December
December Issue
The first project labor agreement in Contra Costa County, north of San Francisco, was signed in November between the city of Martinez and Local 302.
Kentucky Democrats successfully maintained control of the state house last November, effectively dashing Republican lawmakers’ goal of passing right-to-work-for-less legislation.
Carhartt and the Union Sportsmen Alliance are giving away an all-inclusive trip to the 2015 CMA Music Awards.
L.A Local 11, community groups and a national coalition have won a neutrality agreement covering taxpayer-funded rail car manufacturing using local residents.
Anti-worker lawmakers in Missouri admit that right-to-work lowers wages – but they’re still in favor of it.
Popular musical acts in Maine are teaming up with union activists to help raise money for FairPoint strikers this holiday season.
Asplundh’s tree trimmers in Kentucky are joining co-workers in Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia and Virginia voting for IBEW-negotiated protections and benefits.
Members of San Diego Local 569 are helping overcome their state’s water scarcity, building the largest seawater desalination project in the Western Hemisphere.
Nearly 40 members of Minneapolis Local 292 are helping build a wheelchair-accessible home for a Marine who was seriously injured in Afghanistan.
Activists are calling on Congress to reject fast track and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a global free trade bill that will costs jobs and drive down working conditions.
Wisconsin Republicans are threatening to pass right-to-work-for-less in 2015.
After his firsthand glimpse of 9/11’s devastation, a Local 3 member memorialized fellow union members in a flag displayed at the New York museum.
IBEW members throughout Louisiana are mobilizing to re-elect pro-worker Sen. Mary Landrieu this Saturday.
The Union Plus mortgage assistance program has helped workers like Philadelphia Local 98 member Eric Hudson during lean financial times.
November
November Issue
Gas line locators at an infrastructure construction company prevailed in a unique campaign to join Toledo, Ohio, Local 245.
For hunting enthusiasts, there are few things better than taking a weekend, donning fatigues and spending a day in the deer stand.
Augusta, Maine – The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers released four new television ads featuring FairPoint Communications employees and retirees calling on the company to return to the bargaining table and give workers a “fair deal.”
Hundreds of striking workers rallied in downtown Portland, Maine, on Nov. 8, just days before union negotiators and FairPoint executives are scheduled to restart mediation talks.
Portland, Ore., Local125 lineman Kurt Shriver, who traveled to the South American nation of Suriname in October to help launch a new safety training program for linemen, knew he was bringing knowledge that was sorely lacking. But he was still surprised at conditions faced by workers at EBS, the state-run utility.
Fresh off two late September winning organizing campaigns in West Virginia and Kentucky, and one in Michigan, trimmers at three more lots of Asplundh Expert Tree Expert Co. voted overwhelmingly for IBEW representation in October.
October
October Issue
After two weeks on strike, Ohio IBEW members working for Schneider Electric approved a new contract Oct. 19 that locks in higher wages for veteran workers and improved compensation for newer, lower paid employees.
FairPoint Communications employees continue to man picket lines throughout Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont as their strike against the company enters its first week.
Three years ago, the IBEW launched a national television advertising campaign with a simple goal: tell America who we are and what we do.
At Sacramento-based company Sunoptics, employees craft products that are ahead of their time – high-tech skylights that can help replace most electric lighting with natural sunlight for offices and homes.
Nearly 2,000 employees of FairPoint Communications in Northern New England went on strike on Oct. 17. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Communication Workers of America, which represents FairPoint workers in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, cited the company’s unwillingness to bargain in good faith after management walked away from contract negotiations in late August.
For generations, linemen rodeos have brought together union members from far-flung cities and towns into their own unique version of an Olympic village, combining camaraderie and good times with full-bore competition in the skills of the trade.
Tree trimmers employed by Asplundh Tree Expert Co. in Southwest Michigan voted 69 to 11 for representation by Grand Rapids Local 876 on Oct. 2.
Let’s say you’re a contractor that receives federal money for big construction projects. Wouldn’t you want to take the high road in ensuring workplace safety, fair wages, and respecting collective bargaining rights so that your reputation on the job doesn’t get tarnished?
Charles Cox had always heard the pitch about charitable work, how volunteers gain more satisfaction helping others than serving themselves.
September
September Issue
Joann Greeley was 35 when she moved back to her home province of Newfoundland. She held a series of office jobs, but couldn’t find work that matched what she was making in Ontario.
With revenues totaling more than $1 billion a year and 30,000 employees, Asplundh Tree Expert Co., one of the nation’s largest family-owned businesses, has negotiated 80 collective bargaining agreements with unions, including dozens covering units of the Brotherhood.
Photographers at WMUR-TV in Manchester, N.H., are usually found behind the camera. But earlier this month, they became part of the news, picketing the station during televised state primary debates Sept. 2 through 5.
On Sept. 10, the Interstate Renewable Energy Council announced that 13 IBEW/NECA Electrical Training Alliance centers have received the prestigious IREC Training Provider Accreditation for the photovoltaic curriculums in their inside journeyman wireman program.
When Phil Delestrez got off the phone he said he thought there had to be a catch.
About 350 IBEW members working at the South Texas Project nuclear facility cheered in February when their new contract took effect.
When management at Nova Scotia Power announced last year that they were looking to outsource unionized services, IBEW linemen in the province were taken aback. How would the company be able to keep the lights on for 500,000 residents and businesses with a lesser-trained workforce?
Unions representing nearly 2,000 employees at FairPoint Communications in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are accusing the company of violating labor law by walking away from the bargaining table Aug. 27.
August
August Issue
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Local 529 filed an unfair labour
practice application against Alliance Energy Industrial Ltd. in
June, accusing the company of intimidating pro-IBEW workers at
its Agrium pot ash mine in northern Saskatchewan.
For many Bakersfield Local 428 members, California’s
thriving solar industry is an opportunity for job growth and
stability. For some of the local’s newest members,
it’s a second chance.
IBEW members often say that the union’s apprenticeship
training, delivered by the NJATC, is the union’s
best-kept secret.
One of the biggest stories already shaping up in this
year’s election cycle is the influence of deep-pocketed,
extremist organizations and their fight against everyday
American workers.
Popular songs and advertisements have inspired generations
of Americans to get behind the wheel and step on the gas
pedal.
One of the biggest stories already shaping up in this
year’s election cycle is the influence of deep-pocketed,
extremist organizations and their fight against everyday
American workers.
Two years ago, IBEW locals in Ohio played a critical role in
winning a ballot initiative to defeat legislation supported by
Republican Gov. John Kasich which would have taken away the
right of firefighters, teachers and other public workers to
collectively bargain.
It turns out the first, second and third time is the charm,
at least for members of El Dorado, Ark., Local 2284.
Thousands of union members rallied in Pittsburgh July 31 to
protest the Environmental Protection Act’s Clean Power
plan, which they say will kill good jobs and weaken the
electrical grid.
A six-year contract between FairPoint Communications and
1,700 members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers and 300 members of the CWA expired at midnight Aug. 2,
as the parties agreed to continue talks to forge a new
agreement.
Thugs. Goons. Bullies. Anti-worker politicians love to use
colorful language when talking about unions and their
members.
The 400 members of Chicago Local 134 who maintain the
city’s bustling railways are looking forward to some
major changes in the next few years.
July
July Issue
IBEW members and family members were awarded $10,000 of
scholarships from the Union Plus Educational Fund.
The number of homeless children in rural Whatcom County,
Wash., has doubled in the past two years. Most of these
children are being raised by a single parent.
IBEW members are testifying this week in four cities in
opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency’s
proposed Clean Power Plan.
Crumbling bridges. Damaging potholes. Dangerous traffic that
contributes to fatalities.
If you’re reading this on your computer or your phone,
you have local unions like Portland, Oregon, Local 48 to
thank.
If Mark Brochu is an adrenaline junkie, his friends and
co-workers will tell you he’s one of the best one they
know, putting adventurous exploits into productive work.
Americans live in the only developed nation that does not
guarantee paid parental leave. To make matters worse, 40
million workers in the country do not have access to paid sick
leave to take care of themselves, their children or aging
parents.
The U.S. Department of Commerce is charging South Korean
producers of steel tubing with unfairly “dumping”
their products below their fair market value in the U.S.
A looming strike at the Long Island Railroad – the
busiest commuter rail system in the nation – was averted
July 17 when IBEW leaders and other union activists announced a
tentative deal with the transit agency’s management.
It’s common sense. Federal money shouldn’t line
the pockets of known law-breakers. But many government
contractors routinely violate labor and wage and hour laws,
costing employees – and taxpayers – millions of
dollars
Every weekday, more than 335,000 passengers ride the Long
Island Railroad, flowing into Manhattan in the morning and back
out to Long Island at the end of the day.
This Fourth of July, the St. Louis Science Center’s
James S. McDonnell Planetarium celebrated with a light
spectacle much closer to the ground.
The IBEW, along with other unions that represent energy
workers, are criticizing the Environmental Protection
Agency’s proposed Clean Power Plan, saying it will kill
jobs and put the electrical grid at risk.
Republican legislators in Fort Wayne, Ind., voted June 24 to
terminate collective bargaining for 500 public employees who
help maintain services and infrastructure in the state’s
second largest city.
Thanks to the hard work of members from the IBEW and other
unions, visitors can remain safe while appreciating the beauty
of the Horicon Marsh wildlife refuge in Wisconsin.
CSX Transportation’s Selkirk repair shop is a massive,
loud throwback to America’s industrial past.
It has cost 5.8 million American jobs and millions in
Canada, too. It’s called currency manipulation, a tricky
device by which one country (like China) plays around with the
price of its currency and hurts its trading partners (like the
U.S. and Canada).
More than 700 technicians working for Comcast across the
U.S. enjoy better wages and a voice on the job, thanks to the
collective bargaining agreements they have negotiated.
Thousands of home care workers were already burdened by
trying circumstances on their jobs before a Supreme Court
ruling on June 30 made their lives and their service to
disabled persons more difficult.
Northwest Alabama has been a hard place for union workers
for decades.
June
June Issue
The United States’ transportation infrastructure is in
desperate need of massive federal investment to rebuild
crumbling roads and bridges.
When the Seattle City Council started considering proposals
to raise the city’s minimum wage, Seattle Local 46 knew
it was their duty to step right up to help.
Last year, a public policy center at Northeastern University
in Boston released a
report stating that the lack of affordable housing in
Beantown could hurt the city’s e conomic recovery.
Critics of raising the minimum wage claim it will hurt
businesses and cost jobs, but the experience of one California
city is refuting the naysayers.
North Carolinians from all walks of life continue their
Monday protests against the state GOP’s extremist
agenda.
In the race of advancing telecommunications technology, the
National Coalition for Telecommunications Education and
Learning is helping workers keep up the pace.
IBEW Locals in California are standing up for housing rights
for our nation’s veterans.
Hundreds of IBEW sisters are expected in San Antonio Sept.
17-20 for the Seventh IBEW International Women’s
Conference.
Manufacturing workers at Greenbrier Rail Service in Hershey,
Neb., are the newest members of the IBEW family after voting to
join North Platte Local 1920.
President Barack Obama announced the creation of a
presidential emergency board June 15 to end four years of
stalled contract negotiations with the Brotherhood of
Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, the IBEW and the
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority.
Through helping residents, building a reputation as a good
neighbor and working in coalition with other community
organizations, Modesto Local 684 is winning new work.
Union members recently volunteered to build a roof on the
youth archery range at the J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management
Area’s Everglades Youth Conservation Camp in West Palm
Beach, Fla.
When it comes to renewable energy, Rhode Island lags far
behind its neighboring New England states.
Two hundred and ten graduates crossed the stage to receive
their diplomas from the National Labor College at the end of
this spring semester. It was the institution’s largest
graduating class, and also its last.
Outsourcing by state and local governments increasingly
means that the middle-class jobs of today are becoming the
poverty-level jobs of tomorrow.
Moms employed by the mega-retailer Walmart walked off the
job in more than 20 cities last week to protest continuing low
pay and disrespect.
In Minnesota, everyone agrees that when it comes to
taxpayer-funded construction projects, contractors must obey
the law.
Summer is here, but only a few months ago, North America was
suffering through record freezing artic temperatures, ice
storms and massive snow flurries.
Billions of dollars of new transmission work is coming to
the Midwest and Great Plains, making outside line construction
one of the hottest job fields in the country.
The EPA has a track record of underestimating the impact of
its rules, making faulty predictions that have cost tens of
thousands of good jobs.
Nearly 2,000 ADT employees across the U.S. and Canada enjoy
better job security, fair wages and other benefits of an IBEW
contract.
May
May Issue
As you get ready to hit the highway this summer, crews
working on or near roads have a request: slow down and stay
alert.
Approximately 30 skilled tradesmen donated their time to
rehabilitate a fishing pier at Houston’s Sheldon Lake
State Park May 3.
A power outage… A college graduation. They mix about
as well as electricity and water.
A big crowd at a local meeting is often one of the most
reliable signs of a union’s strength.
In 2007, as Congress considered approval of the
U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, the IBEW joined 10 other
unions in a letter opposing the pact with the most dangerous
country in the world for unions, with 72 trade unionists
assassinated the year before.
The 2014 legislative session in Missouri ended May 16 with
the defeat of two major anti-labor bills long sought after by
anti-worker special interests.
IBEW members are usually on the go. Many depend on their
phones or tablets to check the latest news and keep in
contact.
In the days and weeks after March’s tragic and sudden
mudslide that devastated the small Washington community of Oso,
the nation watched as newscasters and reporters piled up grim
figures.
The Trans-Pacific Psartnership – a trade agreement
under negotiation by the United States, Canada and 11 other
Pacific Rim nations – could end up making it harder for
consumers to fill their prescriptions.
A popular button often seen at labor rallies and conferences
reads, “A woman's place is in her union.”
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority
(SEPTA) rejected federal efforts to end four years of stalled
contract negotiations with the Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers and Trainmen and the IBEW on May 8.
On May 12, executives and shareholders of Charlotte,
N.C.-based FairPoint Communications gathered for the
company’s annual shareholders meeting. The meeting took
place amid widespread rumors, reported on
www.ibew.org, the company is
seeking a merger or sale.
The Erie County Vietnam Veterans Memorial is shining a
little brighter after a new set of lights were unveiled May
3
For years, high-school students have been told there is one
path to success – a four-year college degree.
Business and labor may not agree on everything, but when it
comes to investing in America’s aged industrial
infrastructure, both sides are sounding the alarm.
Members attending the 2014 Broadcasting, Manufacturing and
Telecommunications Conference in Connecticut in late April
loudly applauded after hearing from George Farrell, a retired
fire chief who coordinates Rhode Island’s “honor flights”
program.
Like many high school seniors, Brian Hobbs and Jacob Bates
weren’t looking forward to four more years of sitting in
the classroom – all while racking up major college
debt.
Talgo is vacating its factory in Wisconsin, four years after
Gov. Scott Walker rejected millions in federal stimulus money
to create a commuter line.
During President Obama’s recent tour of Asia, many
issues were discussed with foreign heads of state. At the top
of Obama’s agenda was the Trans-Pacific
Partnership, a proposed trade agreement among the United
States and 12 other Pacific Rim nations.
GlobalFoundries ,the world’s largest semiconductor
manufacturer, is building a new manufacturing campus in upstate
New York.
Letter carriers across the country are getting ready for the
22nd annual Letter Carriers’
Food Drive.
April
April Issue
Just weeks after failing to garner enough support
to put right-to-work-for-less on the Missouri ballot,
anti-worker state legislators are resurrecting another bill
aimed at weakening workers’ rights.
When telecom company FairPoint Communications first bid to
take over Verizon’s New England landline service in 2008,
there were both promises and worries.
Business and labor leaders are in agreement that President
Obama’s April 16
announcement of $600 million in federal grant programs to
boost workforce training is the right decision for the
economy.
As president of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka hears and reads
a lot of horror stories about workers being abused by
employers.
Last year, one story struck home in a uniquely personal way
for Trumka, a former coal miner whose father, grandfathers and
uncles died from black lung disease, suffocating from the
effects of years of breathing coal dust.
Vistas at Providence Canyon State Park, known to locals as
Georgia’s Little Grand Canyon, will be enhanced by seven
miles of restored trails, thanks to union members.
IBEW and NECA are recognized for their concern for the
environment and support for their cities.
Matt Harlow, an inside journeyman wireman member of
Birmingham, Ala., Local 136, learned a lot about the value of
on-the-job training during his five years as an apprentice
instructor.
After Dan Sullivan topped out of San Diego Local 569’s
apprenticeship program in 2001, he went back to the training
center for the class that changed his life.
Seven years after the onset of the Great Recession, nearly
all economists agree that we are in an economic recovery.
Drive down any wide, open highway across Missouri and
you’ll see something big, heavy and plentiful on the
plains.
An IBEW request has helped initiate a timely hearing to
discuss how the shutdowns of coal-fired power plants will
affect the nation’s electrical grid, especially during
extreme weather emergencies.
Automated electricity meters have been a double-whammy for
many locals. Meter reader jobs disappear and the replacement
work has proven extremely resistant to organizing on both sides
of the border.
The U.S. Senate voted April 7 to restore unemployment
benefits for the 2.8 million Americans who have been out of
work for six months or longer.
Efforts to make Missouri the 25th right-to-work-for-less
state came up short April 9, with anti-worker state legislators
failing to garner enough votes to send their bill to the state
Senate.
Muskegon, Mich., Local 275 invested in a camcorder and asked
the local’s new members to say on camera why they decided
to join the IBEW – in their own words.
Leading union activists representing broadcasting employees
cheered a move that will help promote diversity in local media
markets while saving jobs.
With technology moving so quickly, success in the
telecommunications industry requires commitment to lifelong
learning.
Lineman put their lives on the line every day to ensure that
electricity is safely delivered to our homes and
businesses.
March
March Issue
Flat wages have been pushing American workers backward for
decades, but Minneapolis Local 292 member Kent
Blachowiak’s employer was trying to push him all the way
back to the 19th century.
Trentice Hamm and Robert Bausch started out their day hoping
to inspire some nonunion Oklahoma construction workers during
an organizing blitz.
It is unlikely that most of the long-term unemployed will
find their way back into the labor market without an effort by
Congress and business leaders, a new report says.
It can seem tougher these days to find products on store
shelves that don’t have a “Made in China”
label.
It’s one of the inevitable laugh lines in tens of
thousands of workplaces, public and private. A senior manager
tells workers that some of their duties will be outsourced to
cut costs. Around the water cooler employees snicker about how
contracting out work often backfires, costing employers more
than they save.
U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Rob Portman
(R-Ohio), members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Committee, are actively supporting a request from IBEW, the
United Mineworkers Union, the Utility Workers and others to
hold a hearing on the stability and reliability of the
nation’s electrical grid.
The Koch brothers are trying to buy elections. Anti-labor
lobbyists helped defeat VW workers’ effort to organize in
Tennessee. And right-to-work may be coming to states like
Missouri, Ohio and Maine if anti-union lawmakers succeed in
carrying out their corporate donors’ wishes.
The industry leader in the manufacture of arc-rated fabrics
is helping to create a program to help train the next
generation of electrical workers.
Many World War II factories operated with the assistance of
women, some of whom are coming to Washington, with the help of
IBEW members.
There is one television concert show where the technical
engineers behind the broadcast are as talented as the people on
the stage.
You never know when you could use a helping hand. Hardships
can hit at any time: layoffs, natural disasters, medical
emergencies or a strike.
Activists in Missouri are working to remind businesses that
everyone in the Show Me state benefits from good union jobs
– every time a member makes a purchase.
Each St. Patrick’s Day, we honor North America’s
Irish heritage.
Franklin Roosevelt was in office and Mickey Mouse first hit
the screen when most of New York City’s sewer mains were
installed. The Cold War was just starting and home TVs were
still a rarity around the time when most schools were built in
the five boroughs.
Collinsville, Ill., Local 309 has launched an unprecedented,
multiplatform advertising campaign that Business Manager Scott
Hassall expects will dramatically raise the profile of the
local and its signatory contractors throughout their southwest
Illinois jurisdiction.
America’s building trades unions are strongly opposing
President Obama’s recommendation to privatize the
Tennessee Valley Authority, calling it a budget gimmick that
would set back a model institution that has improved the lives
of millions.
Every economic sector reserves a special place for
pioneering companies. Respect grows when, more than a century
after the formation of an enterprise, it continues to provide
innovative leadership in its industry.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers joins
the growing number of labor unions, community and civil rights
activists and lawmakers in calling for an end to Kellogg
Co.’s four-month lockout of more than 220 workers at the
company’s Memphis, Tenn., plant.
Union members and pro-worker activists took to the heart of
Toronto’s retail district Feb. 15 to call on Ontario
Premier Kathleen Wynne to raise the provincial minimum
wage.
Politicians talk a lot about jobs, but there is one surefire
way Congress can help create millions of jobs according to a
new
report from the Economic Policy Institute: crack down on
currency manipulation.
When legislators in Pennsylvania decided to follow the lead
of Wis. Gov. Scott Walker and propose a bill to weaken the
state’s public sector unions, so many unionists showed up
at Harrisburg’s capitol rotunda on Jan. 28, many were
forced to stand outside in the freezing cold.
February
February Issue
With a New York Bank data center project, upgrades to a
General Motors auto plant and a new convention center job on
the books, leaders ofNashville Local 429
figured the time was right to move an electrical licensing law
through the Davidson County Council, a 40-member body that
covers the celebrated music city and surrounding suburbs.
For nearly 125 years, the IBEW has relentlessly fought to
improve on-the-job safety for electrical workers, and the
positive impact of the Brotherhood’s advocacy is
unquestionable.
The United Auto Workers is asking the National Labor
Relations Board to set aside the results of the certification
election at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga, Tenn. assembly
plant decided after a three-day vote Feb. 14.
On Valentine’s Day, while much of the nation faced
frigid temperatures, in Cape Coral, Fla., cancer patient
Frances Ballester wasn’t just struggling with a lack of
air conditioning. Her breathing machine, too, was shut down
after the local utility turned off her electrical power over
landlord’s unpaid bills.
Less than 200 Maine residents earn their living catching
lobsters. But nearly 20,000 state inhabitants work in call
centers, like legendary retailer L.L. Bean’s, employing
2,000.
Tens of thousands of people enjoy bass fishing. When they
are not on their favorite lakes, many watch fishing tournaments
on TV.
In a victory for American jobs and fair pay, the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld Department of Labor
wage rules requiring non-agricultural foreign workers be paid
prevailing wages.
The IBEW is asking regulators to carefully review the
proposed merger between Comcast and Time Warner.
Talk about a dirty job. TV host Mike Rowe is the voice for
Walmart’s new TV ad campaign promoting American
manufacturing
If you want to know where the jobs are, follow the sun.
That’s the conclusion of a new report from the Solar
Foundation, which says solar employment in 2013 grew by 20
percent over the previous year. That’s 10 times faster
than the national average employment growth rate.
Last week, we reported on Worcester, Mass., Local 96 member
Ekaterina Pashkevitch, who is in Sochi, Russia, playing
center for the Russian Women’s Olympic Hockey Team.
At any gathering of union members, you can always count on
one thing: T-shirts. Bearing the union’s colors and
announcing--often quite loudly and creatively –their
cities or towns, T-shirts help members express their pride.
The skewing of national income to the top 1 percent of the
country threatens upward mobility, which is the core of the
American dream, says a new study from the Illinois Economic Policy
Institute and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
School of Labor and Employment Relations.
For IBEW member Charles Horhn, the fight for civil rights,
voters’ rights and workers’ rights are one. In
honor of black history month, he told his story to the
AFL-CIO blog.
The Supreme Court of Canada struck a blow for pensioner
rights Jan. 30, reinstating a lower court’s decision that
a $43 million pension surplus that existed when Manitoba
Telephone was privatized in 1997 belonged exclusively to
retirees.
When most people think about solar power, New Jersey
doesn’t immediately come to mind. They might think of
thousands of photovoltaic panels sprawling across barren
stretches Southwestern desert. Solar, many people suppose,
thrives not in New Jersey but where New Jersey goes on
vacation.
Ekaterina Pashkevitch is taking to the ice in Sochi, Russia
this week, playing center for the Russian Women’s Olympic
Hockey Team.
You’ve heard the reasons why union manufacturing
can’t make it in America anymore: Union workers get paid
too much. American manufacturers can’t afford to build
here. Unions just get in the way of management.
Four project labor agreements between IBEW and PPL Electric
Utilities in Pennsylvania to upgrade miles of aging power lines
will soon require 400 to 500 outside journeymen linemen. This
is good news for Keystone State members and for travelers from
as far away as Alaska.
Vacaville, Calif. Local 1245 member Erick Varela was at the
White House Jan. 31 to introduce President Barack Obama at a
discussion with the heads of some of America’s top
corporations about combating long-term unemployment –
something the two-tour combat veteran is all too familiar
with.
Is the Show-Me State about to get a new motto? As in,
“Show me a smaller paycheck?”
The outlook for more than 50,000 American jobs in
manufacturing could be determined by a bill under consideration
in Congress that places more than a dozen significant new
restrictions on the export of civilian nuclear technology.
Two years ago, the Pennsylvania legislature, looking to keep
the state’s unemployment benefit fund solvent, came up
with a plan to alter an eligibility rule for collecting
benefits.
More than 30 freelancers working for Program Productions,
Inc., voted overwhelmingly to be represented by Boston Local
1228 in an NLRB-certified election Jan. 8.
Clergy, civil rights activists, union members and education
advocates from throughout North Carolina are converging on
Raleigh Feb. 8 for what is expected to be the largest ever
“Moral Monday” march.
January
January Issue
IBEW members who become electrical contractors have the
advantage of knowing not just a trade and an industry, but how
to unleash the powerful contributions of the men and women who
work on their projects.
Activists are calling on Congress to say no to fast-track
legislation that would take away its ability to negotiate the
biggest free-trade agreement since NAFTA – the
Trans-Pacific Partnership.
A new system to increase the capacity of transmission lines
is being used for the first time by members of Syracuse, N.Y.
Local 1249.
Who said it?
“[Unions] are a key driver in the creation of the
middle-class, for the reduction of work hours, paid vacation,
all sorts of benefits that we all enjoy.”
Contrasting the chilly stillness of winter with the energy
of a lineman in action, Casper, Wyo., Local 322 member Levi
Gossard’s photo won top honors in the 16th IBEW Photo
Contest.
The best apprenticeship programs depend upon students who
are well-prepared at the secondary education level for success
in the academic rigors of the electrical trade.
For 20 seasons, “American
Woodshop” has been a favorite show on PBS channels
across the U.S.
It’s an innovative idea in education – a
maritime-trade focused school for students in the 5th to 12th
grades.
Following a dramatic campaign that tapped the resources and
verve of workers and organizers, 78 employees at Sunoptics
– a Sacramento-based manufacturer of high-tech skylights
– are the newest members of Vacaville, Calif., Local
1245.
We support the Jan. 14 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the D.C. Circuit affirming the authority of the Federal
Communications Commission to regulate broadband access.
Like your weekend? Well if you live in Wisconsin, a pair of
Republican state legislators has an unpleasant surprise for
you.
A policy think tank has a new fact sheet that shows that
worker misclassification is a serious problem everywhere
– even in states with relatively strong labor
protections, like Oregon.
As Kansas City and Local 124 host the 24th
annual leadership conference of the Electrical Workers Minority
Caucus on Jan. 16, members will reflect upon the legacy of
one of the longest-standing minority caucuses in the labor
movement formed
40 years ago in the same city during the 30th IBEW
Convention.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers welcomes
the decision by the International Union of Operating Engineers
to formally re-affiliate with the Building and Construction
Trades Department, AFL-CIO.
One of the main arguments in favor of voting and engaging in
the political process is the importance of electing friends who
will appoint fair-minded judges. When we fail, important
gains won at the bargaining table or in legislation can be
negated by the courts.
The U.S. Senate narrowly voted to extend unemployment
benefits to the long-term unemployed Jan. 6. These expired at
the end of last year for 1.3 million workers who have been
unemployed for 26 weeks or longer.
Since 1950, New York State’s substantial hunger for
energy has historically been quenched by big servings of
coal-fired steam generation. And, since 1950, one of the
largest plants was Dunkirk Station, on the shore of Lake Erie,
55 miles southwest of Buffalo, employing members of Syracuse
Local 97.
Supporters of workers’ rights won an important legal
victory Nov. 21, after the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board
found contractor Magna Electric Corp. guilty of unfairly
terminating pro-union employees.
Verizon Business technicians in Andover, Maine, voted
overwhelmingly to join Augusta Local 2327 Dec. 11.
While some members of Congress continue to push for further
cuts to federal spending, one government watchdog group says
our elected leaders need to focus on a more pressing debt: the
industrial investment deficit.
From contemplative landscapes to jaw-dropping heights,
participants in this year’s IBEW photo contest showcased
an array of stunning images – displaying that our
membership’s talent extends far beyond the tool belt.
The lockout that forced the 225 members of Vancouver,
British Columbia, Local 213 out of their jobs at FortisBC is
over after nearly six months.
St. Louis Local 1 electricians Sylvester Taylor and Leon
Arties were ready for the cold weather, adhering to the advice
of all workers who brave the elements on their jobs: “You
can always put on more clothes than you need and take off what
you don’t.”