IBEW Local 490 - Organizer's Notebook

Nonunion Electricians

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 14:51:45 -0400

The more work we have the simpler it is to organize. There are many nonunion electricians who would love to join the union. A 2006 poll finds that, given a choice between a union and no representation at all, 80 percent of nonunion workers would vote for a trade union. And 90 percent of unionized workers would vote to keep their union, contrary to what we might read, written by our competition. Some of these men are good electricians and deserve what we have to offer. Our membership needs to continue to grow in order to survive us. It's very important we keep in mind - if we do not believe in organizing we do not believe in the IBEW. Lets keep up the good work in spreading the word of GOOD Wages and Benefits. Joe Howard

Job Actions

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 10:16:36 -0400

We have been involved with quite a few hospital job actions in the past year. A lot of us quench when we here of these, or even see them happen.
This is one of few ways that we raise the level of awareness to the public, CEO, and trustees of these hospitals for our cause.
We do contact the hospitals prier to the demonstration to discuss our concerns. Sometimes they set up a meeting for us to attend, and other times ignore our request until they here we are coming to demonstrate.
We are not allowed in the decision making process with the trustees when they are making healthcare decisions, although we pay into the large insurance pool that allows them to reap the benefits of high cost insurance to put on their expansion and receive their big paychecks.
This is why we try to vote for candidates that favor our cause, and we express our first amendment rights on these job actions to raise the level of awareness to our community.
We would like to thank all of our members who have participated in these job actions.


                 Special Thanks To!!!

Job Action

Mon, 05 Feb 2007 14:33:54 -0500

On Monday Jan. 22 we had a great job action take place at the Frisbie Hospital in Rochester.
Hospitals in the state of NH are putting on major additions costing millions of dollars.
A large portion of the money hospitals receive comes from us, the insurance payers.
But when the project is put out to bid no one seems to be concerned that the construction workers are not provided healthcare coverage.
These same hospitals write off $15mil a year in uncompensated healthcare for the uninsured, and they don't think they play any part in the raising cost of health insurance.
You and I pay for that $15mil in the cost of high premiums.
Our contractors who lost that job were higher; probably do to the cost of our health insurance, how ironic…

That’s why we stand in front of these hospitals and hand out fliers to the public, residents, contractors, trustees and CEO's informing them of the importance of hiring contractors who provide healthcare coverage.
It's unfortunate and sometimes uncomfortable that we have to participate in these types of job actions, but it's also important to remember that we are respectable to the people and the community around us.

Union vs Non-Union

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 14:22:30 -0500

In the last couple of months some of our members have been inquiring about employment with CLP.
CLP is a non-union hiring agency who solicits workers to be employed by non-union electrical contractors.
These non-union electrical contractors pay substandard wages, no provided health care coverage and a worthless retirement plan.
These same contractors bid against our UNION contractors who, PROVIDE living wages, adequate health care coverage and a decent retirement for you to live on, when its time.
If we provide workers for the non-union sect, we are only hurting ourselves. I'm sure our Union Contractors would love to bid these projects at the non-union rate.
Would you go to work for your signatory contractors at that rate?
Ultimately these meat market hiring agencies continue to destroy our electrical industry.

Salting

Thu, 30 Nov 2006 16:33:05 -0500

"Salting" refers to paid union organizers who apply for jobs for the sole purpose of organizing nonunion workforces.

"Salting" is the deliberate act of getting a job at a specific workplace with the intent to organize a union.

SALTING IS A LAWFUL AND SUCCESSFUL ORGANIZING TOOL.
“Salting represents an essential method for Unions to communicate their message of fair wages and decent fringe benefits to unorganized workers. This organizing tactic has been upheld by the United States Supreme Court and the National Labor Relations Board. Under current federal law, Unions have no other meaningful access to these unrepresented workers. By contrast, anti-Union employers spend considerable amounts of time and money every year on persuading their employees that Union representation is somehow against their interest". When we're out there working with the nonunion we need to continue communicating this message, not just with words but with action…

Organizing Efforts

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 15:37:39 -0400

We would like to congratulate the latest electrical contractor who has signed with us!!!

FM Electric:

Owned by, Andrew Fletcher & Dave Miller

Andrew and Dave have been working very hard growing their business so they could become a strong union contractor. They have been aggressively bidding jobs in hopes to one day employ our people.

All of us in L.U. 490 should be very proud of all the member/contractors who have remembered their roots, and signed with us for a stronger I.B.E.W. future.

Don’t forget the next time you see these guys out there working to congratulate them for being "a part of..."