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August 1

International Office staffer Liz Pultar opened Wednesday’s session with a moving version of “God Bless America.”

Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA), who was elected in 2000 with the strong support of the IBEW, spoke about the pro-working families’ legislation promoted by the new Democratic controlled congress. She referred to the current effort by House Democrats to renew the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides health insurance for children who do not qualify for Medicaid. “It will help working-class people, but it will help our children the most,” she said.

New IBEW Political/Legislative Director Brian Baker described the new grassroots political mobilization program for the 2008 elections. “This is probably the important thing for the IBEW to work on because unless we change the laws to make it easier to organize, all our other departments can’t function,” he said.  He was followed by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH). Brown, a strong supporter of organizer labor and fair trade policies, thanked the IBEW “for what you did around the country with your hands, your feet and your dollars last November.”

Also on the agenda were Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) who had to cut her presentation short in order to get back to the floor of the House for a scheduled vote in support of SCHIP.

The conference wrapped up with a standing ovation for outgoing political/legislative director Rick Diegel who recently announced his retirement. “We say that we need to leave our union better than we found it. There is no one who can better claim this than Rick,” Baker said.