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History

               Honoring Our Past by Strengthening Our Future

The 10 men from five cities who met above Stolley's Dance Hall in St. Louis in 1891 had one objective: to make life better for themselves, their families and those around them. They and those who continued their work have made life better fro themselves and for hundreds of thousands of workers like you.

If we want to continue to enjoy the benefits of union representation, we must work toward increasing our numbers. A strong union movement is one of the major factors in protecting our future. It enables us to negotiate for and win good wages, benefits and working conditions.

The IBEW is committed not only to preserving the gains fought for by our ancestors in the labor movement, but to continually improving the quality of life for all workers.

"You can only make progress by fighting for progress." - George Meany

 

CONSTITUTION OF NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF
ELECTRICAL WORKERS
Preamble 1891

In this great age of inventions men are so apt to be dazed by the material splendor, which surrounds them that they forget the wageworker, whose labor has produced it, and as a consequence the men who have placed our country foremost in material and intellectual progress are today poorer than ever before. And in this respect none have suffered more than the Electrical Workers. The men who carried the telegraph lines from ocean to ocean, who wove the web of telephone wires in every city and town, who erected the lights that transformed night into day, who constructed the machines and instruments by which this has been accomplished, who risk their lives daily that the community may have light, news, easy communication and protection, have been reduced year by year from their rightful position among mechanics, both in wages and social standing, they are lower than want of a strict apprentice system the trade literally swarms with unskilled men. While everywhere in the blind senseless competition for work, cheapness has almost become the prevalent rule, to the detriment alike of employers and journeymen, to the injury and danger of the public, and to the ruin and degradation of our trade.

Therefore, we, the Electrical Workers of America, in convention assembled, having seen the necessity of a thorough organization of our trade, and believing that a common cause and universal sympathy should exist among all Electrical Workers, have formed this National Brotherhood, having for its object the elevation of our social and moral standing, not only among other branches of industry, but in the community at large, and the advancement of material interests of our craft, believing as we do, that it will serve our employers, while it also elevates our condition.

We earnestly invite all men belonging to our trade to come forward, join our ranks and help increase our number, until such time there shall be no man working at our trade outside our Brotherhood, and as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, so is a close attention to the duties of our Brotherhood the protection of our natural interests, a duty all the more compulsory on us, as our standing among our fellow mechanics demands that we shall not be backward in bringing our trade to an equal standing with any other in the land. And we know of no means to accomplish this than by organization. Therefore it is the imperative duty of every Electrical Worker to do all in his power to organize the men of his craft, and thus place ourselves in the material, social and moral position the dignity of our trade entitles us to.






Page Last Updated: Dec 04, 2023 (11:39:37)
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I.B.E.W. Local Union 266
1650 N. 36th Street
Phoenix, AZ 85008
  602-275-6222

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