In the late 1880s the Knights of Labor, a national union dedicatedto organize all producers into one big union, established a local unionin Philadelphia of electrical workers. Like so many other early effortsto organize workers, the local union found that it could not withstandwidespread anti-union sentiments, which existed at that time, and iteventually failed. Before the turn of the century several other localunions of electrical workers were organized in Philadelphia but theyalso experienced limited success.

In 1899, however, under the leadership of Mortimer B. Gleeson,Louis F. Spence and fifteen other electrical workers, a local unionwas established which would stand the test of time. In that yearElectrical Workers Local Union No. 1 was organized and on January5, 1900, the local was admitted to the National Brotherhood ofElectrical Workers (NBEW) as Local Union 98.

The first Local 98 union hall was located at the Odd FellowsTemple at Broad and Cherry Streets. The union office remained atthis location for over twenty years. When Local 98 was first organizedten hours constituted a days work and wages for journeymen rangedfrom $.20 to $.25 an hour while helpers were receiving $.10 to $.15an hour. The local initially focused on a struggle to decrease the hoursof work and to increase the rates of pay. In 1902 Local 98 was able toestablish an eight hour day, a rate of $.35 an hour for journeymen andan increase for helpers.

Work was not always readily available for Local 98 membersduring these early years. Job opportunities did begin to increase,however, in 1916 when work became available for Local 98 members

at the Philadelphia Navy Yard as the country began to prepare forWorld War I.

Throughout these formative years the union was intent uponestablishing the union as the sole representative for electrical workersat the bargaining table and on the job, and making workers aware oftheir rights as union members. The local established a steward systemand attempted to get contractors to recognize stewards as the Unionrepresentatives on jobsites. For some Local 98 members these earlyattempts at organizing represented hardships and sacrifices.

My first job was in 1919 at the Budd Plant on Hunting ParkAvenue. My brother was running the job and he put me to work.There were eight or ten other electricians working on the job. Buddwas a notoriously anti-union company at the time and this was thefirst time they allowed union people to do work for them. The Local98 steward on the job wore a large pin which had STEWARD printedon it. The company wanted to know what the steward did on the joband they were told that he handled all of the union business on thejobsite. The company said that they wanted to fire the stewardbecause he was spending too much time on union business andthat he wasnt working enough. Local 98 said that they could notfire him since he represented the union. Within a week of this disputethey fired all of the Local 98 members on the job. Since the job wasalmost completed they knew that they didnt need us anymore sothey fired us. That was my introduction to the union.

While Local 98 was struggling to organize electrical workers andto establish the union, electrical contractors were setting up businessesin Philadelphia. In many cases these contractors were immigrantswho came to this country after gaining experience in the electricalindustry in Europe. Many of these immigrants found work at thePhiladelphia Navy Yard.

My brother worked as an electrician at the Navy Yard duringWorld War I. In 1918 he became an electrical contractor. He wasan electrical engineer. We were born in Poland and came to the

United States in 1910. I came into the business in 1920 after Igraduated from public school. We had a small office and we had afew men working for us. I took care of the bookkeeping and madecalls to get contracts. We always did a good job and gradually weestablished a good reputation in the industry. (This firm, which isstill in business, is the second oldest and one of the largest electricalcontractors in Philadelphia. In 1992 the firm employed two hundredLocal 98 journeymen and apprentices. One of the original foundersof the business still comes to work every day.)

For the first twenty years of its existence Local 98 increasinglyestablished itself as an organization which could effectively representelectrical workers. Throughout this period the local attempted toincrease wages and worked with other unions in the Delaware Valleyin the struggle for the eight-hour day.

During the formative years of Local 98, the union kept its recordsin the form of a Journal which included accounts of local unionmeetings. The entries which appear on page 5, for March and April1901, indicate that the union held its meetings at the Odd FellowsTemple at Broad and Cherry Streets.

For many years Local 98 members were required to go to theunion hall each month to pay their union dues and fines andassessments.

On page 4 is the membership card of Paul Springer for 1909.Brother Springer purchased a union stamp which he placed in hisbook to show that he was a paid up member. The Financial Secretaryposted his record of assessments and fines, which were 25 cents each,by hand.

On page 5 is a copy of a Local 98 Journal entry from April 1901indicating that the union was incorporated in Pennsylvania.

On page 6 are minutes from a union meeting held on March 5,1918.

A Local 98 membership card from 1909.

Minutes from Local 98 Journal of March and April 1901.

Minutes from a regular meeting of Local 98 in 1918.

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In the early 1920s there was a serious depression in Philadelphia.The work that was available for electrical workers was on buildingprojects which became Philadelphia landmarks, like the Fidelity TrustBuilding on Broad Street, Sears and Roebuck on Roosevelt Boulevardand service work in plants including Midvale Steel, Apex Hosieryand Quaker Lace Company.

In addition to the depression, unionized electrical workers inPhiladelphia also had difficulty finding work during the early 1920sbecause of a union busting drive by union contractors known as theAmerican Plan. American Plan employers launched an open shopcampaign, which required prospective workers to sign an agreement,which stated that they would not join a union, or attempt to organizetheir fellow workers. Open shops became closed non-union shops,where union members were either fired or denied employment. Ineffect, union electrical workers were locked out of work.

During the period that the American Plan was in effect, manyLocal 98 members were running jobs on their own and doing housewiring work since they were unable to get union work because of thelockout. In 1926, skilled craftsmen in many large cities went on strikeagainst the American Plan and their efforts led to the end of the openshop campaign.

Despite these difficulties the local continued to grow and in 1922the union decided to move its headquarters from Broad and CherryStreets to 1807 Spring Garden Street. In order to protect themembership from the possibility of being sued, a separateorganization, the Electric Mechanics Association (EMA), was

chartered, as a corporation to purchase a property for the union. TheEMA assessed each member of the local a small amount of moneyand purchased the property, which it then leased to the union. (TheEMA still exists, and is presently the owner of the property at 1719Spring Garden Street, which it leases to the union and theApprenticeship Training Program.)

In the 1920s there was no apprentice training program inPhiladelphia. Apprentices learned the trade on the job. The onlyrequirement for admittance to the union was that an applicant had tobe 18 years of age. During this period it was customary in the electricalconstruction industry for an apprentice to spend four years gaining aworking knowledge of the trade. Those apprentices who wereinterested in learning some theory to accompany the practicalknowledge they were learning on the job, attended a trade school atnight or took a correspondence course. Some Local 98 apprenticesattended a vocational school, located next to the Academy of Musicon Locust Street, to study sheet metal work, since no one taughtelectricity at the time. Throughout the 1920s there was often morework for apprentices than for journeymen, since contractors preferredto hire apprentices and pay them lower wages. The local was willingto maintain a large pool of apprentices since they did not want toincrease the number of journeymen at that time because they wouldbe forced to compete for jobs. Because of these circumstancesapprentices often had to wait for years to get a ticket from the local.

There was also a helper classification of workers in the local inthe 1920s. Helpers were allowed to work but they were never eligiblefor membership in Local 98. They were, in effect, given a temporarywork permit by the union, but were never able to attain full status inthe local. Despite the large number of apprentices and helpers in theunion in these early years, it was relatively easy for an experiencedelectrician to become a member of the local.

I arrived in the United States in July 1923, the day PresidentHarding died. I was 21 years old. I had been an electrician inScotland and when I came here I tried to become a member of the

IBEW local in Washington, D.C. but they were not taking membersat the time. I came to Philadelphia and went to a local electricalcontractor looking for a job. One of his employees was a memberof the Executive Board of Local 98 and he said that I should cometo the local meeting on Thursday night and they would take me inthe local. In those days all you had to do to become a member waspay an initiation fee of $100. There was no apprentice trainingprogram at that time.

In 1924 job opportunities increased for Local 98 members whenwork began on the Sesquicentennial celebration, which was held in1926 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the founding of theUnited States. Local 98 members laid all of the underground cables,which supplied the electricity to the Sesquicentennial buildings locatedin South Philadelphia at Broad and Pattison Avenue.

Local 98 members also got jobs wiring homes throughoutPhiladelphia, which had been using gaslight. There was no wiring inmost neighborhoods in the city in the 1920s and the PhiladelphiaElectric Company began to wire thousands of homes throughout thecity. It could cost as much as $100 to put electricity into a house atthat time. Local 98 members got most of this work.

During this period Local 98 members also worked on the largetheaters, hotels, department stores and public projects that were beingbuilt including the Erlanger and the Mastbaum theaters, the BenjaminFranklin Hotel, Strawbridge and Clothier and the Suburban StationBuilding.

In the mid-1920s Local 98 launched an intensive organizingcampaign designed to educate electrical workers about unionism andto increase the number of union shops in the city. Despite seriousopposition from contractors the campaign was a success and the localsjurisdiction extended throughout the Delaware Valley includingPhiladelphia, Chester, Camden, Norristown and Trenton.

In January 1927 we were coming to the end of our organizingcampaign and we felt that we were successful since we doubled ourmembership. We had our men placed in every shop and industrialplant in Philadelphia. Each and every one of these men waseducating the non-union men in these shops in the principles andaims of organized labor. We felt that in a reasonable length of timePhiladelphia would be a closed shop town for our craft.

Non-union contractors who had been opposed to organizedlabor for years, were now beginning to negotiate with ourrepresentatives. We felt certain that by spring of 1927, Local Union98 would be composed of all the electrical workers in the city.

Our new members were becoming enthusiastic over theorganization and were bringing in new candidates every week. Menwho thought they never needed a union were beginning to realizethe situation here and began inquiring about membership. Withthis condition existing and spreading we felt certain that the workof the organizing committee was not in vain, and every member ofour local union has profited by the campaign, both morally andfinancially.

Due to this intensive organizing campaign work became availablefor Local 98 members throughout the Delaware Valley. Althoughmembers often had to travel long distances to get to their jobs, theywelcomed the opportunity to work in Local 98s jurisdiction.

In 1925 I got a job with Pangborne Company in Burlington,New Jersey. That was in Local 98s jurisdiction in those days but itwas a long way to travel. I lived in Germantown at the time and Iwould take a trolley car to Market Street and a second trolley to theTacony Ferry, which would take me to Palmyra, New Jersey. WhenI got there I would take another trolley to the job.

Walter Pangbonre was one of the largest electrical contractors inPhiladelphia in the 1920s. Pangborne was successful, in part, becausehis uncle, United States Senator Vare, helped him secure electrical

contracts for public schools, JFK Stadium, the subway, the BenjaminFranklin Bridge and many of the buildings erected for theSesquicentennial. Pangborne also got a good deal of the workgenerated by the Works Project Administration (WPA) establishedby the federal government in the 1930s to provide jobs for thousandsof workers who were unemployed during the depression.

The decade of the 1920s ended on an ominous note for electricalworkers in Philadelphia, and for workers all across the country, when,in 1929 the stock market crashed. Businesses closed their doors andthousands of workers found that there were few employmentopportunities. The Local 98 members who lost their jobs had little tofall back on since benefit programs like unemployment compensationand pensions did not exist.

In the 1920s journeymen would work until they were 70 or 80years old because they couldnt afford to retire. When a memberdied the union would take up a collection, raffle off his tools, andgive the widow the money.

Local 98 By-Laws adopted on September 8, 1919.

The cover of the National Electrical Code book published in 1928.

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The 1930s brought hard times for the members of Local 98. Jobswere scarce and many members lost their tickets because they wereunable to pay union dues. The local lost so many members it haddifficulty maintaining the operations of the union. By 1936 unionmembership fell from a high of 1,300 members to 800 members.Over 500 members of the local lost their tickets because there wereno jobs. Many Local 98 members lost their homes and were forced tolive with relatives or friends in order to survive. Others received refugeand help from the union and from members who were lucky enoughto have work.

There was a period during the 1930s when about a dozenLocal 98 members were living on the third floor of the union hallat 1807 Spring Garden Streets. They were actually living there.They had cots which they slept on and members who were workingwould take them across the street to Lintons to buy them breakfastor lunch.

During the depression work was so scarce that the union rotatedjobs. When the PSFS building was erected at 12th and Market Streets,each Local 98 member was required to take off one day a week sothat the work could be shared among members of the union.Unemployed members substituted in their place until they had workedfor 32 hours. The system provided work opportunities for unemployedmembers who would not have otherwise been able to survive. Atother times members would get eight days of work every three months.Members would work eight consecutive workdays and then go onthe out of work list for the rest of the three-month period.

The local also implemented a special assessment, which was usedto support the operation of the local. Journeymen paid 10% of theirwages for the first 32 hours and 30% if they worked more than 32hours.

Despite these efforts to share the work that was available, manymembers were unemployed for extended periods of time in the early1930s. In fact, employment opportunities did not increase markedlyfor Local 98 members until the government began to support buildingprograms in the late 1930s.

There was a time during the depression that I didnt work forone entire year. When my name finally came up off the list I got ajob that lasted for three weeks. Those times were really bad, butsomehow or other you survived. In 1936 things began to pick upbecause of the Works Projects Administration, or WPA as we calledit. We worked four days a week on government projects like publicschools and the courthouse at 9th and Market Streets. I worked onthose types of jobs for one entire year and when the job was finishedI actually had money in the bank.

In spite of the dire economic conditions which existed Local 98was able to establish an apprenticeship training program with theassistance of the School District of Philadelphia. On March 1, 1930the local union launched a training program for apprentices with thecooperation of the Division of School Extension of the School Districtof Philadelphia. The school district furnished the school, the suppliesand equipment and the union provided the students. Over 300apprentices attended classes, which were held at Gratz High Schoolon Hunting Park Avenue. Apprentices attended classes on Saturdaymornings from 8:00 am to 12:00. Each student was required to deposita $1.00 registration fee, which was returned if the apprentice attended75% of the classes, and a $2.00 laboratory fee. In October 1930 classeswere also offered for journeymen on Monday and Wednesdayevenings and on Saturday mornings. Classes were offered in English,Mathematics, Electrical Drawing, Electrical Wiring, Electrical Theory,Electrical Laboratory and Metal and Machine Shop Practice.

In the 1930s there was no entrance examination or initiation feefor apprentices, nor was there an established period of time for theprogram. An aspiring apprentice was taken before the Local UnionExecutive Board and accepted as an apprentice. Apprentices oftenworked for nine or ten years before they became journeymen becausethere was not enough work to go around. However, in those earlydays it was often an advantage to be an apprentice since contractorswere willing to hire less qualified men because their wages werelower. There was also a period of time during the 1930s whenmembers of the union had to put in an extra year of training as ajunior mechanic before they could become a journeyman.

During the depression I was an apprentice. I spent one thirdof my apprenticeship sitting on the steps in front of the union hallbecause there was not work at that time. I remember clearly that Iwould work for a few weeks and then would wait for weeks beforeI got another job. Things were really bad. There were times I feltthat I would never finish my training program and be able to earna living.

Conditions became so bad that in 1932 Local 98 went bankruptwhen the bank in which the union had deposited its funds closed itsdoors. As a result, the International Union placed the union inreceivership. An international vice-president was sent to Philadelphiato run the local until it got back on its feet and became financiallysolvent once again.

Finally, in the late 1930s the economy began to improve and jobopportunities for Local 98 members and apprentices became available.

When I came into Local 98 in 1939 the country was just comingout the depression. I can remember that it was the spring of theyear, probably in February. I was a first year apprentice at the time,and I was having trouble getting work. One day I met Luke Kerneyat the union hall and he said that we should go over to CampbellSoup to look for a job because he knew the foreman over there andthey were beginning to hire men for the tomato season. We went

over and we got hired. The work was out of the IBEW CamdenLocal 439, which had just been organized. The pay was $.40 anhour.

As the economy began to improve and Local 98 and the IBEWbecame more solvent the union implemented the first basic benefitprograms for members. In 1939 the union provided sick benefits of$12 a week for thirteen weeks, $1000 of life insurance and theInternational Union had a pension policy that gave retirees $50 amonth.

For Local 98 and its members the 1930s was a decadecharacterized by a constant struggle to remain at work and viable.Although the membership of the local decreased drastically the unioncontinued to represent its members and to protect and extend itsjurisdiction. For example, by the late 1930s Line Local 21 had lostmost of its members and Local 98 was representing the members ofthe local union in all matters. Consequently, Local 98 asked theInternational Union for the jurisdiction for those line workers left inthe Local 21. In February 1939, Local 98 was awarded the jurisdictionof Line Local 21. There were eight members left in the local at thetime. Local 21 ceased to exist and each of the surviving eight membersreceived an A card in Local 98. For many members of Local 21this transfer of jurisdiction represented an end to a relationship, whichthey had initially established with the union when they first enteredthe industry.

I got my first job in the industry on June 8, 1932 withPhiladelphia Line Local 21. At the time there were thirteen paid upmembers in the local. Most of the members were quite old. Thewage scale was $.35 an hour for apprentices and $.87 an hour forjourneymen. There was no training program in Local 21 at thetime. We worked as helpers with a journeyman and learned as wewent along.

In 1939 Local 98 worked cooperatively with the newly organizedPhiladelphia Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors

Association (NECA) to establish a Joint Apprenticeship TrainingCommittee. One of the Committees first accomplishments was anagreement with the School District of Philadelphia to move theapprentice training program to Bok Vocational School where classeswere held for apprentices on Saturday mornings.

Since its founding in 1939, the Penn-Del-Jersey NECA Chapterhas worked cooperatively with Local 98 and other IBEW locals todevelop numerous programs, which met the needs of both contractorsand union members. Both organizations realized that an alliance wasneeded to develop programs since neither Local 98 nor NECA couldimplement them independently. The NECA Local 98 partnership madeit possible to create programs that were larger than either organization.

On September 4, 1930 Local 98 established an ApprenticeTraining Program at Gratz High School. The local ApprenticeCommittee distributed the rules shown below, governing attendancefor apprentices attending these classes, to all apprentices. On page18 there is a picture from the February 1931 issue of The Journal ofElectrical Workers and Operators, which contained a story of the Local98 apprenticeship training program.

Rules governing attendance at the Local 98 Apprentice Program from 1931.

The Local 98 Apprenticeship Training Program in 1931.

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As we entered the 1940s, the economy remained depressed forLocal 98 members. Jobs were scarce for journeymen and apprenticesduring this pre-World War II period, and when work was available,contractors often hired an apprentice rather than a journeyman sothat they could keep their costs down.

I was sitting on the bench one afternoon in early 1940 in frontof the union hall when a fellow member came walking down thestreet with tears in his eyes. H asked me what year apprentice I wasand I told him that I was in my second year. He told me that he hadjust been laid off. He said that I should go to the union hall withhim because I might be able to get that job that he had lost sincethe company only wanted to pay a second year apprentice. We wentto the Business Agent and told him the situation and I got the job.

During the early 1940s the few jobs that were available werewith the WPA or at the Navy Yard or the Frankfort Arsenal whereships and war munitions were being built and supplied to Englandand France, which were already at war with Germany.

Soon after the United States entered World War II, on December7, 1941, many Local 98 members either joined the armed services orwere drafted. However some Local 98 members who might have beendrafted received special classifications and were exempted frommilitary service because they had strategic jobs. A number of localunion members who did serve were killed in combat during the war.

I went to work out of Local 98 in May 1942. I worked for ayear and went into the Navy in May 1943. The local would not

obligate me until I came out of the service. I spent three years inthe Navy and came back to the local.

James Wenrich was the first Local 98 member killed in WorldWar II. He was in the naval reserve before the war and got calledup for active duty just after Pearl Harbor. He was assigned to adestroyer escorting convoys and his ship was sunk very early in thewar. It must have been early in 1942.

After the war began, work opportunities for Local 98 membersincreased dramatically. Thousands of electricians went to work atthe Navy Yard, the Frankfort Arsenal and for other contractors andbusinesses involved in war production. Local 98 members built drydocks at the Navy Yard and rewired the buildings at the FrankfortArsenal. There was very little work available in the private sectorbecause of restrictions on building materials for non-war relatedbuilding projects.

There was so much work during the war that Local 98 hadtrouble getting enough electricians to man some jobs. I rememberworking on a job at Westinghouse below the airport where therewere four hundred electricians and only five of them had a ticketfrom Local 98. All of the others were non-union workers. The localgave them a temporary union card called a white paper whichallowed them to work the job. They paid the local one dollar a dayunion dues. The steward on that job would walk through the joband on pay day and collect seven dollars from all of the temporarymembers because we were working seven day weeks at the time.The leadership of the local decided that we should not keep themoney and we began to contribute the funds to charitableorganizations like the Red Cross and the Light House.

The rate of pay at the Navy yard in 1942 was $1.25 an hour.Some Local 98 members refused to work there because the rate ofpay in other facilities was $1.37 an hour. In fact, so many electricianswere needed to work at the Navy Yard at the time that contractorshad to advertise in communities throughout Northern Pennsylvania

for workers. These men got work permits from Local 98 but werenever given union cards.

The apprentice training program was suspended from 1942 to1945- because all public schools were closed on Saturdays duringthe war to conserve energy. During this period Howard Vloetgraven,an instructor in the apprentice training program, invited apprenticesand helpers to his home where he taught electrical theory and leadsplicing in his garage. He volunteered his services and got thematerials, which he used in his classes from contractors. Somemembers of the union also attended Spring Garden Institute at nightfor work related training.

During the war years Local 98 and NECA began to recognize theneed to provide members with fringe benefits, which would protectworkers and their families on and off the job. In 1942, Local 98initiated a Health and Welfare Plan by securing Blue Cross coveragefor the membership. The program was voluntary and members paidthe premium, which was $13 a month. This plan continued until Local98 and NECA reached an agreement in 1953 to form a trusteeshipand to purchase coverage from Liberty Mutual Insurance Company.

As the Penn-Del-Jersey Chapter of NECA grew stronger,contractors began to play a more active role in the development ofbenefit programs. In 1944, Local 98 and NECA established a vacationand unemployment relief fund for the electrical construction industry.Under the agreement employers and members would contribute $.10an hour for each hour of employment into a fund and the money wasused to pay wages during vacations and periods of unemployment.

The International Union also recognized a need to improve benefitprograms and the IBEW asked all electrical contractors to pay 1% oftheir gross payroll into an NEBF pension fund.

As the war dragged on through 1943, 1944 and 1945, Local 98members continued to work in war plants and at the Navy Yard whileothers were fighting for their country in Europe and the South Pacific.

The local attempted to remain in touch with those members whowere on active duty so that they would feel that they were not forgotten.

I vividly remember that in 1944 I was in the middle of theSouth Pacific on a ship and I got a letter from Local 98 saying thatI was now a registered apprentice in the union. That letter reallygave me a rise.

When the war ended in August 1945, Local 98 members beganto return home. Many of these veterans wanted to return to work andto reestablish their membership in the union. The local attempted tomake the transition of veterans back to civilian life as smooth aspossible.

When I returned to civilian life after the war I went down tothe local and said that I wanted to get into the union. The businessagent on duty at the time said that I would have to wait six months.I told him that I had been waiting for six years. When he realizedthat I was a veteran I got a job immediately.

Local 98 veterans received financial support and money to payfor their tools through the G.I. Bill of Rights. In addition, apprenticessalaries were supplemented in order to get their pay up to minimumrates.

However, some members experienced real difficulties adjustingto conditions when they returned to civilian life. Many apprenticeswere 25 to 30 year old war veterans who had trouble taking ordersfrom men who had not fought in the war. On job sites, men who hadbeen officers during the war found it difficult to take orders fromjourneymen who were privates in the army.

Throughout the late 1940s business was booming and electricianswere needed at the Philadelphia Electric Company, which wasbuilding three power stations, Budd Company, Cuneo Press,Westinghouse, Bendix, Scott Paper, Schmidts Brewery, Exide Battery,and a number of can companies in the city. In the public sector:

schools, public buildings, and churches were being built. Local 98also organized a number of shops during this period including LitBrothers. There was also work in industrial plants which wereconverting from producing parts for tanks, bombs, and jeeps, tomaking peace time products.

For the first thirty years of my career in Local 98, from 1945to 1975, the only time that I lost time was when I wanted to losetime. There was no such thing as unemployment. I was in the firstapprentice class that was held at Bok Vocational School in 1946.Most of the apprentices were veterans. The local ran the apprenticeprogram at the time. We had one instructor from Local 98, HowardVloetgraven, and there were two instructors from the public schoolsystem. This was the first class of apprentices that went to schoolone day a week and got paid for the day at school.

Howard Vloetgraven was the pillar of the apprentice programin those days. He was the type of person who would take anapprentice who was having difficulty in class or in his personal lifeto his home to provide special tutoring or to talk to him about hisproblems. He was really wonderful.

My first day on the job as an apprentice I was working at theNavy Yard on a dry dock. The journeyman on the job sent me to thestoreroom to get a transite bender. They said that they didnt haveone and they sent me to the electric shop in the Navy Yard. Theydidnt have it either. I went around to at least a half a dozen shopsthat day trying to get a transite bender. Finally, I went back to thejob and told the journeyman that no one had a transite bender.Thats when they told me that there was no such thing as a transitebender. A couple days later I was out doing some temporary wiringwith another journeyman and he told me to go to the tool room toget some pig tails. I told him to go and get his own pigtails. I wasntgoing to be hassled again. He grabbed me by the arm and draggedme to the tool room and said to the clerk, `Give this apprentice abox of pig tails. He took a box of pig tails off the shelf and threwthem across the counter at me. I learned a lesson that day.

The cover of a Local 98 ad book from1927.

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In the early 1950s there was serious disagreement among themembership of the local over the establishment of health and welfareand pension funds. The only fund that existed at the time was theApprenticeship Training Fund. Some of the members wanted tocontinue to receive every dollar that they could get in their payenvelopes and were unwilling to have any money set aside to establishany other funds.

In 1952 Local 98 instituted a Dues Protection Program designedto maintain union memberships for members who were out of work.Under this program employed journeymen paid part of their duesinto a fund which was used to pay the dues of members who wereunemployed. If the unemployed member adhered to all of therequirements of the program, his dues were paid indefinitely, until hegot a job. This program is still in operation today, almost 50 yearsafter it was established.

In the 1950s I would characterize negotiations as being one -sided because of the clause in our contract which required us to goto the Council on Industrial Relations of the International Union,where a final decision was made on our contract. I think that thecontractors from NECA who were negotiating at the time wouldgo just so far and then they would say that we should take our caseto the Council. Local 98 never went to the Council. We always settledfor as much as we could get without going beyond the local union.In a lot of those years the contract would expire at the end of August,but we didnt get any increases until the beginning of January. Wehad to live with that situation because the contractors would threatento go to the Council and we didnt want to.

In 1952 we started the health and welfare fund. There was nodues checkoff at the time. Before the fund was established we hadto pay for our own Blue Cross and Blue Shield coverage. Individualmembers paid for their own coverage. When we started to cooperatewith NECA contractors in 1956, $.05 was paid into a fund for healthand welfare benefits.

In 1950 Local 98 held a banquet at the Broadwood Hotel tocelebrate its 50th anniversary. A photograph from the banquet appearsbelow.

Local 98s 50th Anniversary party held at the Broadwood Hotel.

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In the 1960s Local 98 and NECA began to feel the effects ofcompetition from an organization of non-union contractors calledthe Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC). Although the ABCwas composed of contractors from many industries, all of the officersin the Philadelphia ABC Chapter happened to be electrical contractors.Many of these non-union contractors began with small operations,which would bid on small public works jobs. These small contractorswould get an electrical contract to wire a public school, since thesejobs could be completed with a small crew of five or six men. Theywould then increase their workforce and begin to bid on larger jobs.By 1964, ABC contractors had 650 non-union electricians workingfor them.

Local 98, with 900 members at the time, decided to hire a fulltime organizer and to launch a campaign to organize ABC shops.The effort proved to be successful and the local won the right torepresent 250 electrical workers who had previously been non-union.By the end of the organizing campaign the local had over 1,200members.

With the continued growth of the membership the local foundthat the union office and hall which it had occupied since 1922 wasbecoming inadequate. The union decided that it must expand itsfacilities and in 1966 Local 98 demolished the brownstone at 1807Spring Garden Street and built a new modern building on the site.

During this same period developments were taking place regardingthe apprenticeship training program which would require the local toseek additional space to house the program. In the late 1960s Local

98, along with other building trades locals in the city, began toexperience difficulties with the School District of Philadelphiaregarding the apprenticeship training programs, which had been usingpublic school facilities for over thirty-five years. Throughout thisperiod the School District of Philadelphia had allowed unions tooperate their apprentice training program with absolute autonomy.However, in 1968 the School District became concerned about unionselection procedures and the effect that they had on the racialcomposition of apprentice classes.

Throughout 1968 and 1969, members of the Joint ApprenticeshipCommittee met with representatives of the School District ofPhiladelphia in an attempt to maintain a relationship which wouldpermit the union to continue to utilize facilities at Bok VocationalSchool for its apprentice training program without undue interference.However, the School District continued to insist that the local increasethe number of minorities in its apprentice program. Eventually, theJoint Apprenticeship Committee realized that the arrangement wasnot going to be satisfactory and that the apprentice program wouldhave to establish its own independent training center. The JointApprenticeship Committee was faced with a formidable task. Nowthat the forty year relationship with the School District was drawingto a close the union and contractors would have to find a facility tohouse their training program and support the entire effort with nooutside assistance.

In 1965 we reached an agreement that established a pensionfund. Prior to that time each member would contribute $.15 anhour into his own pension program. Members got past credit forfive years for any time they had spent in the union prior to thebeginning of the pension program.

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In 1970 Local 98 ended its relationship with the School Districtof Philadelphia and established an independent apprenticeship trainingprogram, under the leadership of Ray McCool, Chairman of the Boardof the Apprenticeship Training Program. The union rented the HillBuilding at 19th and Spring Garden Streets for the training program,while a permanent facility was being built at 1719 Spring Garden.On January 9, 1973 the union celebrated the opening of the newtraining center. Apprentice classes were located on the second floorof the building. The first floor and the basement were rented to theCommunity College of Philadelphia.

With the new Local 98 training facility on the 1700 block of SpringGarden Street and the local union hall on the 1800 block of SpringGarden Street the union continued to play a vital role in thedevelopment of the Spring Garden neighborhood. Throughout itshistory the union had been active in local neighborhood affairs, andhad contributed to the betterment of the entire Philadelphia communityby donating thousands of dollars to support the efforts of worthyorganizations and agencies in the city and by recruiting members tovolunteer their services for worthwhile community projects. Thesecommunity activities made it possible for Local 98 members andNECA contractors to put their skills to work for the betterment oftheir fellow citizens and to experience feelings of pride andrevitalization. It also created a sense of solidarity among thosemembers who worked together for the common good.

In 1972 there was a very serious flood in Wilkes Barre,Pennsylvania. Two weeks after the flood IBEW locals fromthroughout the state were asked to volunteer their services to get

electrical power into the homes in that city. Local 98 sent onehundred and ten apprentices and journeymen in two buses. We leftthe union hall at 5:30 AM and by 8:00 AM we were in a shoppingcenter parking lot in Wilkes Barre. I will never forget that sightbecause it really made me proud to be a union member. There weredozens of buses there that day carrying thousands of IBEWelectricians to help fellow citizens in need. The Red Cross gave uscoffee and donuts and we were divided into gangs of twenty. TheNational Guard took us to the poor section of the town where weworked in teams getting electricity back into those homes. Weworked that day until the sun went down. That was a proud day forLocal 98 and for all of organized labor.

That same year Local 98 became involved in a series of events,which would have dramatic repercussions on all building trades unionsin the Delaware Valley for many years.

In the summer of 1972 building trades unions confronted anon-union building contractor named Leon Altemose who wasviewed as a threat to all building trades unions because he wasopenly opposed to unions and had gotten a contract to build a largehotel. Building trades unions mounted a concerted effort to preventAltemose from completing the job. Building trades unions took turnspicketing the work site and on June 5 when the Roofers Union waspicketing there was some damage to the job. Altemose sued theunion and the building trades, and the struggle continued for overnine long years. Local 98 was involved throughout the struggle,providing financial support and a much needed presence. Altemoseeventually won the case in court but the event had a stifling effecton non-union contractors.

The 1970s were the period when the union looked within itsown ranks, to its retirees, for a source of renewed strength. For manyyears the retired members of Local 98 had discussed the need forsome type of an organization to bring together the retired membersof the union for social and recreational activities and to act as a politicalforce for retirees. Finally, in 1974 a number of retirees met at the

union and began to plan for the establishment of an IBEW Local 98Retirees Club. The first meeting of the Retirees Club was held onOctober 22, 1974. Officers for the club were elected at the nextmonthly meeting. Dues were set at $1.00 a month. By the middle of1975 there were 500 dues paying members in the club and 75 to 100members were attending monthly meetings.

Since its inception over 25 years ago, the Retirees Club has heldmonthly meetings to discuss concerns of the membership and to planactivities for members and their spouses. The Club has been activelyinvolved in political issues, which effect retirees and the labormovement, and has sponsored numerous trips throughout the EasternUnited States.

In 1975 and 1976 the industry experienced another seriousrecession. Many Local 98 members were out of work and conditionswere as bad as they had been since the depression in the 1930s. In1976 the local had the largest number of its members out of work inits history. During that year over 300 members were unemployed andanother 300 had to find work out of town.

In 1976, in an attempt to deal with the problem of widespreadunemployment, the union implemented a Compulsory Vacation Plan.Over 600 members were out of work at the time and the leadership ofthe local felt that mandatory vacations would provide work for someof those members who were unemployed. Even the leadership of thelocal took the drastic step of cutting the wages of the BusinessManager and the Business Agents.

In February, 1976 I had a meeting with my four BusinessAgents, Paul Gilmore, Joe McHugh, John McQuillen and TomNeilson and asked them to take a cut in pay. I asked them to continueto work a five-day a week schedule, but to agree to be paid for fourdays. I said that I would do the same. They agreed and I implementedthe pay cut. We felt that we should all sacrifice something.

From 1975 to 1979, when a substantial number of Local 98journeymen were unemployed, the local had 400 members workingin IBEW locals throughout the country. At the time we had about1,200 members. We had seventy members working on travel cardsbuilding a power plant in Beaver, Pennsylvania and others workingas far away as Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas and California. Wewent to a meeting and made connections with other BusinessManagers who were able to help us place our members who wereout of work.

The most significant negotiations that I can recall were in 1976.That year every trade agreed to take the same wage increase forthree years. That year we had a horrendous unemployment problemwith no relief in sight. At that time we were experiencing highinflation and unemployment. The wage package was an attempt tostabilize the industry by limiting the number of apprentices andproviding long-term relief for the contractors.

For fifty years the IBEW had a no strike clause, administeredthrough the Council of Industrial Relations, which stated that alocal union could not strike without the approval of the InternationalOffice. At the IBEW International Convention in 1974 the delegatespassed a resolution that gave locals the right to stop using the CIRno strike clause but they had to do so during contract negotiations.

Eventually economic conditions improved, and by the late 1970smost of the members of the local were back at work. However, thosejourneymen would always remember the consequences of beingunemployed and would adopt measures to more adequately protectthemselves when the industry experienced subsequent periods ofunemployment.

On June 22, 1976 one of the most shocking and memorable eventsin Local 98 history took place. William Speck, Sr. attended themonthly Local 98 meeting that evening to receive a pin, a scroll, anda gift to commemorate his 60 years of membership in Local 98. Speckcame to the stage with his two sons and his grandson to be honored.

William Speck, Jr. placed the pin on his fathers lapel and the membersof Local 98 gave the family a well deserved round of applause.Moments after William Sr. returned to his seat he collapsed to thefloor and died. His sons said that the events of the evening left themvery shaken, but they added that they felt that their father had spenthis last moments on earth at the union which had been such animportant part of his life, surrounded by people he had worked withfor so many years.

Throughout the 1970s Local 98 members continued to volunteertheir services to help build facilities for nonprofit agencies in thecommunity.

In 1977 Local 98 members worked on a Drug RehabilitationCenter at 17th and Jefferson Street. The city ran out of money tofinance the completion of the center, and they asked for our help.We asked for volunteers at a union meeting and over 750 of thehands of the people who were there that night went up. We met at6:30 AM at the union hall on three consecutive Saturday morningsand went to the center and finished the wiring. On that job therewere five journeymen supervising fifteen or twenty apprentices. Wedid it to help the community.

In 1978 Local 98 decided to sell the building at 1807 SpringGarden Street to the Carpenters Union and to consolidate the unionoffice, the union hall and the apprentice training program in a newbuilding located at 1719 Spring Garden Street. The apprentice trainingprogram used the second floor of the building and the union housedits offices on the first floor and used the basement for union meetings.

In the late 1970s we negotiated payroll deduction for duesand check off for our dues protection fund. We also increased healthand welfare benefits. At one time we actually had a $6 millionsurplus in our health and welfare fund. We also were able to transferthe administration of the health and welfare program from aninsurance company to a private administrator and save 12% on thepremium. We also added dental and eye glass coverage.

Local 98 benefit programs.

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In 1981 the International Union decided that they needed aparliamentarian for the convention which was being held in LosAngles. We heard that they were looking for someone and we wroteto the International President to tell him that we had aparliamentarian in Local 98 who might be the only one in the entireunion. His name was Ed Foley. We got a call from the InternationalVice President who asked some questions about Foley. We weretold that Foley should come out to the convention and serve as theInternational Union Parliamentarian. He has held that position atthe last two conventions in 1986 and 1991. Ed Foley is very wellrespected throughout the union because of the position he held.

The 1980s were a period of full employment for the members ofLocal 98. In addition to the traditional work that was available duringthis period of economic expansion, hundreds of jobs were availableworking on the new office buildings and hotels that were being erectedin Center City. And thousands of additional jobs were available forLocal 98 members building atomic power plants. Although this newindustry provided work for Local 98 members, some found that theyhad difficulty working under the conditions that existed on these jobs.

I worked at the Limerick Atomic Power Plant in 1982. It waslike a zoo. I started out on night work. There were 1,000 electriciansworking the day shift and over 600 working at night. There weremasses of people moving in and out of the facility. It was like beingin the army. Anyone who worked at Limerick can tell stories aboutthe way things were handled. For example, I was working on thirtyfeet of hard wall pipe, with a bend and a kick down, which I hadbeen working on for four or five hours. The foreman would tell meto hold on until he gets someone to inspect the job. I would act like

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I was busy until the inspector showed up, maybe a week later. Therewas a feeling that no one knew what was going on. I finally leftbecause I couldnt work in those conditions.

In March 1984 one of the more disturbing episodes in the historyof Local 98 took place when a member of the local, Frank Groome,was killed while picketing a non-union contractor.

We had a job on City Line Avenue which was an existingbuilding. There was an open shop contractor there and we did nothave an agreement with him. He was doing a small job but thebuilding had traditionally used contractors who paid the area wagesand standards. This contractor did not, even though we hadmeetings with him which seemed hopeful. He had people workingin the building and we decided, very reluctantly because of all ofthe activity in and out of the building, to put up a picket line.

On the morning in question there were about ten pickets. Westood at the entrance to the building, which led to a large parkinglot. The picket line was established around six oclock in themorning. The pickets were standing around talking and I had toremind them that we were there to be seen and that they should bewalking back and forth across the entrance way so that peoplecoming in could see them. A driver entered and did not slow downenough to permit Frank Groom to move out of the way. He happenedto be directly in front of the car. I remember looking back fromwhere I was standing. The driver hit Frank and accelerated thegas pedal and drove into the parking lot. The car struck Frankshead and he flew off the hood. He was unconscious and some ofthe pickets chased the car as the driver continued to drive aroundthe other end of the building. They eventually caught up with thecar and told the driver what had happened.

An ambulance was called and the police arrived. TheMontgomery County police were not very friendly to us and theyhad never been very cooperative with the Philadelphia buildingtrades or with picketers from any union. They asked a lot of question

while Frank was lying on the ground, unconscious, with several ofthe pickets helping him. The ambulance came and took Frank tothe hospital. His family was notified and they came to the hospitalalong with members of Local 98. Frank Groome died on March16, 1984 from injuries sustained on the picket line.

We had a right to picket that building that day and FrankGroome was killed for exercising that right. At no time on thatpicket line, or other picket lines established by Local 98, did thepicketers block anyone from getting into or leaving the building.The sole purpose of the picket line was to notify the public that wehad a problem with a contractor working on the job site.

For over forty years NECA and Local 98 had worked cooperativelyto negotiate contracts, improve benefits and solve problems that aroseat the workplace. This situation would be dramatically altered,however, by events that would have immediate and lasting effects onthe relationship between NECA and Local 98 and the internaloperations of both organizations.

In 1983 Local 98 grieved a clause in the contract which prohibitedthe union from going on strike. Most IBEW locals do not have theright to strike without this prior approval from the national union.Local 98 grieved this no strike clause in the contract and an arbitratorruled that the local should, in fact, have the right to strike if anagreement could not be reached.

Despite the possible dire consequences of the 1983 ruling allowingthe local to strike, NECA and Local 98 continued to workcooperatively and in July of 1983 they established a Local 98 DeferredIncome Fund. Under the agreement 6% of a journeymans wageswere deducted and placed in an Annuity Fund as a fringe contribution.

When negotiations began in 1985, NECA and Local 98 realizedthat for the first time in the history of their relationship a failure toreach an agreement could possibly result in a strike. The issue thatyear was wage rates and the ratio of apprentices to journeymen on

the job. The negotiating committees could not reach an agreementand on May 10, 1985 Local 98 went on strike. The strike lasted twoweeks and had a devastating effect on NECA and Local 98.

The negotiations in 1985 were the first time that Local 98 andNECA were negotiating without the Council of Industrial Relationsno strike clause. Contractors and the union were not used tonegotiating under these conditions since in all past negotiationsthey could rely on the Council to avert a strike by arriving at asettlement which both labor and management were obligated toaccept.

The strike in 1985 was over wages and the number ofapprentices that contractors would be required to hire. The strikedivided the contractors and the union severely. A very interestingthing happened during the negotiations that indicated to me theeffect that a strike has on the parties involved. When the negotiationsbegan the Local 98 bargaining committee wore suits and ties. Whenthe strike began the committee showed up at the negotiating sessionin their work clothes. They wanted to be sure that everyone knewexactly who they were.

At the outset of the strike some of the membership did not takethe situation as seriously as they might have. But as the strike wentinto the second week they began to feel that matters might have gottenout of hand.

During the strike I was on the local union Executive Boardand I was asked to come into the union office to help out. I thinkthat no one thought that the strike would happen but it did and itlasted two weeks. The first week of the strike I got a few calls frommembers saying that they were working around the house or weredown the shore painting their summer homes. None of themsounded too concerned. The second week the calls changed.Members called to ask when the strike was going to end. You couldfeel the pressure increasing.

When the strike ended, Local 98 and NECA attempted to resumetheir normal operations. In 1986 the local for the first time establisheda Finance Committee which prepared a yearly budget and a projectedfive-year budget. The Committee was composed of the businessmanager, the president, the financial secretary and rank-and-filemembers. The union also continued to help community groups thatwere in need of assistance.

In 1986 we received a request for help from a woman inSouthwest Philadelphia who fed the homeless on Thanksgiving.She called a week before Thanksgiving and said that someone haddonated three electric ranges, which she could not use because therewasnt enough power in the building. We sent three journeymenand a group of apprentices who volunteered their time and we wentout and wired the building so that they would be ready to feed thehomeless on Thanksgiving.

As late as 1987 the industry continued to benefit from goodeconomic conditions. Things were so good that Local 98 and NECAagreed to establish a seasonal helper category of worker. Underthis agreement, if the local could not supply a sufficient number ofapprentices, contractors were permitted to hire seasonal helpers whocould work for the contractor for up to a year.

In 1987, economic conditions began to deteriorate and NECAand Local 98 began to be adversely effected by competition fromnon-union contractors. To meet this competition the LaborManagement Committee established a program called targeted jobs.Under the targeted jobs programs, specific jobs were selected,particularly prevailing wage jobs where there are lots of non-unionworkers, and contractors and the union devised ways to makecontractors more competitive. For example, overtime and double timewas waived, or the ratio of journeymen to apprentices was changedor common starting times were established. This program made itpossible for contractors to bid successfully on jobs, which unioncontractors would have otherwise been unable to secure.

As the 1980s drew to a close both Local 98 and thePenn-Del-Jersey Chapter of NECA were strong, viable, wellestablished organizations. Local 98 had a membership ofapproximately 1,600 members and the local NECA chapter includedover 125 member contractors covering seventeen local unions in thetri-state area. NECA represented approximately 50% of the unioncontractors in the area, but those member contractors handled about80% of the man-hours of work installed in this jurisdiction.

In Philadelphia, the union contractors performed about 60% ofthe work in the industry, but in suburban areas the number was aslow as 5%. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s the industry lost ahuge percentage of the residential electrical work. Most of the workin the 1980s was in heavy industry since non-union contractors couldcompete with union contractors for light industrial jobs. By 1989there were non-union contractors who could compete on any sizejob.

In Center City Philadelphia Local 98 still controlled a goodpercentage of the work. But beyond the down town area it was rarethat a contractor got a job. Local 98 once did all of the work at thePhiladelphia Airport. By the end of the 1980s the local had difficultygetting these jobs.

Although there were danger signs which suggested that thingswould not be as good as they were in the 1980s, no one in NECA orLocal 98 could foretell the dire economic conditions which lay aheadin 1990, or forecast the dramatic effect they would have on the industryand the entire country.

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In the summer of 1990, Local 98 had full employment and hadthree hundred IBEW members working on travel cards and onehundred ninety seasonal helpers. As winter approached the local beganto experience some seasonal unemployment, which set in each year.As employment began to decline in October and November, travelcard workers began to leave and Local 98 members took these jobs.By December a small number of Local 98 members were unemployed.

In January 1991, unemployment grew rapidly and by the end of1991 six hundred Local 98 members were out of work. In 1991 and1992 there were fewer opportunities for Local 98 members to workout of town on travel cards because the economy was bad throughoutthe country.

By the beginning of 1992, over 600 journeymen and apprentices,out of a total membership of 1,900, were unemployed. Over 30% ofall journeymen were on the out of work list and fifty apprenticeswere unemployed.

Circumstances were much worse in the 1990 recession than theyhave been in past recessions. In the 1970s there were powerhousesbeing built in Pennsylvania and other states and members of Local98 were working other jobs tending bar and doing whatever theycould do to make ends meet. In the 1990s there were no jobs availableanywhere in the country and there were no jobs in the communityeither.

In the forty years that I have been in the union I can recallonly two periods when things were as bad as they are today. In1956 and again in 1976 a lot of journeymen were out of work. Butl think that things are worse today and it does not appear that theywill be getting better in the near future.

However, conditions were dramatically different for Local 98members, who were unemployed in the 1990s, than they were forthose out of work in the 1950s and the 1970s. Local 98 had a numberof programs to help members survive during this period of widespreadunemployment. Unemployed members had their dues paid, theirhealth and welfare benefits continued, and they received SupplementalUnemployment Benefits (SUB).

The locals Supplemental Unemployment Benefit Fund wasfunded by dues paid by members at the rate of 3 3/4%. Members paiduntil the fund grew to $300,000. Between 1980 and 1990 the fundbuilt up to that level because there was very little unemployment.When the fund exceeded $300,000 members received a rebate. Whenthe fund began to pay benefits unemployed members received $60 aweek for 26 weeks and then they got $300 a week for thirteenadditional weeks.

In addition, retirement benefits made it increasingly attractivefor members to retire if they found that jobs were scarce. Journeymenwho retired in the 1990s, at 65, after working in the industry 45years, could get a cash annuity of $60,000 to $70,000 and a pensionas high as $2,500 to $3,000 a month, plus Social Security benefits. Aretirees total pension benefits could amount to as much as $35,000 ayear.

In an effort to deal with the widespread unemployment, whichexisted in 1992, Local 98 increased its campaign to handbill and picketnon-union jobsites. The union picketed and demonstrated againstnon-union contractors to discourage them from bidding on futurejobs in the city. The union used unemployed members to picket and

handbill job sites throughout Philadelphia. On many occasions thelocal would be running two or three picket lines a day.

NECA contractors felt that more drastic steps were needed tohelp union contractors remain competitive. They proposed that someof the more stringent work rules be renegotiated. Some NECAmembers proposed that contractors be permitted to move workersfrom one jurisdiction to another without dealing with problems raisedby local union autonomy. This proposal was made to deal withproblems that arose when NECA contractors were forced to hireworkers represented by a number of different locals all of whom wereworking under different work rules.

NECA based its demand for work rule changes, in part, on a 1991survey by Fales Management Company, which concluded that thesame economic conditions were likely to exist through 1993 and thatthe next high rise would not be built until 1995. If these predictionswere valid, conditions would not be good for the unionized electricalindustry for a number of years. NECA contractors believed thatsignificant changes needed to be made in the agreement so unioncontractors could compete with non-union contractors, especiallywhen the economy was in a depressed state.

In an effort to deal with these competitive forces, Local 98 andthe local NECA chapter devised methods designed to help them livetogether more amicably and to further their mutual interests. NECADivision Chairpersons and Local 98 Business Managers attendedconferences where they worked on the development of cooperativeapproaches to deal with present and future problems in the industry.In addition, the leadership of both Local 98 and the Penn-Del-JerseyNECA Chapter attended the Cornell University Mutual Gains ModelTraining Program in Labor Management Relations, where they learnedthe Win/Win Approach to deal with problems facing their industry.

Despite disagreements over work rules, NECA and Local 98agreed that training was a key element in their struggle to protect theunions jurisdiction and maintain a share of the industry for union

contractors. Contractors and the union realized that more sophisticatedtraining was needed for both apprentices and journeymen and thattraining would have to emphasize the cooperative nature of theirrelationship.

The information that an apprentice needs to know in the 1990sis twice as much as we needed to know in the 1960s. A majorproblem in apprentice training in the 1990s is deciding what shouldbe in the curriculum to prepare a well-qualified electricaljourneyman. We dont teach what is inside the components thatmake up the equipment that we install today because when it isdamaged we dont repair it. We throw it away and plug in a newone. A second major problem is that high school graduates in the1990s are not as well prepared in basic mathematics reading andcomprehension skills as graduates in the 1960s were. We deal withthis by offering a thirteen-week remedial mathematics course. Mostof the apprentices entering the program today must attend thisreview course three hours a week during the summer before theyenter the apprentice program.

From the first day in the training program Local 98 apprenticesshould be made to feel that apprentices and journeymen mustcooperate with NECA contractors or neither one of us is going tosurvive. The most important message that must go out to apprenticesis that contractors are not their enemies. They must realize that weare their employers and if it were not for us they would not havewell paying jobs with good benefits. For some reason they thinkthat we must have an adversarial relationship. We contractorsrealize that we need qualified union workers and workers mustunderstand that they cannot do without us. Together we make agreat team.

In 1992 the curriculum for the apprenticeship program for thefirst two semesters included classes in the national electrical code,blue print reading, electrical theory, and mathematics. In the thirdsemester apprentices were introduced to transformers, motors, motorcontrols, and lighting. In the fourth semester they were introduced to

more sophisticated systems, such as fire alarms and programmablecontrollers. The fifth semester stressed new technologies, such asfiber optics process control and instrumentation.

The entrance requirements for aspiring apprentices also becamemore stringent in the 1990s. Each applicant had to attend a forty-fiveminute session in which they were told what the apprentice programwas about and what would be expected of them. Those who werestill interested returned to the union the next day and completed aformal application. As part of the procedure applicants were requiredto produce evidence that they were over 18 and had graduated fromhigh school. Applicants were then scheduled for a test administeredby the Bureau of Apprenticeship Training, which measured theirabilities in mathematics, finger dexterity, and spatial concepts. Acommittee composed of three contractors from NECA and threerepresentatives from Local 98 then interviewed applicants. Thecommittee usually interviewed three applicants for every apprenticeopening. In 1991 there were ninety-five openings and the committeeinterviewed three hundred applicants.

Training and upgrading for journeymen also became a priorityfor Local 98 and NECA in the 1990s. In 1991 the union launched anew series of journeymen training courses, offered at night, designedto upgrade the skills of Local 98 members. The program offeredfourteen different courses including programmable controls, fiberoptics, welding, national electrical code, voice and data, airconditioning, and instrumentation. One hundred and eighty onemembers attended these courses in 1991 and 1992.

We have got to produce the best trained journeymen in themarket place. If we dont we wont get the work. Other trades andnon-union contractors are preparing their members and theiremployees to work with electrical materials that are being introducedtoday. We have to be better trained than these people because wewill be competing with them for work and jobs.

During this period plans were being made to improve and expandthe apprentice and journeymen training programs.

In the next ten years we will have to move our apprentice andjourneymen training programs into a training center which is biggerand better equipped than our present facility. Journeymen will haveto realize that they must continue their training throughout theircareers. We must become specialists who are certified to do themost advanced type of electrical work. There will be a demand fortechnicians, who can perform highly skilled and technical jobs,and we must be able to supply those mechanics or we will lose thework. We need to be able to train twelve or fifteen welders at a time.We must have all of the computerized equipment that is needed totrain our journeymen. We need more space to offer additionalcourses for journeymen in the evening and on Saturdays.

The planning and decision making process which went intothe development and improvement of Local 98s apprenticeship andjourneymen training programs was one example of a union whichpracticed democratic procedures and an industry which employedpositive labor management relations. Im very proud of that fact.The situation is really very healthy.

Local 98 is a very democratic union. Sometimes almost to afault. Our union meetings are really very open. I think that there isnot a member of this local who would feel intimidated aboutstanding up and speaking his piece. We talk about union democracyin this union. The relationship between NECA and Local 98 isunique. We understand that we are the two dominant forces in theindustry and we will make it what it is. We have been able to resolveproblems at the labor management level because there is a mutualrespect between the contractor and the union.

As Local 98 entered the 1990s the local had a tried and testedprocedure for involving the membership and NECA contractors inthe operation of the union. A number of standing committeesadministered various trust funds including pension, vacation and

apprentice training. The president appointed three representatives oneach of these committees to represent Local 98 and NECA selectedthree representatives for the contractors. Each of these standingcommittees or trust funds operated as a separate entity that hired theirown lawyers, accountants and staff.

A Labor Management Committee met monthly to discussproblems that exist in the industry or on work sites. If there weregrievances, which could not be settled at a lower level, they are broughtto the Committee for discussion and resolution. The Committee wascomposed of three representatives from Local 98 and three fromNECA, with two alternates from each group. The local union presidentand the business manager were usually on this Committee. The LaborManagement Committee also negotiated the local contract.

Over the past twenty years there has been an excellentrelationship between NECA and Local 98. We really work togetheras a team. There are, of course, times when we dont agree withthem or they dont agree with us. But on the whole there is a teameffort to provide the best training for our apprentices and to get thelions share of the electrical business in this area.

The local also had a Workers Compensation Committee composedof three rank-and-file volunteers who reviewed all of the accidentreports to determine who had been injured and which worksites weremost dangerous to the safety and health of members. The Committeeworked closely with the Health and Welfare Committee to determinehow the union could cut costs in that program.

In addition, the local had a Political Action Committee composedof eight or nine rank-and-file volunteers who were active in politicsin their communities. They worked during elections to circulateinformation on candidates and to get out the vote. Between electionsthe committee was actively involved in lobbying efforts designed toprotect the interests of Local 98 members and NECA contractors.

In 1992 the local also established a committee to develop ascholarship program which would provide financial assistance to thechildren of members who attended post secondary schools, collegesand universities.

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The roots of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workersreach back to 1890 when a group of linemen and wiremen, workingat the St-Louis Exposition (Worlds Fair), began to meet on a regularbasis to discuss common problems. Convinced that they had no chanceto improve their working conditions as individuals, this group ofworkers established a mixed local of linemen and wiremen andreceived a charter as Federal Labor Union 5221 from the AmericanFederation of Labor (AFL).

In 1891 Local 5221 launched an ambitious organizing campaignto build a national union for all electrical workers. Locals wereestablished in Philadelphia, Chicago, Milwaukee, Louisville,Indianapolis, New Orleans, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. A call wasissued for a national convention and on November 21, 1891, tendelegates representing about three hundred workers from eight citiesmet in St. Louis and founded the National Brotherhood of ElectricalWorkers (NBEW).

By 1892, the number of locals in good standing had reached 43with a membership of approximately 1,600. When the thirdconvention opened in Cleveland in 1893, the number of locals hadincreased to 65.

Throughout the period from 1892 to 1902 the NBEW struggledto remain viable despite hard times in the industry due to a severeeconomic depression. In 1894 the NBEW Secretary-Treasurerreported a loss for the year of $468.50, and he added, I mortgaged

The ten delegates who met in St. Louis in 1891 at the first Convention of theBrotherhood of Electrical Workers.

my household effects and building association stock to meet the checksand to get out the Journal with proceedings of the Convention.

In 1903 the Union elected F.J. McNulty President and voted topay him a full-time salary so that he could devote his entire time tothe interests of the union. This change transformed the Union from aweak association into a coordinated and effective organization.

During the years from 1913 to 1919 the Brotherhood grewtremendously with the membership increasing from 23,500 in 1913to 148,072 in 1919. The most significant factor contributing to thisgrowth was World War I when electricity was in great demand.

The early 1920s witnessed an attack on all labor unions by anopen shop movement called the American Plan. Anti-unionemployers attempted to destroy the labor movement by using meansoutside the law. The attack was effective and by 1925 the membershipof the union fell to 56,000 a loss of 90,000 members in six years.To deal with this period of labor strife the Brotherhood workedcooperatively with a group of electrical contractors to establish aCouncil on Industrial Relations. The Council on Industrial Relationsis still in existence today. The Council, acting as a Supreme Courtfor the electrical industry, has settled thousands of disputes over thepast 70 years.

Work was scarce for most of the union throughout the 1920s andwhen the stock market crashed in 1929, it made matters worse formany IBEW members. Unemployment was rampant. The situationwas so bad that the union canceled International Conventions between1929 and 1941 because of lack of funds.

The fortunes of the IBEW began to change in 1935, with thepassage of the National Labor Relations Act, when the union launchedan organizing campaign in utility and manufacturing plants.Thousands of workers joined the IBEW as B members who werein the union but were not eligible for the pension and death benefitsthat A members received.

By 1941, fifty years after the founding of the union, the IBEWhad grown to 869 local unions with a membership of nearly 200,000strong. In 1941 the average wage for inside electrical workers was$1.38 and a new high of $2.20 had been reached in some areas. Inthat same year the IBEW cooperated with the National ElectricalContractors Association and the Federal Committee onApprenticeship to establish National Apprenticeship Standards.

From 1941 to 1945 the activities of the IBEW focused on the wareffort. Throughout World War II there was a heavy demand forelectrical workers. Local 98 established accelerated training programsdesigned to prepare new members for work in war plants and navyyards. And over 35,000 IBEW members served in the Armed Forcesin World War II. During the war the membership at work on the homefront aided the dues, pension and death benefits for the memberswho were in the Armed Forces.

In 1947 the IBEW became actively involved in political actionand Joseph Keenan from Local 134 in Chicago became the Directorof the American Federation of Labor (AFL) Labors League forPolitical Education, which supported candidates who promoted theinterests of unions and working people.

Throughout the 1950s the union made substantial membershipgains. During these years the IBEW organized seventy-five percentof the nations utility workers, most of who were employed by privateutility companies. The union won National Labor Relations Boardelections at nine RCA plants and a number of Westinghouse divisionsand small and medium-sized manufacturing concerns. Thismulti-industry organizing campaign brought results and the IBEWgrew to 650,000 members in 1,675 locals.

Although the 1960s were characterized by a loss of manufacturingjobs to automation and the introduction of robots, the IBEWexperienced moderate growth during this period. The greatest threatto the union was posed by General Electric, which presented themembers with a take-it-or-leave-it contract proposal in 1965 and

forced the union to go on strike. The IBEW joined other unionsincluding the International Union of Electrical Workers (UE), theUnited Auto Workers (UAW), and the Machinists (IAM) in a 101-day strike, which culminated in a victory for the union.

By 1973, when the union moved into its new internationalheadquarters, a twelve story, all electric building, constructed entirelyby union labor, the membership had reached the one million mark.After 82 years of struggle, the IBEW, governed by a strong constitutionand reasonably secure financially, rededicated itself to building anindustrial brotherhood by organizing the unorganized in all branchesof the industry.

In recent years the IBEW has emphasized involvement of localunions and members in community activities. For the past 40 yearsthe union served as an advocate for the handicapped, for the agedand for the less privileged members of our society. The union wasactive in campaigns to fight diabetes and birth defects, marched forcivil rights, and lobbied at both the state and national levels to raisethe minimum wage, to improve Medicare and Medicaid and in supportof a national health system. The IBEW also lobbied for parental leave,adequate childcare for working parents, and equal pay for equal workfor all wage earners.

From the small handful of linemen and wiremen who firstorganized a union of electrical workers in 1891, the IBEW has grownto over 900,000 members. Our union continues to grow and we areable to reflect the changes that are taking place in our industry andour society. But the IBEW keeps its roots firmly planted in the practicaltrade unionism that launched the organization over a century ago andhas stood us in good stead all of these years.

Inside cover of 1927 ad book.

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The National Electrical Contractors Association, founded in 1901,is a national trade association that represents, promotes and advancesthe interests of the electrical contracting industry. NECA is composedof affiliated chapters whose principal function is electrical contracting.

NECA is composed of a national headquarters, 4 regional offices,10 districts, field services, and 128 local chapters, which are locatedthroughout the world.

NECA is a powerful advocate for its nearly 4500 member-companies and is the leading representative of the nationsapproximately 65,000 electrical contracting firms engaged in installingand maintaining communications and electrical power systems. It isoften said that NECA speaks for all of the members of the electricalindustry

The activities and initiatives of NECA are carried out with theconsent and active participation of its members. For example, it isthe vision of contractors that motivates NECAs interaction withgovernment and other organizations to protect family owned firms,control risks, manage costs, and to secure fair competition inderegulated markets. For NECA contractors, who are the focus of allof these initiatives, the goal is to provide the best possible service tocustomers.

In this era of heightened customer demand, the rapid emergenceof new technology, and the expansion of technology driven markets,

NECA contractors face their greatest challenges, as well as theirgreatest opportunities to have an impact on the world around them.

When Thomas Edison harnessed electricity and made it possiblefor us to light our homes, workplaces, and communities, he trulyastounded the world. Today, 120 years later, we are witnessing evenmore amazing changes. The past decade has ushered in moretechnological advances than all of those introduced since thebeginning of time. The 21st century promises to give rise to evenmore electrical and electronic advances, and at a vastly acceleratedpace. Thousands of electrical contracting firms throughout the worldare ready and eager to help their customers to avail themselves tothis new and emerging technology.

Todays electrical contractors are in fact technical contractors whoare involved in new construction, maintenance, repair, upgrades,modernization, utility work and increasingly work on voice, data,video and integrated systems. Therefore, when NECA companiesdemand more high-tech training for their workers, we respond bydeveloping state-of-the-art training programs with our industrypartners in the IBEW. NECA also responds to its members demandsfor management education in governmental and industry affairs, helpwith labor relations, and assistance with customer outreach. Inaddition, the organization prides itself on being the best source ofinformation on electrical contracting available today.

NECA values highly the long record of constructive andresponsible labor relations practiced by the national association, itschapters, and its members. NECAs basic policy is that every effortshould be made by all parties to constantly improve labor managementrelations so that we can provide the maximum possible productivityper work-hour in order to meet competition and to promote consumeruse of skilled electrical craftsmen employed by qualified electricalcontractors. NECAs labor relations policies provide for coordinatedand cooperative efforts between local chapters and the nationalassociation. The policy features a high degree of local responsibility,while providing methods by which the national association can

promote and safe guard the labor relations, and business interestsand goals of the industry.

All NECA programs and procedures are designed to employrational and peaceful approaches to the settlement of disputes andthe avoidance of strikes, work stoppages and jurisdictional disputes.NECA has joined with the IBEW to develop the National LaborManagement Cooperation Committee (NLMCC). The goal of theNLMCC is to improve the relationship between signatory employersand the IBEW at all levels. The NLMCC explores ways that NECAand the IBEW can work together to become more competitive byincreasing employment opportunities and promoting the value ofunion electrical work. In addition, NECA frequently sponsorsseminars to promote harmonious local labor relations.

NECA also develops programs designed to improve safety, trainapprentices and journeymen, and improve employment and benefitprograms. NECA and the IBEW promote the development ofprograms to ensure an adequate supply of technically andprofessionally qualified craftsmen in all types electrical work. Thisincludes the expansion of apprenticeship training and continuingeducation courses for journeymen designed to prepare them to workwith technological advances in our ever expanding industry.

NECA plays an active role in a number of committees includingthe Council of Industrial Relations (CIR), the National JointApprenticeship and Training Committee (NJATC), the NationalEmployers Benefit Agreement (NEBF), the Outside UtilityConstruction National Project Agreement, the Plan for the Settlementof Jurisdictional Disputes, the National Teledata Agreement, and theNational Maintenance Agreement.

The electrical industry and the general public have securedimmeasurable savings due to NECAs diligent efforts to promote andmaintain full and uninterrupted productivity while striving foreconomically realistic terms of employment.

The Penn-Del-Jersey Chapter of NECA, the industry partner ofIBEW Local 98, was founded and chartered in Philadelphia in 1939.For the past 61 years the Penn-Del-Jersey branch of NECA and Local98 have worked very hard to create a better electrical constructionindustry and to ensure a better standard of living for all Local 98members and their families.

Through the years the local leaders of NECA and Local 98 haverealized that they could accomplish much more for the common goodof the electrical contracting industry if they strengthened therelationship between their two organizations. The proof of thisrealization is evident in the accomplishments that have taken placeover the past 61 years. A few of these achievements are outlinedbelow.

In 1947, realizing the need for apprentice and continuingjourneymen training to provide the industry with the best trained andmost highly skilled craftsmen, NECA and Local 98 formed the JointApprenticeship and Training Program. For the past 53 years theprogram has provided the basic training as well as the mostsophisticated training needed in our industry.

In 1953, NECA and Local 98 created the Local 98/NECA Healthand Welfare Fund, designed to improve the health care coverage forunion members and their families. This fund has provided continuoushealth and welfare benefits for all of our members and their families,even in times of severe unemployment. The program continues togrow and expand, despite many difficult problems facing the healthcare industry today.

In 1961, NECA and Local 98 established the Local 98/NECAPension Plan, that provided members and their families a pensionthat would allow them to retire with dignity and the opportunity toenjoy their retirement years.

In 1983, NECA and Local 98 established the Local 98/NECADeferred Income Plan. This plan made it possible for members toreceive a portion of their income after they retired.

In 1996, NECA and Local 98 initiated a Joint Labor ManagementCooperation Committee designed to develop a marketing programthat would employ innovative ways to use media to market ourcontractors and union members.

The relationship between NECA and Local 98 has risen tounprecedented heights. Aggressive organizing campaigns, innovativeand creative collective bargaining agreements, civic and charitableprograms, and an incredible level of political involvement haveushered in a period of record breaking levels of growth for bothorganizations and their members. This partnership has gainedtremendous recognition and respect locally and throughout the nation.The members of NECA are justly proud of the partnership with Local98 and