James “Hammer” Hayes
I don’t think I really understood what the “B” in IBEW meant until IBEW 1245’s most recent Advisory Council meeting on October 25.
The entire morning of recognition was a great experience to be involved in. The Lineman brothers who explained what the “Hold the Pull” program was all about shared a very important message that, as someone working on the Nuclear side, I had not heard much about. As Nuclear workers, we are so regulated and are constantly under a microscope. Hearing from linemen who are out on a job where the brothers rely on each other completely was an eye-opening experience. The stories they told about the deaths of their brothers and friends were moving and tragic. When I got home last night and tried to explain to my wife what I had heard, it was very difficult to do without getting choked up a bit, and I didn’t even know them. When I started explaining what “The Last Car in the Yard” was about, it really affected me.
The IBEW brother from Washington, Brady Hansen, who told us about his trip to Suriname to help the lineman there, was also incredible. Having been a Union member for 30 years, I hear so many times, “What about me?” That trip, and what they did there, shows that in the IBEW we have a whole lot of people that continue to say “What about them?” and that makes me proud to belong to IBEW.
Being a shop steward for as long as I have, by the time I get to that weekend of the Advisory Council meeting, I’m usually pretty worn out and beat down. But then I go to the meeting and by the end of the weekend, I’m pretty much back in stride. I just wanted to express my gratitude to IBEW. I know what we do, and I know why we do it. I guess my job is to try and pass that along.
— Submitted by James “Hammer” Hayes, Advisory Council Member
Diablo Canyon Nuclear Generating Station
Edited by Rebecca Band
More articles from the Advisory Council meeting will be posted on this website shortly.