Business Manager’s Message — June 2021

Moving Local 11 Forward

Rusty and I are honored by the trust you have placed in our leadership and for your vote of confidence in the recent Local 11 election. Now it’s time to put the election behind us, roll up our sleeves and get to work.

I have always been straight with you. And I will continue to be. I pledge to be the Business Manager for all of you. We all want the best for our membership. Safety on the job, quality time with our families, good wages and enough work and opportunities for us all to thrive. By working together, we will be unstoppable and will bring the local to ever greater heights.

We have big challenges ahead in the coming months – organizing more LA-area contractors, making sure green jobs are union jobs, and working with the Governor’s office to defeat this anti-union recall campaign effort with funding and putting our member-power on the streets. I just returned from Sacramento where I was re-elected Secretary/Treasurer of the California State Association of Electrical Workers – an organization that represents over 95,000 IBEW members around the state. At the conference, we pledged to work with the Governor on many initiatives that will increase job opportunities for our members. Stay tuned.

We also have good news on upcoming fun Local 11 activities as the state continues to open for business. We’re in the midst of planning our annual picnic this October, and we all look forward to celebrating with our IBEW brothers and sisters together in one of the really family-friendly events of the year. Watch the website and upcoming e-news blasts for additional news.

I’m also pleased to welcome our new Apprenticeship Coordinator, Alton Wilkerson to his new position working with the local’s newest members. Alton had previously been an IBEW 11 organizer, and gladly stepped up to his new position when it became available. Alton will be a breath of fresh air to the apprenticeship program, and already has a very good rapport with the membership at ETI. He’s looking forward to beefing up the processes and procedures and making the flow of information easier and more tech savvy. You can read more about his vision for the program in the article here.

Green Jobs

Looking to future job opportunities, IBEW 11 will soon be launching a campaign to ensure that green jobs are union jobs, and that our IBEW members will be on the front lines as clean energy and climate change dominate the news. As electricians, we are poised to be part of the massive investment in America’s energy infrastructure that will boost our jobs and help create a better, more livable planet for our children and our communities.

We will be working with our elected leaders in Sacramento and in Washington, DC to ensure that all these new green energy jobs are good union jobs, abiding by prevailing wage laws and encouraging the use of Project Labor Agreements. We will be reaching out to you for your help in promoting the clean-energy economy of tomorrow.

Three years ago, we pledged to move our local forward and create a more open, transparent union. And we have done just that: securing better health and pension plans, bringing in more jobs, opening new District dispatch halls, more allocation dollars in your pocket, better vacation funds access, building relationships with our brothers and sisters in EAA and negotiating both the best and largest monetary electrical contracts in IBEW 11 history. We have also beefed up our communications, more stories about our members on the job and the issues you care about.

We are proud of our record of generating 8.8-million-man hours for our Inside Wiremen, and 1.6-million-man hours for our Sound & Communications Unit. Even our CE/CW’s enjoyed over 600,000 hours this past year – all in the middle of a worldwide pandemic.

We want to hear from you about your concerns. Call us at the office. Or look for me coming to visit your jobsite in the coming months. Jobsite visits are my favorite time of the week. I’ll be there, answering your questions and hearing you out.

We have big plans for the next three years. Now, it’s time for action! Thank you again, Brothers and Sisters.

In solidarity,

In Solidarity,Joël Barton
IBEW 11 Business Manager

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