Leaders and presenters during the May 6 Government Affairs Caucus celebrated the election of President Joe Biden and gains made by working people and the labor movement during his tenure.

They warned, however, that momentum will be lost if members aren't mobilized to elect pro-working family candidates later this year — not just in Congress, but in local and municipal elections as well.

"Right now, as we sit here, there's never been a labor union closer to the president of the United States than the IBEW is now," Assistant to the President for Government Affairs Austin Keyser said. "It's been said that President Biden is the most pro-union president of our lifetime. That's not true. There's never been a more pro-union president ever."

International President Lonnie R. Stephenson served on Biden's transition team, the first union head to serve in such a role.

"There are so many things this president has done that a lot of our members out in the field don't realize. We must get to those folks," Stephenson said. "We have to educate them about who is going to be the best candidate for them and their jobs. We can't give up on them."

New York Local 3 Business Manager and International Executive Council Chairman Chris Erikson put it more bluntly: "I don't understand how an electrician can make the argument that the wall [along the Mexico and U.S. border] is more important than the economic security of my family."

The caucus also included a panel on how unions can best secure work coming from the infrastructure bill and an address from Daniel Blaikie, the only IBEW member serving in Canada's Parliament.

Blaikie, a Red Seal electrician and member of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Local 2085, represents the Elmwood-Transcona Riding as a member of the New Democratic Party. He was re-elected to a third term last year, receiving 49.7% of the vote in a five-candidate field.

The NDP is traditionally Canada's most-pro labor party. It has taken on added importance in recent years because the Liberals, who also are generally pro-labor, hold the most seats in Parliament but not a majority. Both parties have come together to pass legislation favorable to workers, and Blaikie's influence in the House of Commons has grown.

"To use what seems like the theme of [the caucus], when you're properly grounded, you can't be neutral," Blaikie said. "You've got to run hot."

Later in the day, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the chair of the House Democratic Caucus, addressed delegates and friends of the IBEW at a separate event held at Chicago Local 134's hall.

"For decades in Washington, it has been infrastructure week every other week," Jeffries said. "Nothing ever happened. But then Joe Biden came to town and the Democrats in the House and Senate came together to pass that historic agreement.

"The American Dream fundamentally is that if you work hard and play by the rules, you should be able to provide a comfortable living for yourself and your families," Jeffries added. "Educate your children. Own a home and retire with grace and dignity. That is the American dream. Two entities have delivered that in the United States of America: Organized labor and the Democratic Party."

Hundreds of young, and not so young, members of the IBEW came together at the 40th International Convention's RENEW/NextGen caucus to talk, think, share and learn how power works in the IBEW.

They heard from one of the IBEW's newest members, a volunteer organizer from a local coffee chain, and one of the most powerful, International President Lonnie R. Stephenson.

They shared a common message: this generation of union workers has the opportunity and responsibility to reach out to people their age who are more union positive than any generation in recent memory.

RENEW and NextGen are the U.S. and Canadian programs for members 35 and younger. As Civic and Community Engagement Department Director Tarn Goelling, who oversees the program, put it, "Henry Miller would have been a RENEW member. We have always been led by young workers."

Panels included a political issues roundup, financial rules for running local committees, and a conversation with an organizer from a successful organizing drive at a Midwest coffee chain.

The members also heard from Stephenson, International Executive Council Chairman and New York Local 3 Business Manager Christopher Erikson as well as senior members of the International staff who talked about their path through the IBEW ranks, including Senior Executive Assistant to the International President Sherilyn Wright.

"I never thought I would be up here, and there is no reason someone in this room can't be standing here one day too," Stephenson told more than 300 attendees.

All speakers addressed the challenge and the opportunity of organizing a generation that is more diverse, more union positive and, perhaps not coincidentally, facing a more uncertain economic future than its predecessors.

"We have more opportunity to grow the IBEW since I don't know when and the doors of the IBEW have to be open to all people; that wasn't always the case," Wright said.

The session on best practices produced dozens of ideas that were collected on flip charts around the room including a virtual blood drive where members sent in pictures donating blood in IBEW shirts which were shared on social media, virtual book clubs and game nights.

During the politics roundtable, Sixth District RENEW representative Jeff Cooling discussed his decision to run in the 77th district for the Iowa state House.

The afternoon closed with a conversation with Hillary Laskonis, one of the organizers that successfully won an election at Midwest coffee roaster and café chain Colectivo.

Laskonis described the change in mindset she needed to see that her job — all jobs really — can be careers with dignity, decent wages and benefits.

Nearly two years later, Laskonis and her brothers and sisters won by the narrowest of margins — seven votes out of a possible 490.

"To win even by seven votes after such a brutal union-busting campaign was one of the best moments of my life," she said before leaving the stage to a standing ovation.