The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 11 has a successful mentoring program designed to help underserved communities prepare for careers in the electrical trades. 

USA

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve highlighted American products, jobs and stories for our Made in America series, and we asked for your thoughts. Earlier in June, we rounded up what you told us are your favorite USA-made goods, here. This time around, there have been lots of great comments supporting Buy American, and a few questions.

The second season of the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance’s (USA's) “Brotherhood Outdoors,” a unique hunting and fishing series that showcases the talents and passions of union members, kicks off at 8 p.m. EDT on Thursdays, starting June 28, exclusively on the Sportsman Channel.

In the season premier, Scott Callaghan, an Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 26 member from Annapolis, Md., who served two tours of duty with the Marine Corps in the Middle East, joins host Tom Ackerman in the mountains of south central Montana to fulfill his dream of hunting America’s iconic bull elk east. 

Mark King says he considers his Bachelor’s Degree in Labor Studies that he received Saturday at commencement ceremonies for the National Labor College’s (NLC) Class of 2012, as his “keys to the kingdom.”

King, a New Hampshire school librarian and AFT member, was one of 78 graduates from 25 unions and the AFL-CIO community affiliate Working America who received their degrees at the Silver Spring campus.

Today, at more than 300 events around the country, activists from the Communications Workers of America (CWA), other AFL-CIO unions, Jobs with Justice (JwJ), 99% Power coalition and other allies are mobilized for a National Day of Action for a fair contract for 45,000 Verizon workers who are members of CWA and the Electrical Workers (IBEW).    

Verizon is a $100 billion company that has made tens of billions in profits, yet is demanding $10,000 a year from each worker in compensation cuts. At the same time, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam got a 200 percent raise from $7.2 million to $23.1 million, courtesy of the communication giant’s board of directors.

This is a cross-post by Kelsey Duckett from Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 11 in Commerce, Calif., on their participation in this year’s Letter Carriers "Stamp Out Hunger" food drive.

Across the United States, 50 million adults and 17 million children lack sufficient food every single day. To combat this, the Letter Carriers (NALC), for the past 20 years, has collected and donated food from mailboxes across the country. For the second consecutive year, IBEW Local 11 donated its Electrical Training Center in Commerce as the home base for all donated and collected food in Los Angeles County.

College professors, cable television installers and employees at donut shops, a hotel and in telecommunications are the latest workers to join AFL-CIO unions.

Nearly 400 AT&T Mobility retail store workers in Mississippi and Wyoming have chosen Communications Workers of America (CWA) representation. AT&T which has agreed to management neutrality, recognized the workers’ choice of CWA when majorities signed union authorization cards. The Mississippi unit includes 314 workers.

Members of the 99% Power coalition disrupted Verizon's annual shareholder meeting in Huntsville, Ala., six separate times today. In each instance, a group of protesters interrupted the proceedings using “Mic Check” tactics, followed by chants such as “Shame on you!” “Verigreedy!” and “People over profit!”  After each occurrence, the chanting group was led out by security people, with many in the audience applauding them. There were no arrests.

Thousands of working families are gathering outside the Verizon shareholder meeting this morning in Huntsville, Ala., to protest the company's "VeriGreedy" treatment of customers, workers and taxpayers.

Even as Verizon tripled the compensation of CEO Lowell McAdam to $23.1 million last year, the corporation was outsourcing U.S. jobs, gutting worker pensions and charging current and retired employees and their families thousands of dollars more for health benefits while cutting disability coverage. Meanwhile, employees have been struggling to win a new contract for nearly a year.

The one-two punch of a crippling recession and widespread anti-worker legislation has left many working families in the United States and Canada battered and on the ropes.

But many young IBEW members are just lacing up their gloves for round two.