They Dared To Dream

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President Pillard (second from left) presents a
petition to then-Senator Thomas Eagleton (D-Mo.).
The petition contains the names of almost 2,000
Zenith employees - members of Local 1453, Spring-
field, Missouri - who wanted the government to do
something about foreign color televisions being sold
in the United States, as then - IBEW Manufacturing
Department Director Keith McAliley (left) and then -
IBEW Legislative Representative Mel Boyle looked
on.

Throughout these hard times the IBEW managed to not only survive, but to actually prosper. IBEW membership surpassed one million working people in October 1972—serving as testament to President Pillard’s insistence on organizing. The NEBF agreement increased the NECA contribution to the fund from one percent to three percent, ensuring the fund’s stability without burdening IBEW members. And the local union reciprocity plan enabled pension and health and welfare payments of traveling members to be sent back to their home local, helping the home local survive the tough times which prompted the member to travel in the first place.

On the political front, the Brotherhood continued to act on behalf of the social issues society confronted. An article in the March 1970 Electrical Workers’ Journal entitled “Our Threatened Environment” concluded, among pictures of oil spills, smog and trash, “When the effects of air, water, noise, and radiation pollution and population growth on our environmental quality are considered, it becomes obvious that a massive, joint government, industry and public effort will be required for solutions.”

Members of Local 481, Indianapolis, donate their
time to wire the lights on what was billed at the time
as the world's tallest Christmas tree. Pictured here,
from the left, are Tom Alexander, Bill Corns, Don
Hendershot, Dennis Holtman, Paul Helton and
Business Manager (later IEC Chairman) Wesley
Taylor.

As for protecting women’s rights on the job, the August ’71 Journal editorial couldn’t have been more clear. It said in part, ‘Equal pay for women is a fundamental principal of all IBEW contracts. Under our agreements, women earn the same rate of pay for the same job men do. The IBEW Constitution.. .guarantees equal rights for women.”

The Brotherhood celebrated several anniversaries in the 1970s. The IBEW Founders’ Scholarship Awards, giving members the opportunity to go to college, turned 10 years old in 1976. In 1979, the union celebrated “A Century of Light,” commemorating the 100th anniversary of Thomas Edison’s invention of the incandescent electric light bulb. And of course, on July 4, 1976, the whole country celebrated the Bicentennial of the United States.

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1970-1980 Building for the Future

President Pillard (right) shaking the hand of then-Georgia Governor (later U.S. President) Jimmy Carter at the 1973 AFL-CIO IUD Convention in Atlanta.

A closeup view of the Skylab space station photographed in 1973 by the Skylab 3 command module prior to docking.

1971 Five postal unions merge with a common membership of 300,000 workers. The AFL-CIO supports $2 minimum wage. The IBEW moves to its new International Headquarters at 1125 15th Street, NW, Washington, DC, a block south of the old I.O. Transport Minister Don Jamieson announced the Canadian National Railway pensioners will be granted retroactive cost-of-living increases.

1972 Astronauts Eugene A. Ceman, Ronald E. Evans and Harrison Schmitt, made the 6th manned lunar landing on Apollo-Saturn 17. The Senate approved a constitutional amendment banning discrimination against women because of sex. Donald MacDonald was reelected President of the Canadian Labour Congress. Frank Hall, a major figure in the Canadian labor movement for half a century, died at age 78.

1973 Gerald Rudolph Ford became the first appointed vice-president under the 25th Amendment. The end of the military draft was announced January 27. IBEW membership passed the one-million-member mark. Claude Jodoin, first president of the Canadian Labour Congress, and Aaron Roland Masher, first president of the Canadian Congress of the Canadian Brotherhood o Railway, Transport and General Workers were selected as the first tow member of a new CLC Labour Hall of Fame.

They Dared To Dream

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