On August 1st, NECA sent a letter to IBEW Local 292 members encouraging them to resign from the union to continue working so that the union will have “no legal right to fine or discipline you.”

“You should be aware that a union has the right to fine or discipline its members who cross picket lines. However, you have the legal right to resign from the union, if you choose. In that case, the union has no legal right to fine or discipline you. We are not suggesting that you either resign from the union, or that you do not resign from the union. That choice is entirely up to you. This information is being given to you so that you will know all the facts in making your decision as to whether you wish to continue to work.”

This letter would later go on to make veiled threats against workers who should choose to strike under Belknap, Inc. v. Hale, 463 U.S. 491 (1983) which says, “Under federal labor law, where employees engage in an economic strike, the employer may hire permanent replacements whom he need not discharge even if the strikers offer to return to work unconditionally.” The NECA representative also mentioned under Minnesota state law, striking workers cannot file for unemployment benefits and that if workers strike they “will be ready and we will take care of our business”.

Tactics such as these by employers and contractors encouraging scabbing, resigning from unions, and threatening to hire replacements is a classic example of the bosses attempting to pit workers against each other and intimidate them to take bad contracts out of fear of repercussions. It was announced on August 2nd that over 300 union members had voted in favor of the strike following a 10-day cool-down period. However, a tentative agreement was reached and a vote was scheduled for Friday, August 16^th. Currently there is no update on the results of the vote.

The post IBEW Local 292 Workers Authorize Strike, Vote on Tentative Agreement first appeared on Labor Today.

“We’ve had guys that had rocks picked up and slung at them. We’ve had people brandishing AK-47s at them. It needs to stop. I’ve had several companies already tell me if it doesn’t stop, ‘We’re going to get in our trucks and drive off.’”

Ed Allen, IBEW Local 66 Business Manager

•             The list of incidents include:
• Social media posts threatening to shoot CenterPoint headquarters.
• Workers being threatened with guns and rocks and also being told they will be shot if they don’t work in a certain neighborhood.
• CenterPoint employees receiving angry phone calls and emails.

Such events have seen evacuations of approximately 100 linemen in areas where workers have been threatened, only delaying the restoration of power. One woman documented her brother’s experiences who traveled to the Houston area to help restore power. Besides many individuals leaving their families for an unclear amount of time, workers do not play a role in the decision making and are often waiting for directives from the chain of command. LUEL condemns acts of violence against workers and wish the linemen and utility workers restoring power a safe working environment free from any threats and intimidation.

The post IBEW Local 66 Urges an End to Violence Against Workers Amidst the Hurricane Beryl Recovery first appeared on Labor Today.

Formed in 1901, NECA is the collective bargaining unit for electrical contractors, often the same way any union would act for workers in a trade or industrial field. The language surrounding this business arrangement is often class collaborationism and believing that contractors have the same goal as the working class. After all, the IBEW views its relationship with NECA more like a partnership in the way it advocates for coming to terms “peacefully” without the need for strikes or work stoppage and also believes NECA is “indispensable,” even working to create the Council on Industrial Relations to further the illusion that management and workers have a common interest.

This is the result of the IBEW and the business unionism it advocates. Instead of organizing the trade along class lines, building working-class strength and using that as leverage, the union instead works to court contractors into joining in a partnership with the union, and in return, they will be supplied with laborers. What this creates is two organizations that represent the contractors because of the union’s dependence on organizing within both classes.

Herein lies the contradiction of the matter, workers cannot have the same goals as contractors because they operate from different classes. One group, the workers, is struggling for more wages, better benefits, better working conditions, and shorter hours. The other wishes for maximum profit. These basic facts put them at odds and make their relationship to each other not amicable. Yet, the IBEW pushes its members to believe that all class contradictions can be put to rest with enough dialogue. This deception manifests further in their phrase “paving the way for the middle class,” a term used to purposely distort class positions and create an illusion that workers have commonality with their bosses. 

Trade unionists, whether electricians, bricklayers, carpenters, etc. must always maintain their class interests and those of workers in America. The IBEW and other AFL-CIO affiliated unions have shown us the historical limits of craft unionism. Dividing trades into specific crafts eventually pits workers against each other. A new level of solidarity can be realized in advocating for the amalgamation of the building trades along industrial lines. An industrial union, where all trades are organized together, would increase working-class solidarity across trade lines leading to increased worker power. An increase in pension benefits is long overdue. Some local IBEW unions have abandoned pensions in favor of a 401k which only gives contractors even more power. Workers must learn how to mobilize and fight for better benefits by leveraging their power instead of waiting for leadership to make concessions. We cannot take a position of class collaborationism with the bosses, a position that only serves to weaken the American working-class movement.  We must continue to educate the masses on class-oriented trade unionism!

The post IBEW Negotiations with NECA over NEBF Pension a Reminder that Trade Unionism must be Class-Oriented! first appeared on Labor Today.