Long Beach
Workers Unite
California Municipal Employees Join the IBEW

'American Dream'
is Reality
IBEW-Built New Jersey Megamall Opens Doors

'A Gut Blow'
$1.8 Billion in Potential IBEW Work Cut for
Border Fence

North of 49°
Canadian Government Offers a Boost to IBEW Apprenticeships

Au nord du 49° parallèle
Le gouvernement canadien offre de meilleures occasions pour les programmes d'apprentissage
de la FIOE

IEC Minutes
June 2019

This summer, IBEW leaders asked for your urgent help. Our apprenticeships were under attack, threatened by a nonunion contractor-backed Labor Department rule that would allow our competitors to operate second-rate training programs and present them as equal to our own.

More than 65,000 of you, joined by another quarter-million of your union brothers and sisters in other trades, responded by speaking up in defense of the top-quality training you received through the IBEW.

"We don't yet know how the Labor Department will decide this issue, but I can tell you one thing for certain," said International President Lonnie R. Stephenson. "IBEW members step up when their livelihoods are under attack, and I couldn't be more grateful for everyone who took the time to speak out in defense of our apprenticeship training and the quality tradesmen and tradeswomen it turns out each and every year."

The deadline for submitting public comments to the DOL passed in late August, and by early October the department had processed and posted just under 200,000 of the 325,000 submissions it received.

More than 95% of the comments were from union members urging the administration to exempt the construction industry from its apprenticeship rule. Union leaders hope the overwhelming response will be enough to persuade government regulators.

In addition to their public comments, thousands of members filled out the IBEW's own survey about their apprenticeships. Those were also compiled and sent to the Labor Department.

The stories that emerged about the IBEW's role in the lives of its members proved impossible not to share.

"My membership in this brotherhood has meant everything to me and to my family, but I was filled with pride reading the responses from so many of you who felt the same way," Stephenson said.

"In this month of Thanksgiving here in the U.S., and only a month removed from the celebration in Canada, I thought it was important to take a moment to reflect on how the IBEW and the labor movement has played a role in our lives."

Because of the nature of the apprenticeship campaign, the stories came primarily from the construction and utility branches across the United States. But IBEW leaders know the union's effects on members' lives extend to Canada and across each of the brotherhood's seven branches.

Stephenson:
Paying Tribute to
Our Veterans
Cooper:
We Need Your Help
on Pensions

IBEW Supports Nuclear Powers America Act;
Anti-Worker Lawyer
Eugene Scalia Confirmed
as Labor Secretary;
Landmark California Law Offers New Protections, Greater Economic Security for Misclassified Workers;
Massachusetts, Rhode Island Back Public Employee Unions in Post-Janus World

FMCP Aids Organizing Success for Utility Electricians in
'Right-to-Work' Texas

Sign Modernization Upgrades Manhattan Commute;
Best Doctors Makes Getting a Second Opinion Easy;
Local 351's Cosner Receives Prestigious New Jersey Labor Award

Veterans Are A Perfect Fit;
Thanks for the Hospitality;
Elections Have Consequences;
Hard-Fought,
Hard-Won Benefits;
Rising Support, Rising Tide;
Quality, Through and Through

September 2019

IBEW Membership Turned into Her 'Freedom Ticket'