Business Manager Tom Dalzell
First off, I’d like to thank the more than 3,000 members of our union who voted in our last election. It is an honor to serve you as Business Manager, and I look forward to continuing to make progress together. Campaigns can be long and hard, but one of the best things about the past several months has been meeting with so many of you face-to-face. Our union is strong because our people are strong. And I appreciated every encouragement, suggestion and criticism that was offered.
We’ve all read quite a bit about the growing populist movement in our country. Millions of Americans are dealing with real economic pain that has been ignored for too long by our leaders. That pain has been exacerbated by elites who govern from the top down, along with bad trade deals that completely ignore the plight of American workers. Families are struggling, and leaders who don’t listen are being given their walking papers. That’s not just true in our political system; IBEW Business Managers at many other locals were voted out of office during this past election cycle.
I understand that growing dissatisfaction with the status quo is part of the reason why some of you voted against me. I want to confront this head on: I hear you, and I understand that we can make even more progress for you and give you an even stronger voice at work. I hear both your encouragement and your anger. But the economic trajectory that our members are on is far different than that of most Americans. We continue to secure wage increases that far exceed the national average, we continue to expand our benefits, and I view every upcoming contract as a means to improving the economic security of our members.
That being said, there is more that can be done. Over the next three years, I will take every opportunity I see to increase wages, improve benefits and strengthen your voice at work. And where opportunities do not currently exist, we will create them.
The recent events at Diablo Canyon are a good example. While the state government and environmental groups planned to simply shutter the plant in 2018 and kick all its employees to the curb, we stood up. We forced them to take the thousand-plus workers there into consideration. We worked in public and behind the scenes to bring our members and their families to the forefront. We took issue with every attempt to sideline employees and their needs. And in the end, we forced the plant to stay open for another eight to nine years, and negotiated a generous retention and bonus program to take care of our members (see “Diablo Canyon to Remain in Operation” on page 14).
Jim Hayes, a worker at Diablo Canyon, had this to say about the deal: “After working at Diablo for 32 years, I was apprehensive about how they would close the plant – it was clear to me that they wanted to do it as quickly as possible and that workers were not figuring in their plans. IBEW 1245 was the best advocate we could have had. The deal that was negotiated will keep us on the job for years and includes retention and bonus pay. The new arrangement will give us time and extra money to make a smooth transition.”
These are still scary times: too many people are making too little to get by. The American Dream is slipping away for millions of us. Corporate power is growing fast, and the power of organized working people is not keeping up. But I’m hopeful that we’ve reached an inflection point. Over the next three years of my term, I will fight like hell to improve your working conditions and paychecks. And we can use our collective political power to force politicians and companies to listen, and to be an effective counterweight to growing corporate power.
We won’t be left out in the cold if we stand together and fight. I’m dedicating the next three years of my term to doing everything I can to improve the economic security of our members. I am open to every suggestion and every idea. And I look forward to working with all of you to secure a bright future for our members and their families.