Galbraith
The International Executive Council has appointed Fredericton, New Brunswick, Local 37 Business Manager Ross Galbraith Eighth District IEC member.
Summarizing the Obama administration’s accomplishments in remarks to the IBEW Convention in Vancouver, now-retired General Counsel Larry Cohen said:
We again have a Department of Labor that is a department for labor. It is no longer an anti-labor labor department, which it was throughout the Bush administration.
Henry Miller, the first President of the IBEW, died in 1896 without enough money for a decent burial... members of the IBEW established a fraternal death benefit association in 1922 whose essential purpose was to provide the named beneficiary of a deceased member a sum that might permit our member to be interred in a dignified manner.
2012 was a big year for union members with a passion for hunting and fishing. The Union Sportsmen’s Alliance – a national organization of union members committed to outdoor sports and conservation – surpassed 50,000 members, its highest number yet.
Union folks shouldn’t be surprised when our adversaries play word games. Terms like “right-to-work” or “ownership society” sound, to many, as American as the Super Bowl until people find out that the first could cut their pay and benefits and the second would put benefits like Social Security and Medicare in the private hands of Wall Street.
Anyone who believes in the power of intuition can draw inspiration from Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. Last year, as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker launched his war on public worker collective bargaining, Snyder, newly-elected, said such an effort would be “too divisive” to duplicate in his state.
Striking utility workers in New York State’s Hudson River Valley agreed to return to work Dec. 14, ending their five week walkout against Dynegy.
This week’s passage of right-to-work legislation marks a huge step back for Michigan working families.
Like something out of science fiction, Folsom, N.J., Local 351 member Bill DeClement’s stunning image of two IBEW members in a window lift above fog-drenched ocean entranced voters in this year’s photo contest.
With nearly 30 years in the labor movement, Charlotte, N.C., Local 359 Organizer Nick Brown has soaked up enough history that he can vividly relay stories about anti-worker intimidation in his neck of the woods – from the bloody 1934 killings of mill workers in Honea Path, S.C., to the bruising days of the mass textile strikes that swept the region in the ’20s and ’30s.
More than 70,000 IBEW members across the Northeast live in Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster zones. Many are facing tens of thousands of dollars in damage caused by Hurricane Sandy and the resulting flooding. Some are without a home all together.
On Dec. 6, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder stunned working families by announcing his support for right-to-work legislation, pushing the lame-duck legislature to jam through a bill by the end of the year
Out of the hundreds of submissions for our 15th photo competition, we now present the cream of the crop – 15 finalists that truly capture the spirit of the IBEW.
As Congress contemplates avoiding going over the “fiscal cliff” – the series of automatic tax hikes and budget cuts that will take effect next year – there is a lot of talk about shared sacrifice.
In the crisp autumn air blanketing mile-high Denver, leaves turned orange and red last month while many construction sites exhibited a new hue of their own: pink.
It’s going to be a tough Thanksgiving for the hundreds of thousands of New York and New Jersey residents affected by Hurricane Sandy. Many are entering their third week without power – some without a roof over their head.
It’s doubtful that the policy expert who coined the phrase “fiscal cliff” to describe the crisis facing the nation’s economy as Democrats and Republicans debate taxes and deficits ever was unemployed for a long stretch of time.
A recent campaign to organize technicians and electricians at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a preeminent science and technology research facility in eastern Tennessee, yielded a noteworthy win for employees who are now members of Knoxville Local 760.
IBEW members and hundreds of other workers, union and nonunion, are pulling together to help the Northeast recover from the devastating effects of Superstorm Sandy. The storm slammed coastal areas with strong winds and high seas, simultaneously flooding business and residential areas while knocking down trees and power lines – all in one of the most densely populated areas of the United States.
The election may be over, but for Cincinnati Local 212 Assistant Business Manager Charlie Kenser, the fight to protect middle class retirement security has just begun. On Nov. 8, Kenser joined concerned union members and retirees rallying outside Sen. Rob Portman’s office to ask the senator not to put Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid on the chopping block before the end of the year.
From Florida to North Dakota, IBEW members and their families helped make the difference on Election Day, from reelecting Barack Obama and Joe Biden to a second term to helping pro-worker candidates win seats in Congress.
What action do you take if you have constantly stated an opinion as fact and then suddenly find that solid research rejects your hypothesis?
As election 2012 comes to a close, IBEW locals in crucial swing states are doing the hard, detailed work getting union voters to the polls.
Standing strong in the wake of recent anti-worker legislation that first took root in their home state, Wisconsin IBEW activists are mobilizing against the erosion of Medicare and workers’ rights that could come to pass if right-wing candidates are elected Nov. 6.
Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc across the Eastern Seaboard, from North Carolina to New England, knocking down power lines, and flooding coastal communities. Hardest hit were New York and New Jersey, leaving more than a million residents without power and many without homes.
Mitt Romney, who opposed coal power as Governor of Massachusetts, is accusing President Obama of waging a “war on coal.” But the facts tell a different story.
An administrative law judge for the National Labor Relations Board has upheld a charge by a coalition of 19 unions, including the IBEW, accusing American Water Co. of violating the National Labor Relations Act.
Panorama Photo Now Available
President Hill's "State Of Our Union" Address...2005
|
Related Articles
Great Heights and Grand Views: 15th IBEW Photo Contest Winners
