[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 12398-12399]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   HONORING THE CENTENNIAL OF LOCAL 309 INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF 
                           ELECTRICAL WORKERS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JERRY F. COSTELLO

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 9, 2002

  Mr. COSTELLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to join 
me in recognizing the 100th anniversary of the International 
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 309.
  The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (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. IBEW Local 309 will mark 
100 years of pride for its members who have been leaders in producing 
the most highly trained and skilled workers in the country.
  Various histories of labor record no attempts to organize electrical 
workers during the experimental days of electricity. In 1844 the first 
telegraph wires were strung between Washington and Baltimore carrying 
that famous message of Samuel Morse, ``What hath God wrought?'' This 
was the first electrical accomplishment of commercial importance. It 
changed the whole aspect of electricity, which most people believed to 
be an interesting but dangerous experiment. In 1848 the first telegraph 
station was built in Chicago. By 1861 a web of telegraph lines 
crisscrossed the United States, and in 1866 the transatlantic cable was 
laid. Linemen to string the wires became a necessity, and young men 
flocked eagerly to enter this new and exciting profession.

[[Page 12399]]

  With Edison's invention of the first successful incandescent lamp in 
1879, the general public became aware of the possibilities of 
electricity. The electric power and light industry was established with 
the construction of the Pearl Street Generating Station in New York in 
1882. Where once only a few intrepid linemen handled electricity for a 
thrill, many now appeared on the scene, and wiremen, too, seeking a 
life's work. As public demand for electricity increased, the number of 
electrical workers increased accordingly. The surge toward unionism was 
born out of their desperate needs and deplorable safety conditions.
  Beginning in 1870 many small, weak unions organized, and then 
disappeared. However, by 1880 enough telegraph linemen had organized to 
form their own local assembly and affiliate with the Knights of Labor. 
A few more locals soon organized, and a district council was formed. In 
1833 this council called a general strike against the telegraph 
companies. The strike failed and broke up the first unknown attempt to 
organize electrical workers. The urge to unite was strong, however; and 
another attempt was made in 1884, this time with a secret organization 
known as the United Order of Linemen. Headquarters for this union was 
in Denver, and the group attained considerable success in the western 
part of the United States.
  The nucleus of the 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. 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. 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.
  The founders of the union met in a small room above Stolley's Dance 
Hall in a poor section of St. Louis. 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 the first Constitution, general laws, ritual and emblem the 
well-known first grasping lightning bolts.
  Today the IBEW remains strong with approximately 750,000 members. The 
IBEW is united through more than 1,100 local unions established over 
the length and breadth of the United States and Canada. It is one of 
the largest unions in the world, and their 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.
  They stand where they are today because strong, intelligent and loyal 
men and women created, protected and preserved the 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. The IBEW's union heritage, vibrant and strong, 
has been passed on to people today. As IBEW 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 their healthcare 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.

  For 100 years, Local 309 has helped build and shape the metro-east as 
well as the surrounding counties of Southern Illinois with its 
expertise and craftsmanship. Local 309 is prepared to continue being a 
leader in the Electrical industry with advancements in training, 
organizing, market recovery and service to its members.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the 
Centennial of IBEW Local 309 and to congratulate their membership on 
the occasion of this anniversary and to wish the 1100 members and their 
families the very best for the future.

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