Safety on the job saves lives in the community, too. Just ask Cindee Goodling, who passed out at a movie during church in February. Goodling’s life was saved by South Bend, Ind., Local 153 electrician Frank Emery. The six-year member, who had volunteered to help with the film showing, jumped in and applied cardiopulmonary resuscitation training that he had been afforded under his local’s collective bargaining agreement.

Emery didn’t just save Goodling’s life. At a Local 153 lifesaving award ceremony for Emery in late May, Goodling, who was eight months pregnant, held up an ultrasound photo of the baby that also could have perished without Emery’s quick action.

Goodling, who has a rare heart condition that occurs during pregnancy, told the South Bend Tribune, "If I’d been at home I wouldn’t be here. My husband knows it (CPR) now. But he didn’t then."

"I didn’t think about it. I just did it," says Emery, who received CPR training two years earlier. Goodling had slumped in her chair. With help, Emery got her to the floor and performed chest compressions while an off-duty policeman did resuscitative breathing. Goodling was connected to a defibrillator after an ambulance arrived.

"Others in the church who knew CPR just froze, but Frank acted quickly," says Mike Compton, Local 153 business manager. Since Emery’s instruction included updated techniques, says Compton, he was even more effective than a retired doctor who was on the scene but had been trained earlier.

"I hope that I never have to do this again," Emery says. "But I’m happy Goodling is alive."

Emery says that the experience has changed his feeling about the importance of knowing proper resuscitation techniques. He
took a refresher course after the incident and hopes to become a CPR instructor.

The waters off of Rehoboth Beach in Delaware may soon be home to the largest offshore wind farm in the United States.

Legislation to allow the construction of more than 150 wind turbines a dozen miles off the shore of Rehoboth was passed by the Delaware legislature and signed into law last summer.

Each turbine will stand more than 250 feet above the water and extend 90 feet below sea level.

Delmarva Power, the state’s utility, expects the wind farm will power approximately 50,000 homes a year when it’s completed in
2012. The Energy Department recently said that nearly 20 percent of our domestic electrical supply could be provided by offshore wind.

In addition to more clean energy for Delaware residents, the wind farm will mean green jobs for IBEW members. Wilmington Local 313 signed a project labor agreement with Fluor Corp.—a construction contractor—and Bluewater Wind LLC to construct and maintain the turbines. Installation of the farm will require more than 200 electricians, while its maintenance will require approximately 20.

The wind farm needs to complete environmental impact studies and clear federal regulatory hurdles before construction can begin.

"We worked with Bluewater to help make it happen," said Local 313 Business Manager Douglas Drummond. Instrumental in getting the project approved was state Senate Majority Leader Tony DeLuca, former Local 313 business manager, who guided negotiations with the utility, elected officials and Bluewater.

"Our coasts are rich in wind power, and our members have the skills and training needed to tap into it," Drummond said. "It just shows how important our green-training programs have become."

A leading trade magazine showered applause on an IBEW-represented New Hampshire cable plant.

Nearly 150 Fall River, Mass., Local 1499 members who operate the General Cable factory in Manchester, N.H., helped the company score a top 10 ranking in Industry Week’s 2008 list of best plants nationwide.

"It’s very nice to have gotten the award," said Local 1499 Business Manager Mike Perry. "It really shows the kind of quality work that a union team can produce."

Workers at the plant make electronic cable and wiring for use in security systems, professional audio/ visual markets and other areas. Perry credits the members’ improved labor-management relations with healing a rift between the bargaining unit and the company. While arbitrations and grievances used to be routine, General Cable brought in new management four years ago, yielding "a 100 percent turnaround in labor relations," Perry said. "They’ve shown the IBEW members a lot of respect."

Workers are now getting more advanced training and are allowed more autonomy to run their equipment than in years past, a development that Perry says is helping the company remain successful despite decades of decline in the manufacturing sector. Productivity is up. Waste—especially expensive copper—is down. Even with the recent economic tailspin, the company is getting more orders than it has in two years, and employee morale is high.

"The whole plant is on board," said Second District International Representative John Faria, who collaborated with Perry to improve working conditions at General Cable. "Our members are really ensuring that quality workmanship contributes to success for everyone."

Company brass is impressed with the IBEW members’ output. "One of the keys for us to stay competitive is to have a great work force," said Plant Manager Paul Furtado. "Our union employees here really get it—they understand that change is what you need to stay viable in the industry. They were instrumental in us receiving this prestigious honor."

About 350 applicants were in the running for Industry Week’s awards. The magazine rated plants according to quality, customer relations abilities, employee participation, new technology application, environmental and safety standards and other criteria. The Manchester factory also won the company’s 2007 Plant of the Year award.

Kentucky-based General Cable operates 46 sites in 23 countries, with annual revenues clearing $6 billion.

Robert W. Santillo was elected president of the Association of Union Constructors at the group’s leadership conference in May.

In his acceptance speech, he called on union contractors to work with industrial business owners and labor leaders to create a new set of action plans for business in this modern world.

"We have entered a challenging era…an era in which union construction needs to rise from the ashes of a reduced market share and reclaim its dominant position in the market," Santillo said. "If we act strategically, this could be the beginning of a millennial era of union maintenance and construction."

Santillo is president of Beaver Falls, Pa., -based McCarl’s Inc. and has more than 30 years of experience in the mechanical contracting, maintenance and fabrication fields. He has been an active member of the association for more than 20 years, and has served in a variety of capacities on the board of directors. TAUC itself consists of more than 2,500 union contractors, local union contractor associations and vendors in the industrial maintenance and construction field.

A graduate of Clarion University, Santillo has an MBA from Duquesne University. He is also a graduate of the Small Company Management program at Harvard University.

For members of Nashville, Tenn., Local 429, brotherhood doesn’t stop at the union hall or on the job site. Scores of members spent nearly two months helping with the local’s "Volunteers for Veterans" program, wiring a new wheelchair-accessible house for disabled National Guardsman Sgt. Kevin Downs, who was seriously injured while serving in Iraq in 2005.

"I’m excited that so many members in our local stepped up to help a hero in need," said Local 429 Business Manager Bobby Emery.

Local 429 members provided all of the wiring for the house, including close-to-the-ground outlets, a high-tech security system, outside lights and a special shower.

"This project was one of the greatest things I’ve taken part in as a union member," said Local 429 member Larry Parnell, who lives close to Downs’ family in Kingston Springs—about 20 miles southwest of Nashville. A superintendent with Broadway Electric Co., Parnell used his business connections to drum up about $8,000 in donated materials from local contractors and electrical supply houses. Parnell also coordinated the wiring job, which yielded nearly 400 man-hours of volunteered union expertise.

"Everyone was happy to help a man who gave so much for his country," Parnell said.

Downs’ new home was finished in May, and he moved in last month.