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‘Our Work Ethic Tells Our Story’

IBEW Members put Success on Display at Membership Development Conference

September 28, 2012

Nearly 1,200 IBEW members convened in Las Vegas last week to sharpen organizing skills, share victories and strategize ahead of this year’s elections at the union’s annual Membership Development Conference. Under the theme “Reaching Out: Connecting in Bold New Ways,” organizers, business managers and others from across the U.S. and Canada offered field-tested advice on how to grow local unions – even as anti-worker politicians in both countries seek to roll back gains for working families.

In his  keynote address, President Edwin D. Hill framed the urgency of the union’s efforts, following a year that has seen a sharp rise in high-profile labor news – Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s crackdown on collective bargaining, Ohio activists’ successful efforts to repeal anti-worker legislation and new “right-to-work-for-less” laws on the books in Indiana.

“We are only going to redefine the political landscape when we regain our critical mass among working people,” Hill said:

First we get the people on our side, then the politicians listen.  And if the politicians have created roadblocks to organizing, then we go around them or smash through them with everything we’ve got – one workplace at a time, one worker at a time, one campaign at a time.

Let’s use the tools we have put in place.  Let’s rededicate ourselves to our Brotherhood and our movement. 

Sharing Construction Successes

Some of the most poignant moments of the conference came when members and activists took the stage to share stories of success in boosting the roles and advancing members’ rights. Kansas City, Mo., Local 124 Business Manager Terry Akins related how a recent industry night has increased small market penetration in the local’s jurisdiction. By bringing newly organized electricians into the union under the IBEW’s Recovery Agreement, signatory contractors in the area are again successfully bidding small work. Local 124 contractors are currently on more than 20 recovery projects such as wiring convenience stores and big-box retailers like Target.

At the same time, new members who were formerly skeptical of unions are emerging as vocal champions of the IBEW. Akins introduced Local 124 member Christine Mason, an Army veteran who served overseas and worked nonunion construction jobs before entering the IBEW in March as a construction electrician. She has since tested up to 4th-year apprentice status. “Without the CE/CW program, I wouldn’t be here,” Mason told the delegation:

I’d heard a lot of negativity about unions … But I learned that this is a path to a real career, not just a job. Moving up and getting your journeyman status is almost nonexistent [in the nonunion sector]. These programs open the door and give an opportunity for leadership.

Our work ethic is what tells our story to everybody.

Other organizers expanded on how the Recovery Agreement has boosted man-hours and membership in the Midwest. Oklahoma City Local 1141 member Trentice Hamm gave a presentation showing how by organizing small shops in the Sooner State, the local built membership while helping make new signatory contractors more competitive. Of the dozens of shops the local has organized in the past few years, the majority of shops had no more than a handful of employees before becoming signatory.

Today, Hamm said, most of those businesses have added at least three employees, and the largest – Electric Tech Inc., in nearby Chickasha  – has grown from 10 to 31 employees:

The proof is in the numbers … If this can happen in Oklahoma, it can happen anywhere.

A Union for Professionals

North of the border, Fredericton, New Brunswick,Local 37 leaders cinched a major organizing success when they brought in 186 new members – including information technology specialists – at NB Power. Local President Steve Hayes illustrated the details of the innovative campaign, which utilized social media tools like YouTube and a special Web site designed to appeal to the tech-savvy professionals who voted in June to join the IBEW. (See: “Professionals at Canada's NB Power Vote IBEW”, The Electrical Worker, August 2012)

Away from speeches in general sessions, attendees sharpened their skills in workshops led by fellow IBEW representatives, International Office staff and AFL-CIO activists. Topics included how to reach out to the press and generate media coverage, use Internet resources for outside-the-box organizing campaigns and more.

Keeping Focused

For Scott Hudson, director of construction organizing in the Membership Development Department, “This whole conference was based on successes.”

It was people showing how they have used the tools that President Hill has provided, and they are producing results – even in a down economy.

Part of that success has been spurred by IBEW leadership recognizing the need to commit more resources to growing the Brotherhood, said Kirk Groenendaal, Special Assistant to the International President for Membership Development:

Since last year’s conference, our numbers have increased. We went from about 50 organizers to around 100, which will enable us to do a better job servicing the organizing needs of the local unions.

My key message to attendees was to keep focused. We’ve seen that when business managers do what they were elected to do and when their organizers stay committed to the task at hand, we see positive results.

For organizers like Local 1141’s Hamm, commitment and follow-through is imperative to grow his local, which has had right-to-work laws on the books for more than a decade:

I’m inspired to organize – I have a passion to promote that the word ‘union’ isn’t a bad word in Oklahoma. I’m always out working and talking to people, trying to change the thought process in the state. I always teach that the IBEW is good for small business.

Positive reinforcement is my message 100 percent, all of the time. If you constantly do positive things, it might not change things in just  one year, but you build a plan and you can see it grow on down the line.

Keep watching www.ibew.org and the pages of The Electrical Worker for more reporting on the IBEW’s advancements in organizing and training strategies.