Reminiscing

Having been a member of Local 3 for over 50 years I remember a time having been fortunate to have known and worked under the outstanding leadership of the late Harry Van Arsdale Jr., an icon in labor’s history. I remember attending a special apprenticeship meeting about a small nonunion job being done at Prospect Park in Brooklyn and Harry was calling for mass demonstrations. He said in his wisdom that if it was allowed to be completed, the profits from that job would be applied to a larger nonunion job till eventually they would all be doing new construction nonunion.

Somewhere along the line membership became complacent and dropped the ball, and so it came to pass today that the nonunion poses a huge threat. If we fail to learn from our mistakes we are doomed to repeat them. Stop the small jobs before these nonunion contractors become large enough to do the bigger jobs.

Patrick J. Simoniello
Local 3 retiree, New York

A Dedicated Member

There was never a prouder member of the IBEW than George O. Wein (Amarillo, Texas, Local 602 and now-defunct Amarillo Local 460). After 60 years as a member, business manager for several terms, and officer, our beloved husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather died on Feb. 2, 2009, at the age of 82. George walked the walk and refused to shop at stores that he remembered 30 or 40 years earlier had gone nonunion for their electrical work.

His greatest contribution to the industry was not only the education and training of younger electricians, but also the teaching of the necessity to take care of your responsibilities in life.

The Family of George Wein
Local 602 member, Amarillo, Texas

Road to Recovery?

Last month’s Journal article “The Road to Recovery” (Winter 2009) was seriously deficient in its coverage of the health care crisis and its implications for our country’s economic recovery. It concluded with a quote from President Hill, “When we have a plan we can agree on, we’ll need a lot of membership participation to get it passed.” We do have a plan we can agree on, President Hill, and that is Rep. John Conyers’ HR 676, Expanded Medicare for All. It’s the only plan with broad based, rank and file, grassroots support. At this writing, 481 union organizations in 49 states, including 120 central labor councils and 39 state AFL-CIOs have enthusiastically endorsed this bill.

There is no support for any of the other bills except that of the insurance and pharmaceutical industry lobbyists that drafted the legislation for their puppet legislators. Just last month the Missouri state IBEW conference endorsed HR 676; that’s all 21 locals in the state, 21,000 members!

The fact that 78 percent of the AFL-CIO has endorsed this (at the state level) and the national AFL-CIO has yet to take a stand worries me. Does anyone in D.C. listen to what their union brothers and sisters back home are saying? We want HR 676 passed and we expect our national union leaders to represent us. As important as EFCA is for organized labor, universal single-payer health care is for our country and we in organized labor need to devote time, money and manpower to its passage.

Ray Kenny
Local 48 member, Portland, Ore.

Wage Inequality

If wages for workers increased at the same rate as CEO pay did over the last 20 years, the minimum wage would not only be a livable wage but a more comfortable one. The gap between the top executives and workers rose over 500 percent in the 1990s and currently is around 419 to 1. In the ‘80s that gap was 42 to 1. It would seem then on the executive scale, workers making $29,000 a year, ought to be making $110,000. Doesn’t that sound great? Just remember how CEO's finance their enormous compensation: by keeping the workers’ wages down.

Terry Smolik
Local 176 member, Joliet, Ill.