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."