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IBEW'S
NATIONAL ORGANIZING CONFERENCE IN ATLANTA
This conference was designed to bring together organizers from across
the United States and Canada to discuss the victories and challenges
faced by organizers. New techniques and programs were discussed,
as well as recent legislative and administrative decisions that
affect organizing.
Representing Local #86 at the Conference were Business Manager Dave
Young, President Dan O'Mealia, Organizer Bob DeNoto and JATC Training
Director Joe Intini.
The theme of the gathering -- IBEW: The Right Choice.
The Fourteen hundred delegates
gathered in the vast ballroom of a downtown hotel to celebrate recent
gains, compare notes and answer the call to organize from IBEW International
President Edwin D. Hill, who told them, thanks to their ongoing
efforts, "We're back on track."
The opening discussion was about Florida, the site of an intense
two-year-old organizing drive, which is showing membership gains
of 12 percent, thanks to new job classifications, new organizing
methods and new ways of thinking that embrace change and innovation.
President Hill focused his speech on the steady progress made by
the IBEW in organizing over the past several years with the need
for continued hard work to increase the ranks of the Brotherhood.
"I see signs all around that we are headed in the right direction.
Instead of wallowing in darkness, we are turning on the lights.
We have evidence that more and more workers in our industries are
finding that the IBEW is the right choice," he said.
President Hill recounted how Florida was the site of the first IBEW
statewide initiative where new strategies and tactics were put to
use. He told the delegates that the same game plan was being
initiated in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Texas, Georgia and other
areas with increasing success.
President Hill spoke about new policies and new tools that are in
the works to help foster the IBEW's organizing goals. He said
that inaction on the grounds of being too busy is no longer an excuse
and that he will be visiting those locals who do not organize. "Life
is about to get a lot more interesting," he promised.
International Secretary-Treasurer Jon F. Walters reviewed with delegates
the successful course of the year's organizing campaigns which were
funded with special dues increase voted on by the last International
Convention. "You are proving every day that the direction set
by President Hill at our last Convention was the right one."
Walters said.
Tuesday was a day for seminars. Delegates could pick from
a variety of specialized sessions that went into detail about the
specifics of organizing. This in depth training is essential
to anyone who wants to be a successful organizer. Seminars
gave organizers the chance to sit in on either construction or professional
and industrial seminars and workshops, which offered step-by-step
game plans for organizers -- from target assessment to labor law
to filing National Labor Relations Board petition for an election.
Adapting to changing markets and with a renewed push for new members,
the IBEW has more members and more signatory contractors than last
year, said Construction Organizing Director Kirk Brungard.
By the end of this year, the union could exceed its previous record
number of construction members, possibly by the end of the month.
Professional and Industrial Organizing Director Brian Ahakuelo opened
Tuesday's Professional and Industrial seminars by referencing its
theme, "Turning the Corner in 2007."
"We have stopped the bleeding....We are now heading in the
direction of success," Ahakuelo said. He reviewed with
delegates the organizing victories in the last year, which have
added hundreds of new "BA" members to the Brotherhood
in every part of North America.
To build on those victories, Ahakuelo described the outline of an
ambitious organizing policy that will call on all locals to develop
and implement organizing plans for their area and industry.
Locals will soon be receiving more detailed information on the program.
IBEW International President Edwin D. Hill then held an open question
and answer session with delegates about the importance of industrial
organizing and the challenges locals face. "If we don't
build union density, we will disappear," Hill said. Delegates
offered suggestions to help with organizing, from using the Electrical
Worker to get news of organizing victories out to locals, to having
IBEW members talk to their neighbors and community about the union.
"The biggest sales people for the IBEW are our members,"
Hill said. "That's what built the IBEW -- the brothers
and sisters out in the field who talked up the union to their co-workers
and their community."
The final day of the 2007 IBEW Membership Conference brought a review
of last year's big organizing victories and a final send-off that
inspired and energized delegates to take up the challenge of organizing
with their own members.
"Our long efforts are finally beginning to bear fruit,"
said Special Assistant to the President for Membership Development
Buddy Satterfield during the opening session. Brian Ahakuelo,
Director of Professional and Industrial Organizing and Kirk Brungard,
Director of Construction Organizing updated delegates on organizing
victories in both construction and in industrial sectors.
Ahakuelo told delegates about the campaigns from Alberta to Texas
that are halting the decline in "BA" members. "The
tide is turning and we're winning victories in every jurisdiction
in the Brotherhood," Ahakuelo said.
In construction, the IBEW has seen a major growth in members and
signatory contractors thanks to the success of state organizing
initiatives, like in Florida and the Carolinas, Brungard said.
There are also major drives just starting to get underway in Michigan
and Arizona.
"At the end of the day, it is the talented local leaders and
organizers who are getting the job done," Burngard said.
In his final comments to the conference, Satterfield spoke with
determination, reminding delegates of the importance of the job
they've been assigned. "Make no mistake this is a war...the
decline of unions and the middle-class threatens the very foundations
of our democracy." But he added, "We have the means
and leadership to make it happen. I know you will take back
what you've learned and bring the good word of the Brotherhood and
organizing back to your membership."
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