1890-1897
The Dream Is Born
 At the Second Convention of the National Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (as the IBEW was then known), first Grand President Henry Miller said, “No brands of skilled labor ever presented a more organized or demoralized condition than that of the Electrical Workers of America in the year of 1889.”
But Henry Miller and the other nine men who met in 1891 at the Brotherhood’s First Convention had a vision, a dream of workers coming together in strength. From those demoralized and unorganized men has come one of the largest trade unions in North America. Today the represents almost a million people in all segments of the complex electrical industry. One hundred years later, it can confidently be said that the dream of the 10 men who met in St. Louis is alive and well.
In 1890 St. Louis was the scene of a national exposition featuring electricity. Electrical workers from around the country traveled to wire the booths, displays and decorations. There, at the end of the day, the men would sit and talk about their working conditions. An hourly wage of 15 cents to 20 cents was considered, good, and most made do with $8.00 a week in pay. Apprenticeship training was unheard of, and safety consisted of trial and error and hoping for the best. The men were ready for a change.
 A meeting was called at Stolley’s Dance hall, where several members of what was to be called Local 5221 of the American Federation of Labor met with AFL organizer Charles Cassel. Henry Miller, a St. Louis lineman, was elected president and J.T. Kelly, a wireman recently settled in St. Louis, vice president. But these men realized a single isolated local union could accomplish little permanent success without the weight, of a national organization of electrical workers behind it. So they set out across the country to organize other locals, hoping to eventually bind them together.
2nd Convention, Chicago, November 1892.
Traveling in railroad boxcars, Henry Miller visited Evansville, Louisville, Indianapolis, Chicago and Milwaukee, organizing as he worked. Unions were organized in Toledo, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Duluth.
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1890-1897 The Dream Is Born |
1497 John Cabot explores North America from Canada to Delaware.
1605 Port Royal, first permanent colony in Canada.
1607 First European settlement, Jamestown, Virginia.
1648 First U.S. labor organization formed by Boston shoemakers' and coopers guilds.
1724 First U.S. building trades labor group, Philadelphia.
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