HOW TO JOIN THE IBEW

There are a couple of different ways to join the IBEW. You can apply as an individual provided we have employment opportunities for your particular skill set, or you can seek to organize your current employer through a traditional NLRB election. Check out the Organizing Info. page for more information on National Labor Relations Board procecedures. There, you will find access to our authorization card form. If you are interested in trying to Organize your workplace, fill out the form, and get it to a Local 1547 representative. This information is confidential and the only way your employer will know you have signed an authorization card is if you choose to let the word out.

The classifications for which we have the most individual opportunities are our traditional ones: inside wireman, power lineman, and telecommunications workers. If you have at least 8000 hours in any of these classifications you may qualify to challenge our journeyman examinations. We also have opportunities for non-traditional job classifications. You can call the union hall or e-mail the webmaster for more information. The information below addresses joining in our traditional classifications.

THE PROCESS

First, we will provide you an application for membership and an application to take our examination. The membership application takes about two minutes to fill out. The examination application takes about the same. The applications are referred to the membership per our Bylaws. Also, the Unit Committee (a member elected committee for each of the four areas in Alaska) examines the applications for completeness and to verify that you have fulfilled the criteria for membership.

After review, the membership application is forwarded to the Executive Board for final approval and the examination application is presented to the Examining Board for testing. We feel this process is as efficient as we can make it and still honor the rights of our membership.

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WHY A TEST?

Why do you have to take our test when you've worked for years as a State licensed journeyman electrician? The IBEW is an international union. Not all States or Provinces of Canada have testing requirements. The IBEW has Local Unions all over North America and when you show them the membership card (your paid up dues receipt) that says Journeyman Wireman, that's all the proof of your skills and ability you'll need to seek work through that Local.

Of course, you must still comply with whatever State or Local Government laws that apply, but your dues receipt is all you'll need for the IBEW. Also, completing the test is a requirement everywhere to sign Book I or Book II, the two Books where most employment opportunity exists.

EMPLOYMENT/UNEMPLOYMENT

Another question asked is when will I have to quit my current job and sign the Books? Our goal is NOT to add to the unemployment of members. We will not require you to quit your job until such time as we can provide work for you or organize your current employer.

The decision on when you quit your current employer is up to you. Ultimately, we'd like to have you quit only when we have work available for you. However, the reality is, if everyone joins the IBEW and continues to work for whatever wages and conditions the employer offers, we don't gain a thing. At some point in time we will ask you to either quit your job or to begin concerted activity in an effort to organize your employer.

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WHAT IS A REFERRAL PROCEDURE?

Through the collective bargaining process we have developed a mutually acceptable manner for work distribution to our members. In essence, all electrical workers in Alaska are eligible for work through our referral process. Likewise, electrical workers from throughout the United States and Canada who are present here in Alaska and seeking work have access to jobs through this process. Like any membership organization we try to take care of our members first. However, the rules that we have established apply equally to all, whether a member or not.

The way our system currently works is described following this paragraph. We say currently because our membership tells us how to run the referral and from time to time we will change the process based on their direction.

Priority dispatch is made from four different Books. The first two books require the applicant to be currently a journeyman level worker, which means someone who has worked in the field for at least 8000 hours in the particular classification and who has taken and passed a journeyman examination from a Local Union of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Additionally, Book I requires the applicant be a resident of the State and to have worked at least 2080 hours within the jurisdiction of this Local Union (i.e. the State of Alaska) within the last four years.

Residents of Alaska have two other methods to qualify for Book I. The first is to have completed training through the Alaska Electrical Apprenticeship and Training Center. The second is to have worked at least 15,000 hours under the collective bargaining agreement during a lifetime.

Book II applicants are those who do not meet the residency requirement of Book I, or who don't meet the hours requirement, or both. Book III applicants are residents of the State who have not tested out as journeymen through a local union of the IBEW, but have documented at least two years experience in the trade and have been employed at least six months in the last three years in the industry, within the state of Alaska. Book IV applicants are those who have worked at the trade for more than one year.

The question in most unorganized electrical or communications workers' minds is, "What Book will I sign?" The preferred answer is, "You won't be signing any book because you'll be employed." If you are signing a Book it means you are unemployed. If you end up being unemployed, it depends on which of the criteria you meet on the above four books.

This is a difficult topic to write on because there are so many variables. The biggest difference in how you find employment is that as a member or participant through the union we provide the referral under negotiated terms of employment. Unrepresented workers must find the work and then negotiate as individuals whatever terms the employer is offering.

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WHO IS THE UNION?

The Union is, simply put, a group of individuals banded together in recognition that there is strength in numbers. We realized the benefits of belonging to an employee association. We understand the power represented by us as opposed to just me when we deal with employers.

Collectively, we have been able to establish a forum to address our quality of work life in a fair manner that benefits us far more than any other method of employment. Our wages, health care plan and pension benefits are proof of the success of our efforts.

We have mortgages, car payments, kids to raise, and the same trials and tribulations of life that our nonunion friends do. The difference is we share our problems, talk about how to remedy them, and negotiate a fix with our employers. Through the negotiating process we believe the entire industry is better served, and so do our employers.

Please take some time from your busy life and come meet us. We're always willing to stay after hours to meet interested new members. Simply call and let us know when to be here.

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