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Electricians to Rally to Take Back the Union.
By Mike Kerrigan, IBEW

A grass roots movement that grew out of discussions on an internet open forum is quickly gaining momentum on construction sites around the country. Dissident union
electrical workers from around the United States and Canada have planned a protest Rally, largely through virtual meetings inside internet chat rooms.

Dubbed the Taking Back Our Union Rally, the event will take place outside the IBEW International Headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Monday, April 14, 2003 from 10:00 to 2:00.

Support for the Rally has come primarily from the traveling brothers, who, while not exclusive to the IBEW, are most notably found among its ranks. From the time the telegraph wires were strung, electrical workers have traveled the roads to provide the manpower necessary to keep America growing. An increasing number of electrical workers are traveling these days, as it becomes more and more difficult to find any job, let alone work at home, due to the sagging economy.

Recognizing the ties that bind us to other rank and file movements in the building trades, such as the Carpenters for a Democratic Union and the Pipe Trades for a Democratic
Union, in Solidarity we now reach out to them. Trade unionists have always stood shoulder to shoulder when fighting for our rights; and so it should be when we tell our
International Officers and the world, "We're not going to take it anymore, we're 'taking back our union'".

Among other things those binding ties include hiring hall abuses by elected officials who feed their friends and starve their enemies, denial of full reciprocity of Taft-Hartley
Funds, the contractor's "right to reject," second class treatment of travelers, need for National Health and Prescription Drug Plans, loss of local autonomy to central authorities controlled by non-elected staff members, and an undemocratic system for electing top officers which has implanted perpetual dynasties in the marble palaces of Washington.

Recently a group of courageous reform minded activists in the IBEW have joined other rank and file movements in proposing a system to elect international officers by direct vote of the membership. This One Member One Vote (OMOV) proposal, an important agenda item of the Rally, seeks the support of fifteen local in order to win a referendum vote.

Since September, the members of several local unions have voted to support the amendment. Many locals however, have shown an unwillingness to bring the OMOV proposal to their membership because of the fear of reprisal from the International Office (I.O.). Isn't it ironic that a movement to hold the I.O. accountable to its members is being thwarted by the I.O.'s reputation of "paying a local union a visit?" Indeed it proves all the more reason to support the OMOV amendment.

It is no wonder then, that Rally organizers believe democratic reform is critical to the sustainability of the labor movement. In order to endure the present climate and survive into the future, unions must mobilize their rank and file. That is why we have invited the Association for Union Democracy (AUD), a champion for "union democracy," to help usher in the day. A day that will be a turning point, if not for our union, certainly for those activists that will be together on this momentous occasion.

Please join the hundreds of brave comrades assembling in Washington on April 14th to share their visions of union democracy and to stand up for their rights in the struggle to restore rank and file power in the building trades.

For the IBEW Rally website: http://www.angelfire.com/cantina/ibewrally/.
For links to OMOV amendment and other IBEW rank-and-file sites.
Search for articles on this site on the IBEW.
For the AUD Draft Bill of Rights for Building Trades Workers.

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