September 2004

Greetings:

IVP Phil Flemming

The topic of organizing can certainly be repetitive but I think in the interest of the IBEW and our future we can never repeat the message enough. The 2004 Membership Development Conference in Pittsburgh, PA in September attracted almost 900 delegates representing all branches of the IBEW from Canada and the United States. This tells me that the will to organize is there.

I know that we have been overloaded with meetings and conferences lately and I appreciate the effort made by the delegates from the First District that attended.

President Hill in his keynote address to the delegates explained that our IBEW is still losing ground and the erosion of membership continues despite the efforts of many of our local unions. I know that we have local unions in Canada that make organizing the number one priority and walk the walk. These local unions are to be congratulated. But let’s be honest with each other, everyone has not bought in even after all these years. To be successful we need a 100% buy in to the philosophy of organizing from all of our leadership and membership.

The successful local unions in Canada don’t always use the same methods. Bottom up, top down, stripping, targeting and market recovery in the construction industry, and the courting of unorganized groups in the workplace, and making the effort to continually talk to non-union folks in the utility/professional/industrial sectors. Whatever works.

As explained by Brother Jeff Grabelsky from Cornell University at his workshop during the Conference, there are six key elements to successful organizing that include a committed leadership, a mobilized membership, resources, skilled staff, an organizing structure and a winning strategy. All of our local unions from every sector of the IBEW should ensure that all of these criteria are properly in place.

President Hill is adamant that he is prepared to do whatever is necessary to guarantee the interests of the IBEW. As the International Vice President for Canada, I support President Hill and will assure that the well-being of the IBEW in Canada is protected for our present and future membership.

Phil Flemming
International Vice President

Ramification of Bill C-45 on the Union and/or its Officers

Following the Progress Meeting in Calgary, Norm Whalen, the presenter of Protecting the Protector, was asked to provide an opinion as to whether a local or its officers can be held criminally responsible if one of their members is killed or seriously injured as a result of working alone while using fall-protection equipment. While Norm’s total response is too long for this newsletter, we will provide his opinion on how the union could face a criminal charge.

Norm talks about the Impact of Fall-Protection-Systems

If the union has a concern with the safety of fall-protection-systems and its use when employees work alone which could constitute a high-risk situation, the union has a duty to raise this with the employer and the employees. A court may find a union responsible where it fails to take any steps to ensure that its workers are being dispatched to a safe environment or where it knowingly permits work to be performed in an unsafe manner. To determine if a workplace is safe, it is useful to look for guidance to workplace safety standards under provincial and federal legislation.

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO, CLC

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