December 2022
December Issue
From door knocks and worksite visits in Georgia to a Boston phone bank that drew the commander in chief, IBEW members pulled out the stops to turn out union voters in the U.S. Senate runoff election Dec. 6.
Linemen who have seen Mother Nature at her worst couldn’t believe their eyes in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.
Moncton Local 1555 is a small local union. It is tucked into three counties in southeastern New Brunswick and has 135 members. Growth has not come easy.
A Louisiana local’s successful strategy to organize more residential wiremen into the IBEW could serve as an effective model for helping other locals gain members.
Hundreds of IBEW members are set to build and then staff a facility that makes the plutonium pits that go inside every nuclear weapon in the U.S., thanks to a new project labor agreement signed in October by Augusta, Ga., Local 1579 Business Manager Will Salters.
November 2022
November Issue
Members of San Jose, Calif., Local 332 have been slipping into high-heeled shoes for years to support their local YWCA and this year was no different.
After seven years as International President of the IBEW, Lonnie R. Stephenson is retiring. When he took office in 2015, the IBEW was still digging out from the wreckage of the Great Recession.
Students at Boston's Madison Park Vocational Technical High School can now practice their electrical skills in the community with a new van and supplies, thanks to Local 103 and the area chapter of the National Electrical Contractors' Association.
Idaho utility workers have been assaulted, threatened and shot at, and that's not everything. Now, they have a new law to protect them, and it's thanks in part to powerful IBEW testimony and a willingness to find common ground with a Republican-dominated Legislature that took the time to listen to unions.
St. Paul, Minn., Local 110 member Robin Chuhel has been advocating for women in the trades for her entire career. This year, she finally was recognized for it.
On Sept. 28, the IBEW’s Railroad Branch freight members voted to ratify a historic tentative collective bargaining agreement with the nation’s largest freight rail carriers, reaching an important milestone in a lengthy and contentious process that, toward the end of it, saw President Joe Biden taking a personal interest in moving the bargaining parties closer to a deal.
Oregon's union apprenticeships are outpacing their nonunion counterparts when it comes to diversity and inclusion, says a recent study.
For their roles in rescuing a retired schoolteacher from her burning home, two members of Johnstown, Pa., Local 459 recently were honored with IBEW Life Saving Awards.
In April, two Pittsburgh Local 29 lineworkers were electrocuted on the job when an energized power line made contact with a utility pole’s guy-wire.
The Los Angeles community-based nonprofit 2nd Call does a lot for the people it serves, but for John "Big John" Harriel Jr., it all comes down to three words.
College and pro football dominate American airwaves in the fall, making it a busy time for IBEW broadcast members working for CBS and Fox Sports.
Ohio Chip Plant Soars to $100 Billion After Biden-Backed Legislation.
The fastest growing skyline in North America isn't where you might guess.
TWhen San Bernardino, Calif., Local 477 Business Development Representative Timothy Auman heard about the Veterans Electrical Entry Program back in 2019 at the IBEW Membership Development Conference, he knew he wanted to offer the program to train and offer career opportunities for veterans in his area. He just wasn't sure how.
St. Louis Local 1 member Sylvester Taylor has been promoting diversity and inclusion in IBEW apprenticeships for years, so it was no surprise when he was selected to serve as a Department of Labor apprenticeship ambassador.
Pro-worker lawmakers who voted to invest in American infrastructure and manufacturing have compiled a record to run on like never before in modern times: hundreds of thousands of new jobs created already and millions more on the way — as long as voters stay the course on Election Day.
Moments before Marine guards opened the doors leading to the South Lawn of the White House, Lovette Jacobs anxiously asked an aide how many people were gathered outside.
For 11 years prior to the 1946 midterm elections, Americans discovered what it meant to have rights at work.
Bee Nguyen is many things. She’s the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, the state representative for Georgia’s 89th district, and, as she proudly touts in her campaign for secretary of state, a card-carrying member of Atlanta Local 613.
October 2022
October Issue
Late last summer, with old terms expired and nominees confirmed, the National Labor Relations Board's game-changing transition was complete.
In November, Illinois voters will have the chance to enshrine collective bargaining rights into their constitution and IBEW members across the state are hard at work getting out the vote.
With the valuable assistance of one of its retired members, Edmonton, Alberta, Local 424 recently helped two Ukrainian men, fleeing the ongoing conflict in their homeland, find work with one of the local’s longtime signatory contractors, and it has its sights set on helping many more follow suit.
Like many local unions, Tulsa, Okla., Local 584 is filled with outdoors-loving members, and more than a dozen of them leapt at the opportunity to help the Union Sportsmen's Alliance build 120 artificial fish habitats at a highly publicized event.
International Executive Council member William W. Riley's legacy in Miami goes far beyond the IBEW — something that drivers in his hometown are now reminded of every day.
Taking advantage of a favorable bargaining position, IBEW members employed by AT&T overwhelmingly ratified a contract in August that calls for improvements in wages, holiday pay, health care coverage and job protection.
September 2022
September Issue
IBEW electricians light up skyscrapers, theme parks, stadiums and other mega-projects, but sometimes the most fulfilling job is as simple as rewiring a broken socket or brightening a dark room in an aging home.
August 2022
August Issue
The task of building a national network of electric vehicle charging stations could soon fall primarily to IBEW members, thanks to a June 9 announcement by the U.S. Department of Transportation that recommends the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program as the preferred national certification standard for training the workers who will install $5 billion of EV charging equipment.
When Pueblo, Colo., Local 12 member Tyshawn Nicholas posted some birthday photos to his Instagram account earlier this year, he had no idea it would lead him to a modeling gig at Denver's Fashion Week, but his post caught the right eyes and earned him an opportunity he couldn't pass up.
In an effort to increase Indigenous youth membership, London, Ontario, Local 120 recently launched a pre-apprenticeship program in partnership with area First Nations groups.
The Biden Administration and Congress have won a historic achievement for IBEW members and their families with the Inflation Reduction Act.
IBEW members employed by Verizon joined with their counterparts from the Communications Workers of America to overwhelmingly approve a 3-year extension of their collective bargaining agreement with the telecommunications giant, ensuring labor peace for the next four years.
The Electrical Worker’s August cover story features Liz Shuler’s journey from Portland, Ore., Local 125 to the top of the AFL-CIO. In addition to our interview, President Shuler graciously answered written questions on a wide range of issues.
From her seat on stage at the AFL-CIO convention in June, Liz Shuler could see her father standing next to International President Lonnie R. Stephenson and the IBEW delegation behind them ready to cheer.
Nearly $5 billion in new electrical vehicle charging systems are on the way, and demand for qualified installers has never been higher. That’s why International President Lonnie R. Stephenson is launching the Talent Pipeline Challenge, with a goal of getting at least 10,000 electricians across the U.S. signed up by August to be credentialed in the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program.
July 2022
July Issue
There's a lot that goes into creating an inclusive working environment on a jobsite. One thing that probably doesn't come to mind though, is the availability of menstrual products. But construction sites in British Columbia are beginning to take notice and account for the on-the-job needs of everyone in the trades. One contractor leading the way is IBEW signatory Houle Electric.
For 99 years at Hayward Field, fans cheered from a pair of wooden bleachers as world-class runners, throwers, and jumpers drew crowds, broke records, and made Eugene, Ore., famous as Track Town USA.
Members of the IBEW were front and center — some physically, others virtually — for President Joe Biden’s White House announcement March 4 of Siemens USA’s plan to invest $54 million to expand its manufacturing facilities, growth that promises to bring at least 300 new jobs to the company’s IBEW-represented workplaces in California and Texas.
Rep. Donald Norcross of New Jersey knows the value of a union apprenticeship. A member of Folsom, N.J., Local 351, Congress's only union electrician has a bill to help extend that opportunity to as many veterans as possible.
July 10 is Lineworker Appreciation Day, a time to reflect on the contributions of North America’s lineworkers, who put themselves at risk day in and day out to ensure the smooth function of our modern world.
June 2022
June Issue
In early January, two tunnel boring machines arrived to start the second phase of one of the largest infrastructure projects in Toronto history, the union-built Eglinton light rail.
The world's largest combined solar and energy storage project is under construction by members of Bakersfield, Calif., Local 428.
At least one thing has remained a constant for decades in the ever-changing broadcasting industry: The IBEW’s long, productive partnership with CBS.
May 2022
May Issue
Ma Linda Golden was a proud tomboy growing up in Abbeville, Ala., population 2,400 and deep in the southeast corner of the state. If she wasn't in school, she was outside playing or working under what was usually a hot sun. Her jobs included working in a garden center and a lumberyard.
At least one thing has remained a constant for decades in the ever-changing broadcasting industry: The IBEW’s long, productive partnership with CBS.
In the two-plus years since COVID-19 transformed the lives of billions of people, so much has been lost or taken away. Nearly six million are dead, 900,000 of them in North America. Millions more suffered devastating hospitalizations and slow, often imperfect recoveries.
The panoramic photo for the 40th International Convention is now available to order for your union hall or office.
A directive from the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board could spell the end of captive audience meetings, removing one of most potent weapons used by employers to derail union organizing drives.
April 2022
April Issue
IBEW members in New Jersey will never know whose lives or how many they helped save in war-ravaged Ukraine, only that they gave first responders a fighting chance against the shrapnel wounds, burns, bullets and other carnage raining down on people just like them.
The Drive to 100% Market-Share: One West Virginia Local's Push to Take Back Residential Work When Jeff Burge was elected business manager of Parkersburg, W. Va., Local 968 in 2019, his local had almost complete control of the large industrial base found winding along the Ohio River in the state's midsection. Burge's plan was nothing less than 100% market share — every wire, lightbulb and plug in their six-county jurisdiction.
According to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute, unions aren’t just good for members and their paychecks. They’re also good for communities as a whole, and even for democracy itself.
Lafayette, Ind., is not a place most people think of as a Navy town.
THE MERCILESS conditions at an eastern Illinois cooking-spray factory cried out for a union. Poverty wages, grueling shifts, daily indignities, and policies so punitive that grieving workers burying family members were disciplined for being absent.
The Canadian government launched a new campaign on Jan. 31 to help recruit the next generation of skilled craftspeople, including in the electrical trade.
What is it like to be a woman in the construction industry? A new report from the Institute for Women's Policy Research has some answers.
New federal guidance for the creation of a national network of electric-powered vehicle charging stations explicitly recommended that agencies consider the IBEW-NECA Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program as they look to spend billions in funds allocated by President Biden’s infrastructure bill, which passed last November.
In near record time and under some trying circumstances, workers at Coast Mountain Hydro have chosen to join with Vancouver, British Columbia, Local 258.
A Labor Department plan to strengthen federal prevailing wage regulations and enforcement under the Davis-Bacon Act would put more money in the pockets of an estimated 1.2 million U.S. construction workers.
March 2022
March Issue
IBEW members perform the highest quality work, often in stressful situations. Many honorably served their country in the military. Still others perform countless hours of community service. Each of these reflects positively on the IBEW and its membership.
It's not every day that someone wins recognition for doing what they love, but that's exactly what happened to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Local 2034 member Patrick Leask when he won the National Indigenous Coaching Award.
One moment they were installing conduit, hunkered down in the concrete moat of a massive building site south of Portland, Ore., earplugs in to minimize the snare-drum racket of the metal decking across the steel I-beams above.
IBEW members once again were top performers at the 2021 Ideal Nationals, a hands-on skills-demonstration competition for union and nonunion electrical workers held one week before Christmas in Nashville, Tenn.
The IBEW photo contest is now open and once again our members have given us some amazing images to choose from.
February 2022
February Issue
The first-of-its-kind task force that President Joe Biden created last year to identify ways that his administration can help empower workers and strengthen unions has returned with nearly 70 recommendations for federal agencies to pursue.
A new study by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute found that a union apprenticeship may be a better ticket to the middle class than a traditional four-year degree.
An Afghan refugee family will soon be the recipient of a very generous donation from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Local 1620.
New guidelines to encourage federal workers to join unions were announced by Vice President Kamala Harris and Labor Department Secretary Marty Walsh in October, continuing an administration-wide effort to promote union membership in the workplace.
January 2022
January Issue
“Brotherhood Outdoors,” the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance long-running show that highlights union members on once-in-a-lifetime hunting and fishing expeditions, has a new home – one that makes it easily available to more viewers.
Bringing holiday cheer to children and families in need is IBEW tradition, as our kindnesses all year long. Here are three stories of the countless ways that locals across the United States and Canada spread good will in their communities over the 2021 holiday season.
A top priority for the IBEW and the AFL-CIO became reality Nov. 15 when President Joe Biden signed the historic $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law.
The Grant County Public Utility District already had a reputation as an enviable place to work: a strong union contract, increasingly open lines of communication between employer and employees, and relatively few grievances. Not to mention its scenic perch along Washington state’s majestic Columbia River.
John Pruitt clung with his one good hand to the steel frame of the transmission tower. His right arm was throbbing as it held his weight 70 feet above West Virginia; his left arm limp, in agony, torn from its socket.
Members of Martinez, Calif., Local 302 are getting ready to tackle one of the biggest mixed-use development projects in the local’s history. The upcoming transformation of the massive Naval Weapons Station Concord is expected to translate into career-spanning work for scores of current and future IBEW electricians across northern California.
Travis Shrout is just 18 but he's a third-generation member of Cleveland Local 1377, having followed his parents and grandparents into the broadcasting industry in northeast Ohio.
Historic Route 66 is about to get a new rock 'n' roll museum and Joliet, Ill., Local 176 members helped make it happen.