IBEW LU 363 - History of the IBEW
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The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

The IBEW was founded on November 28, 1891 in St. Louis, Missouri by a group of ten delegates representing 286 members employed in the electrical industry.

The IBEW is as old as the commercial use of electricity itself. It is the oldest, as well as the largest, electrical union in the world. As public demand for electricity increased, the number of electrical workers increased accordingly and the surge toward unionism was born out of their desperate needs and deplorable safety conditions.

In the 1890s, the work was hard; the hours long; the pay small. It was common for a lineman to risk his life on the high lines 12 hours a day in any kind of weather, seven days a week, for the meager sum of 15 to 20 cents an hour. Two dollars and 50 cents a day was considered an excellent wage for wiremen, and many men were forced to accept work for $8.00 a week.

Since the humble beginnings of the IBEW in 1891, the IBEW has prided itself on the participation of its members and the democracy afforded to affiliated local unions. Locals establish their own bylaws, general rules and policies in concert with the IBEW constitution, The locals have a full autonomy in the election of their full-time officers, table officers and executive boards and they negotiate collective agreements with their employers. The local unions are encouraged to set their agendas for the betterment of their membership and the IBEW.

Today, the IBEW represents 725,000 members internationally. The first Canadian local - IBEW Local 93 (now Local Union 586) - was organized in Ottawa on December 20, 1899 and the IBEW has 89 locals representing 61,500 members in every province and territory and is very diverse.

We represent members in many industries, such as utilities, manufacturing, construction, telecommunications, cablevision, radio and television, shipyards, railroads, sound and alarm, appliance repair, motor shops, sign shops, pulp and paper mills, mining and government.




A Brief History of IBEW

Beginning of the Brotherhood

The nucleus of our Brotherhood formed in 1890. An exposition was held in St. Louis that year featuring "a glorious display of electrical wonders." Wiremen and linemen from all over the United States flocked to Missouri's queen city to wire the buildings and erect the exhibits which were the "spectaculars" of their era.

The men got together at the end of each long workday and talked about the toil and conditions for workers in the electrical industry. The story was the same everywhere. The work was hard; the hours long; the pay small. It was common for a lineman to risk his life on the high lines 12 hours a day in any kind of weather, seven days a week, for the meager sum of 15 to 20 cents an hour. Two dollars and 50 cents a day was considered an excellent wage for wiremen, and many men were forced to accept work for $8.00 a week.

There was no apprenticeship training, and safety standards were nonexistent. In some areas the death rate for linemen was one out of every two hired, and nationally the death rate for electrical workers was twice that of the national average for all other industries.

No wonder electrical workers of the Gay '90s sought some recourse for their troubles. A union was the logical answer; so this small group, meeting in St. Louis, sought help from the American Federation of Labor (AFL). An organizer named Charles Cassel was assigned to help them and chartered the group as the Electrical Wiremen and Linemen's Union, No. 5221, of the AFL.

A St. Louis lineman, Henry Miller, was elected president of that union. I.O. Archives photos show him to be a tall, handsome man with broad, powerful shoulders; keen blue eyes; and reddish-brown hair. To him and the other workers at that St. Louis exposition, it was apparent their small union was only a starting point. Isolated locals could accomplish little as bargaining agencies. Only a national organization of electrical workers with jurisdiction covering the entire industry could win better treatment from the corporate empires engaged in telephone, telegraph, electric power, electrical contracting and electrical-equipment manufacturing.

Early Leaders Set Pace

Henry Miller was a man of remarkable courage and energy. The first Secretary of our Brotherhood, J. T. Kelly, said of him, "No man could have done more for our union in its first years than he did." Miller packed his tools and traveled to many cities of the United States to work at the trade. Everywhere he went, he organized the electrical workers he met and worked with into local unions.

Although the going was rough in those early days, Miller seemed impervious to personal discomforts and endowed with boundless energy. He "rode the rails" with his tools and an extra shirt in an old carpetbag. Many times the receiving committee on his arrival in a city was a ``railroad bull" a policeman who chased him and tried to put him in jail for his unauthorized mode of travel.

Nevertheless, a great deal was accomplished in that first year. Locals chartered by the AFL and other electrical unions were organized in Chicago, Milwaukee, Evansville, Louisville, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Toledo, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Duluth, Philadelphia, New York and other cities.

A first convention was called in St. Louis on November 21, 1891. Ten delegates attended, representing 286 members. The 10 men to whom our Brotherhood owes its life and the cities they represented are:


The founders of our union met in a small room above Stolley's Dance Hall in a poor section of St. Louis. It was a humble beginning. The handwritten report of that First Convention in our Archives records Henry Miller's thoughts:

"At such a diminutive showing, there naturally existed a feeling of almost despair. Those who attended the Convention will well remember the time we had hiding from the reporters and trying to make it appear that we had a great delegation."

The name adopted for the organization was National Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The delegates to that First Convention worked night and day for seven days drafting our first Constitution, general laws, ritual and emblem the well-known fist grasping lightning bolts. The Convention elected Henry Miller as first Grand President and J. T. Kelly as Grand Secretary-Treasurer.


The First Constitution

The Preamble to the first Constitution included the goals which motivated our founders and the far-reaching, sensible, unselfish Objects which have been retained, except for slight changes in language, by every Convention of the IBEW:

"The objects of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers are: to organize all workers in the entire electrical industry in the United States and Canada, including all those in public utilities and electrical manufacturing, into local unions; to promote reasonable methods of work; to cultivate feelings of friendship among those of our industry; to settle all disputes between employers and employees by arbitration (if possible); to assist each other in sickness or distress; to secure employment; to reduce the hours of daily labor; to secure adequate pay for our work; to seek a higher and higher standard of living; to seek security for the individual; and by legal and proper means to elevate the moral, intellectual and social conditions of our members, their families and dependents, in the interest of a higher standard of citizenship."

The new national union was penniless and had to be financed with a $100 loan from the St. Louis local. ``This was the time and manner in which the Brotherhood was born," wrote Charles P. Ford, a longtime International Secretary of the IBEW, commenting on the birth of our union. ``There was little to encourage this small group of dedicated and determined men. The opposition to unions at that time was active and bitter. The obstacles seemed insurmountable. Hearts less courageous would have given up in despair." A motion to affiliate with the AFL passed at the First Convention. The AFL granted a charter on December 7, 1891, which gave the NBEW sweeping jurisdiction over electrical workers in every branch of the trade and industry.


A Determined Group

The handicaps suffered by the new union no money, bitter resistance by employers to organizing were counterbalanced by the vigor and determination of the members. Henry Miller was tireless in his efforts. In the first year of the Brotherhood's existence, he is said to have visited every major city in the East, from New Orleans to Boston. Other officers of the union organized in the same way, spending their own time and funds. Their only rewards: the satisfaction of enlarging the organization and the knowledge they were working toward wiping out injustice and creating a better life for all who sought a living from electricity.

When the Second Convention met in Chicago in 1892, the Brotherhood had 43 locals chartered; nearly 2,000 members; and $646.10 in the treasury. Henry Miller and J.T. Kelly were reelected Grand President and Grand Secretary-Treasurer.


Unity Despite Difficulty

The new union was destined for setbacks, however. Of course, our inexperienced pioneers made mistakes in those early days. The men who attended our first Conventions had a dream of brotherhood. They were idealists, and from the very beginning they believed that benefits and brotherhood went hand in hand. They set the per capita to be paid to the ``Grand Office" low only 10 cents a month per member. They assumed this small sum would cover all their obligations and expenses. Then they established not only a $50 funeral benefit payment for members, but also a $25 funeral benefit for wives of members.

All obligations of those first years were met. Secretary Kelly's accounts are specific; his ledger, written in longhand, is practically the sole record of the early years in the history of the IBEW. Many electrical workers died in those early days, but the widow of every man in good standing received a death benefit. Thus, the Brotherhood headed down the road to bankruptcy.

The mistakes were overshadowed by two important innovations. At the 1892 Convention women who were employed as telephone operators became members of the union. Four years later, when only one organizer was on our payroll, a second, Mrs. Mary Honzik of St. Louis, was added. Our Brotherhood was the first union to have a woman organizer on its staff. The Second Convention also authorized publication of our Journal. The first Journal, called The Electrical Worker, was issued on January 15, 1893. The magazine has been published continuously ever since.

From the earliest days our Brotherhood recognized the importance of communication within the union. In an early convention report, J.T. Kelly, appealing for financial support for the Journal, said, ``We could not have managed to keep our Brotherhood intact through these early years if it were not for our magazine."




The History of IBEW

New Horizons

In 1959 a full-time director of skill improvement training was added to our I.O. staff. A complete industrial electronics course was developed; and by 1970 more than 100,000 journeymen were taking or had taken skill improvement courses.

In June 1959 a Safety Department with a full-time director was established at the International Office.

In autumn 1961 our Brotherhood developed a course called Industrial Atomic Energy Uses, Hazards and Controls; and institutes were conducted to train instructors in this field so important to the welfare of our members and the public.

Delegates to our 27th Convention in Montreal, Quebec, in 1962 voted to raise our per capita tax from 90 cents to $1.50.

Our Diamond Jubilee Convention was held in September 1966 in St. Louis, where the Brotherhood was born 75 years earlier. Delegates voted to create a Strike Assistance Fund, in addition to the Legal Defense Fund. "A"-member delegates voted to strengthen the IBEW pension program by increasing payments to the PBF and improving benefits. In its diamond jubilee year, the IBEW also began its Founders’ Scholarship Program by awarding eight scholarships in electrical engineering to IBEW journeyman electricians.

President Freeman told the 75th Anniversary Convention:

"Our union stands tall today. ... The dream our founders had of bringing dignity and security to Electrical Workers is a staunch reality. ... We can take pride in how far we have come, but there is no time to rest on our laurels."

Two years later President Freeman retired from office, after 13 years of dedicated service in that position. President Freeman was determined that the IBEW remain strong and continue to grow after he handed over the reins of leadership. So, he retired as President while still an active and effective leader to assure an orderly transfer of administration. He served as President Emeritus until his death on May 13, 1983.


Changes Instituted

Charles H. Pillard, an IEC member, was appointed by the IEC to succeed Brother Freeman on October 1, 1968. Early on, President Pillard realized the growing importance of residential construction. Among his many accomplishments from the 1960s through the 1980s are the promotion of the Coordinated Residential Organizing Program (CROP), the organization of the construction industry and the development of imaginative programs which provided better service to our members. His agreement with NECA to increase the employer contribution to the NEBF from 1 percent of payroll to 3 percent provided a sound basis for improvements in pension benefits.

At the 29th Convention of our Brotherhood in Seattle in 1970, President Pillard was unanimously elected International President. The 29th Convention's theme, "Exploring New Horizons in Electricity," reflected the strides the IBEW had made. Since the Convention of 1966, 101 new locals had been chartered; more than 45,000 members were receiving pensions; and wages were increasing steadily.

IBEW membership reached one million in October 1972. Another milestone occurred on December 1, 1973, when the new headquarters building of the IBEW in Washington, D.C., was dedicated. The 30th Convention in Kansas City, Missouri, in September 1974, was the first Convention at which the delegates (2,970) represented more than one million members.


International Office Modernization Begins

After 22 years of dedicated service to the Brotherhood as International Secretary, Joseph D. Keenan retired in 1976. This great humanitarian faithfully served not only the IBEW, but the entire trade union movement at home and abroad. Early in his career Brother Keenan realized organized labor needed to become active in the education and registration of voters. These people could then vote for public officials who understand and support social and economic issues vital tworking peoplele. He served with distinction as director of Labor's League for Political Education, which evolved into the Committee on Political Education (COPE). Secretary Emeritus Keenan died on July 22, 1984.

Ralph A. Leigon was appointed to replace Brother Keenan as International Secretary in 1976 and was elected to that position in 1978. Brother Leigon initiated the reorganization of the office of the International Secretary, introduced the latest in modern office techniques and software design, and initiated the conversion to computers in all departments of the International Office. After serving with distinction, Brother Leigon retired, effective October 1, 1985, and was named International Secretary Emeritus. Jack F. Moore, International Vice President of the 11th District, was appointed to complete the unexpired term of International Secretary.

Delegates to the 31st Convention held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 1978 approved monthly per capita increases from $2.00 to $3.00 effective January 1, 1979; to $3.50 effective January 1, 1980; and to $4.00 effective January 1, 1981.

The per capita payment was increased to $5.00 per month effective January 1, 1983, by action of the delegates to the 32nd Convention held in Los Angeles, California, in 1982.

International President Pillard retired in August 1986 and was named International President Emeritus. J.J. Barry, International Vice President of the Third District, was appointed to succeed him on August 25, 1986.

Delegates to the 33rd Convention in Toronto, Ontario, in 1986 elected J.J. Barry as International President and Jack F. Moore as International Secretary by acclamation. The delegates to the 33rd Convention also voted to raise the per capita tax to $6.00 effective January 1, 1987.


100 Years of Service Celebrated

Delegates to the 34th and Centennial Convention in St. Louis in October 1991 increased the per capita to $7.00 effective January 1, 1992, and to $8.00 effective January 1, 1994. The delegates also amended the Constitution to provide for a Convention every five years. This change should reduce the overall costs of conducting the Convention and enable more local unions to send delegates to the Convention.

Before the opening of the 34th Convention, a Centennial Exposition, open to the general public as well as delegates, their families and I.O. staff, commemorated our first 100 years, celebrated our union’s progress and envisioned our next 100 years of service. The IBEW Archives was re-created at the entrance to the Exposition, the first time these artifacts have been displayed outside the International Office. An estimated 10,000 people visited more than 100 booths and exhibits provided by IBEW employers and union service providers. In addition to educating visitors about the IBEW, the electrical industry and the trade union movement, the Exposition revealed the numerous ways in which our union touches the lives of hundreds of millions of people across the United States and Canada.

At the 35th Convention in Philadelphia, in September 1996, the International President and International Secretary were elected by electronic voting. Electronic voting was employed also to determine the vote on some of the proposed amendments to the IBEW Constitution. A $1.00 increase in the per capita tax to be effective no later than January 1, 2001, won the approval of the delegates. This increase may be implemented by the IEC prior to 2001 if budget projections indicate a deficit. Delegate action also directed the International President to appoint a committee to study the IBEW’s structure and Constitution and recommend changes to ensure the Brotherhood’s vitality in the 21st century. Any constitutional changes the committee recommends were to be voted on by referendum.

Effective April 1, 1997, International Secretary Moore retired and was named International Secretary Emeritus. President Barry appointed, and the IEC confirmed, Third District International Vice President Edwin D. Hill to complete the unexpired term of International Secretary.

Not long after reaching the pinnacle of one million members, our membership began a steady decline. Our Brotherhood's organizing efforts, although significant, could not keep pace with the erosion of jobs in almost all industries caused by anti-union sentiments, foreign competition and technological change.

The 1980s brought a conservative trend in the United States led by right-wing zealots whose primary purpose was to increase the profits and wealth of the already-wealthy. To show his strength of purpose in the early stages of his administration in Washington, U.S. President Reagan fired every air traffic controller who participated in a strike called by their union, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization. After executing the union, Reagan forbade hiring of the strikers to any federal government job. This initial incident set the stage for an anti-union philosophy that dominated labor-management relations until 1992.

Conservative thinkers also gained power in Canada and achieved significant inroads in crippling the labor movement. In both countries wages stagnated and membership declined. In the United States the NLRB, through its supervision of certification elections, had a ruinous effect on organizing. The Department of Labor became dedicated more to protecting business interests than to ensuring the rights of workers and their unions. Many of these businesses employed union-busting consultants to defeat union organizers and to decertify bargaining units.

Corporate executives’ salaries soared to obscene heights while workers suffered continual rollbacks in wages and even loss of their healthcare benefits. Unemployment grew as our domestic industries seemed unable to compete with their foreign counterparts. The manufacture of entire classes of electronic products moved offshore while still bearing the well-recognized names of American corporations. This deindustrialization, plus technological change, caused the loss of tens of thousands of jobs for our manufacturing members. In 1982 the court-ordered divestiture of AT&T led to a decline in our telephone-industry membership, including devastating losses in manufacturing plants operated by that company.

During the 1980s nonunion electrical contractors gained a stronger foothold, eroding membership in our construction branch. While a proactive organizing campaign, instituted by President Barry, began to turn these losses around, the economy in the United States and Canada killed a promising building boom and inhibited membership growth.

These factors caused our membership to decline to fewer than 800,000 by the early 1990s. Trying to alter this course, President Barry instituted a progressive organizing program in every branch of our Brotherhood.

Pundits, politicians and the general public have characterized the 1980s as the decade of greed. The beneficiaries of the largess of Presidents Reagan and Bush can hardly disprove this characterization, considering the workers who were left unemployed, many reduced to poverty and homelessness, by their political experiment of supply-side economics that made the wealthy even wealthier.


What of Our Future?

Today we remain strong with approximately 750,000 members. The number of local unions within the Brotherhood has been reduced because of the need to amalgamate smaller local unions when it appears that better representation of the membership could be achieved. Still, we are united through more than 1,100 local unions established over the length and breadth of the United States and Canada. We are one of the largest unions in the world, and our wages and working conditions are second to none in any comparable field. IBEW members enjoy better health and welfare coverage, improved pensions, longer vacations and more holidays, as well as a shorter workweek.

We stand where we are today because strong, intelligent and loyal men and women created, protected and preserved our union. They cared about what happened to them and to their children. They remained loyal to the organization that gave them protection and strength.

Each era writes its own history. Our union heritage, vibrant and strong, has been passed on to us. Where we go from here depends upon our Brothers and Sisters today. As International President Barry said during the opening of the 35th International Convention:

"We in the IBEW want a world where a man can go to a safe workplace, earn a fair wage and use his skills to do a good day's work. We want a world where a woman can develop her talents to the fullest and have a wealth of opportunity before her ... where workers can retire with dignity, with the security of knowing the health care is affordable and available ... where children are treated like the precious treasure they are—nurtured, educated and loved so they can carry the torch into the future, ... and where workers can organize and bargain collectively to achieve all these things in fairness and in justice."


Beginning The New Century

In early 2001, our country and our union faced were about to experience trying times. With the retirement of President Jack Barry, the IBEW International Executive Council appointed Edwin D. Hill to fill the remainder of President Emeritus Barry's term. The following are President Hills first comments to the membership after that appointment: At a time like this, it is easy to spout words like "challenge" and "honor" and "working together." And those words are fitting for the occasion. But there is more to be said than the usual nice phases.

The IEC has vested me with a tremendous responsibility, one I accept humbly and sincerely. To be the International President of the IBEW means hundreds of thousands of the finest trade union men and women in the world are looking to me for leadership. While IBEW locals and local union members have always taken care of business in their respective communities, we have also built a great International organization that is a tremendous force for good in the lives of our members and all working people. Never before have I quite appreciated the full meaning of the phrase, "The buck stops here."

From the courage and vision of our first president, Henry Miller in 1891 to the administration of Jack Barry, the IBEW has been blessed with strong, courageous leaders who have guided the union though struggles for recognition, depression, war, prosperity and constant technological change. The first task of any new president is to uphold that legacy and build upon it, just as President Emeritus Barry and those who went before him left the IBEW stronger for their efforts.

I am one of you. I am a straightforward guy from Western Pennsylvania who has never forgotten the values of family, loyalty, equality and hard work that I learned there. Some leaders in Washington revel n hobnobbing the powerful. I recognize the importance of a strong presence in the halls of power, but I know that any power we wield comes from our strength in numbers and our solidarity as working people. We must protect our voice and our ability to fight for what is right, whether it be through collective bargaining or political action.

We have a lot of work to do, sisters and brothers. The boom times of the 1990s are fading. Technology continues to change the nature of our jobs and our very lives. We can adapt and help shape the changes affecting our world, or we can be shaped, and ultimately defeated, by them.

I pledge to all of you here and now that we will continue our reinvigorated commitment to organizing and training, and we will together find answers for the new and unprecedented problems we confront. As President, there will be one guiding principle that affects all my decisions; to do what is best for the members.We will meet that challenge. We will move forward. And we will make the 21st century the best yet for our great Brotherhood.

Ed D. Hill, International President


President Hill Elected President of the IBEW at the 2001 Convention

Edwin D. Hill was unanimously elected International President by the IBEW Delegates at the 36th International Convention held in San Francisco, California. He showed courage and leadership through a convention week that was shaken by the cowardly attacks on our country on September 11, 2001. He continues to lead the IBEW today and has made his legacy with a call for a "Code of Excellence" from all IBEW members. He has led by example and wants every IBEW member to also be an example of what a dependable, reliable, safe and trained worker should be. He has also led us politically through tough and sometimes anti-union Presidential and Congressional Administrations that have attempted to weaken our country's Labor laws. Through his leadership, the IBEW is on the march toward becoming a stronger and bigger International Union that is looked upon as a leader in the Labor community in every part of this country.