Affiliate Reports A Look Back at 2005
| A Look Back at 2005 |
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December is traditionally a time to reflect on the past year. For IBEW 11, 2005 was one of the most politically active years we’ve had in decades. Campaigns dominated much of the year with hundreds of members volunteering time. We walked precincts, phone banked, visited jobsites, cooked food for campaigns. We had IBEW 11 members and staff on the cover of the LA Times, quoteed and interviewed in all the major LA papers. Reporters were seen talking to our members on English and Spanish language TV. Because of our high profile position, more elected officials have sought our endorsement and policy advice. We had the honor and privilege of AFL-CIO President John Sweeney recently visiting our training center in Commerce. He was not alone. We’ve had the last two Los Angeles mayors, LAUSD school board members, city councilmembers, assemblymembers, state senators, and members of Congress all tour our new facility. Our new training center is a showcase for the union electrical industry. With 1,600 apprentices and over 75 instructors we are now the second biggest Electrical apprenticeship program in the US. Local 11 is now also the second biggest group of construction electricians in the US. We have had the strongest work picture in decades and look to continue that trend next year. There were Project Labor Agreements signed on several major projects worth billions of dollars. The Organizing Dept. received an award for organizing the most new members in the construction branch of the IBEW. Organizing is something we do very well in Local 11. Business Manager Kropke has been a national leader in this respect. Local 11 is one of the few locals to gain market share and members in the last few years. We also saw our friend and brother Kirk Brungard hired by the International Union to lead the Construction branch organizing program. This is part of the new prominence we have in our industry. It has been a busy year and we are grateful for the work picture being as robust as it has been. Having said that, we must fight for tomorrow’s jobs today. No one has or ever given us anything, so we will continue to fight to maintain what we have. We must continue to use politics as a means to secure work, lead in our communities, and participate in our union even more in 2006. Let’s keep fighting and keep winning in 2006. - Kevin Norton, Organizer |
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