Coming back from St. Louis and our 39th International Convention we are re-energized and re-committed to the future of the IBEW. As we start the next 125 years, we need to ask ourselves if are we in a position to continue to progress or have we become too complacent. Have we had so much success that we forgot what it took to get this far and what it will take to hold on to the gains that we have made. We have a great responsibility right now, the future of organized labor is in our hands. We must not fail, for ourselves, our families and for future generations of working Americans.
We all want to continue to enjoy the benefits of what it has meant to be a part of the middle-class. The ability to provide for our families, own a home, send our children to college is the result of our collective strength. A strong labor movement and effective unions have provided that path and we must not look back. Our founders and those that joined their ranks faced severe hardships and worked under deplorable conditions in a dangerous, fledgling electrical industry. Because electrical workers organized themselves, they were able to make improvements in their wages and demanded safe working conditions.
Workers sacrificed and put themselves at risk from employers that could have cared less about the welfare of their employees. It was the union and only because they were smart enough or desperate enough to organize that the workers were successful in turning the tide. They didn’t have a lot to lose but they had much to gain and they did it against tremendous odds.
We enjoy the gains that were made by others long gone. Gains that have endured for one reason and one reason alone, that the union remained strong and the commitment of our members to stay organized and to fight together. We have never wavered. If we don’t remain committed to this union and each other we will move so far backwards so fast you won’t know what hit you. Our industry is flooded with electrical workers less skilled than us that are driving the high standards we enjoy into the ground. We must organize those that are being exploited under pressure to accept low pay, few benefits and unsafe working conditions. That is what we have to look forward to if we fail.
Our members have suffered prolonged periods of unemployment and have sacrificed to share the work opportunity and to make sure we all maintain our medical coverage. Together we continued to move forward. If we break ranks it will be everyone for themselves. To all the naysayers that want to knock our organization because of some petty grievance or a slight I ask how well will you fare when there is no union, how much are you going to work for and how will you ever retire in dignity on slave wages. We are lucky to be part of an organization the has provided so much for so many and when you collect that paycheck and go home to your family knowing the benefits that your membership in this union has provided for them, keep knocking the union or better yet never contribute or make any effort to protect it and when it’s gone you’ll get exactly what you deserve.
Why would you not support the organization that supports you? Greed probably, what else could it be, indifference, ignorance? This election is by far the most important election in your lifetime. The next president will appoint not only the next justice to the Supreme Court but possibly 2 or 3 more. If the court turns conservative by a 7-2 majority, the labor movement won’t have a chance. We will be set back for another 30 years or more. A Trump presidency will guarantee a National Right to Work law that will cripple labor unions and as our unions disappear so will our political strength and all of the protections that they have brought for millions of working men and women. Sadly it appears that Harry Van Arsdale Jr.’s dire prediction that he made on his death-bed just before he passed in 1986 is about to become a reality. Harry lived to see the success of organized labor and the turn for the worse as Ronald Reagan set America on the path for a union-free environment He said, “that the labor movement will be stronger 100 years from now; but before that happens workers are going to lose everything before they decide to fight back.” And that brothers and sisters is exactly what will happen if you vote for the wrong person for the wrong reason. Everything and I mean everything that we cherish is at stake in this election. Every single union member should ask yourself this question before you vote and you need to vote, why would I risk everything?
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