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1986-1991 A Union of Hearts and MindsAs the IBEW approached the end of its first hundred years, the world around the Brotherhood was going through monumental change. In 1986 the union selected J.J. Barry and Jack Moore to confront that international and domestic change and translate it to positive gain for American and Canadian working people. And now, as the IBEW looks into its second century, the future of what has become known as “The Union of Hearts and Minds” looks as strong as ever. The first challenge on which International President Barry began to focus was organizing. Starting with his keynote address at the 33 rd International Convention in September of 1986, President Barry stressed the importance of organizing. In his speech he said, “The growth and progress of the Brotherhood has probably succeeded beyond any dreams (the IBEW’s founders] may have envisioned. However, their ultimate goal—to organize all electrical workers—has not yet been attained.”
Two terms of Reagan administration-antiunion, -antiworker policies had taken a heavy toll on organized labor. Many unions experienced a dramatic loss of membership. The IBEW’s losses were minor in comparison, but President Barry was determined to win back members and therefore increase the union’s power base and further strengthen its financial footing. President Barry’s first IBEW Journal editorial after the ‘86 Convention was titled, “Let Our Challenge For 1987 be to Organize the Unorganized.” And in an interview in mild-1991, he confidently predicted a sizeable increase in IBEW membership by the end of the decade. In addition to organizing, Brother Barry has pushed for increased educational opportunities for ILBFW members. With the cooperation of the National Electrical Contractors Association (through the National Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee), the IBEW hats maintained a strong apprenticeship program for many years. In the second half of the ‘80s, the IBEW’s Education Programs Office, now the Education Department, has organized educational courses offered through the 12 vice presidential district offices. Page 1 of 4 |
 The logo used since the late - 1980s to highlight the IBEW's community-involvement projects. 1987 General Motors Corporation announced that it would close 11 plants employing 29,000 people. The Wall Street Journal reported, of the 11.4 million cars sold in the U.S. in 1986, U.S.-produced cars accounted for 71.8 percent of the total, making imports a growing trend to American industry. A labor dispute that involved management's desire to replace 60 union workers with nonunion workers was suspected as the cause of a fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, that killed 96 persons. 1988 Former Vice President George Bush became the 41st president of the United States. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Labor Department had wrongly denied disability benefits to some 100,000 miners with Black Lung disease. It also ruled that striking railroad and airline workers could not claim their jobs back after a strike if the jobs had been filled by nonstriking workers, despite any seniority claim. |
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