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Town Halls Connect Members, Leaders

May 8, 2012

South Florida IBEW members gathered March 3 at Miami Local 359 for a town hall meeting with President Hill and Secretary-Treasurer Sam Chilia.

International President Edwin D. Hill and International Secretary-Treasurer Sam Chilia have recently launched a multi-city series of town-hall style meetings aimed at revitalizing members and discussing the future of the IBEW and the labor movement.

More than 800 members attended the St. Louis meeting on April 19, said Local 1439 Business Manager Mike Walter.

“There are serious issues facing the labor movement and workers today, and an honest and frank conversation about the future of the IBEW is needed,” President Hill wrote in a letter announcing the meeting:

Your voice and your concerns are important to the IBEW leaders, and we want to know what matters to you.

In the face of a difficult economy, pending state right-to-work and other anti-union measures and the rapidly approaching 2012 elections, leaders said they are reaching out to show that the IBEW is taking a proactive approach to increase membership, promote job growth and encourage members to vote.

The St. Louis event was the third in a series launched March 3 in Miami. More than 500 members across south Florida attended that first event.  The second was held in Orlando on March 17.

Miami Local 349 Business Manager Bill Riley said 550 members attended the Miami meeting. Said Riley, who also represents the Fourth District on the IBEW International Executive Council:

Members want to know President Hill’s thoughts on moving the IBEW forward. They want to see the IBEW through his eyes and hear about what’s happening with other locals around the country.

In remarks prepared for the Miami meeting, President Hill praised the success of IBEW’s Florida Initiative, a program started in 2005 that has helped gain market share in the state:

I give our locals in Florida a great deal of credit. Florida has been the laboratory for innovative practices to win the work, and we’ve held our own thanks to a lot of hard work by our local leadership, our organizers and our rank-and-file members.

An IBEW member takes the microphone at the Miami town hall meeting hosted by Local 349.

I was interested in the future direction of the IBEW. I’m 37 years old and have a long way to go in this organization. The meeting was very positive. It was definitely uplifting and put a lot of wind in everybody’s sails.

The Orlando meeting attracted nearly 350 members from central and northern Florida. Members and leaders discussed topics like how construction electrician and construction wireman alternate classifications have helped win projects and how political advocacy can help put members back to work.

“The town hall meeting ties in well with the solidarity-type meetings we’ve been doing,” said Walter, who is also the Fifth District International Executive Council member:

Members are excited about the opportunity to hear firsthand where the IBEW is headed and to ask the difficult questions of the leadership.

President Hill said at the Miami meeting:

What we’ve got to do is take back the pride and sense of belonging that comes with being a member of the IBEW or any other union … I know that you share our goal of building a society and an economy that we can be proud of, that gives a chance for workers and our families to live the American dream, not just the wealthy, chosen few. And I know that you have ideas and thoughts, and that’s what I’m here to listen to.

Local 349 member Sergio Mayor, 50, said:

Everybody feels good about the meeting. We appreciate that President Hill came down here to talk with us and address our concerns.