Paying Tribute to Our Veterans

Lonnie R. Stephenson
International President

This Nov. 11 we’ll pause to remember our two nations’ veterans and their service to us and to our countries. These brave men and women have led the fight for freedom at home and around the world, and we owe them our deepest gratitude.

But I think we owe them even more.

Our veterans deserve the opportunities that a brotherhood like the IBEW can provide. That’s not just first-rate training and jobs; it’s also important that we help replace that sense of solidarity and purpose they had in the military.

These men and women already know a thing or two about working with their hands, and they thrive on the kind of teamwork and camaraderie that makes a union worksite tick. The hundreds of thousands of veterans who’ve been a part of this union over our 128 years have proven they’re a perfect fit.

We’re already working to make sure veterans have a path into our apprenticeships through our Veterans Electrical Entry Program (VEEP) and through our longtime participation with Helmets to Hardhats and the AFL-CIO’s Union Veterans Council.

Late last year, we also began the process of creating an IBEW veterans committee comprised of representatives from each of the 11 districts. Some local unions had already formed committees of their own, and we want to make sure we are prioritizing veterans’ issues at the international level as well.

Our veterans committees will be focused on ways to recruit more veterans into our ranks and to recognize their service to each and every one of us. Whether it’s organizing the local Veterans Day parade, sending care packages to troops overseas or staffing a job fair booth at a nearby base, I expect these committees will lead the way for their communities’ veterans in the years to come.

The Third District recently held its first district-wide veterans committee meeting at Local 81 in Scranton, Pa. I was thrilled to hear 37 locals were represented at that meeting, and I can’t wait to see the response across every district as more of you get your committees organized.

During our recent campaign to protect union apprenticeships, which you’ll read more about in this month’s cover story, I was amazed by how many former servicemembers wrote in to tell us what their IBEW membership has meant to them.

I know the IBEW changed my life, and I’m proud to lead this great brotherhood that has changed so many of yours.

As we grow and evolve into the IBEW of the future, our nations’ veterans will play a huge role in helping us achieve the goals we’ve set for ourselves. I hope we can change a few of their lives as well.

We Need Your Help on Pensions

Kenneth W. Cooper
International Secretary-Treasurer

You’ve heard from me a lot over the last few months about pensions, but I need your help once again.

Brothers and sisters, America’s multiemployer pension system is in serious trouble. A few large plans are within five or six years of going insolvent, threatening to leave millions of working men and women without the secure retirements they work their whole lives for. We need to take action now!

The IBEW’s national plans are all in good shape, and most of our local union plans are too. But imagine a very large boulder perched at the edge of a hill. These troubled pensions are the boulder, and all of the healthy pension plans like yours and mine are sitting down below, endangered by this monstrosity we can’t control.

Over the last year, I have traveled across this nation and talked about the looming problem we face. Since July, I’ve chaired the AFL-CIO’s subcommittee on multiemployer pensions, and I’ve heard from the retirees, politicians and labor leaders who know the devastating effects a failed pension system could have on retirees, communities, unions — even the whole economy. Honestly, it keeps me up at night.

We have an opportunity to work together as part of a broader coalition within the labor movement to avoid this dangerous situation, but we need to urge the U.S. Senate to act fast.

I’ve seen bad solutions proposed, like the one late last year when lawmakers wanted to tax healthy pensions like ours to reinforce the government’s insurance system. Together, we stopped that plan dead in its tracks. It made no sense to endanger healthy pensions to pay for failing ones, and we told them so.

In July, the House passed the best chance we’ve got to avoid failure: the Rehabilitation for Multiemployer Pensions Act, or the “Butch Lewis Act” for short. To put it simply, it’s a loan program for troubled plans that won’t end up costing taxpayers a dime.

Sen. Sherrod Brown introduced the bill in the Senate — SB 2254 — but now we’re running out of time. The Senate goes home for the holidays in just over a month and no one believes there’s any chance for this important legislation if it doesn’t get done in the next six weeks.

That’s where you all come in. Politicians need to hear from you!

Whether you’ve answered the call before or not, we need you — Republican or Democrat — to call your senators and demand that they take action on the Butch Lewis Act. Together, let’s make sure congress hears our voices loud and clear!

Visit senate.gov/senators/contact or call 202-224-3121 to find your senator and let them know we need them to act. This issue is too important to sit on the sidelines.