President’s Message – August 2025

Organizing Department Firing On All Cylinders Right Now

Our organizing efforts are firing on all cylinders right now. Our organizing campaigns in the affordable residential housing market are in full swing. I’m pleased to report we’re getting very good results on our efforts. 

We’ve been working for the past few months to penetrate the residential market by organizing new members into that community. We’ve had work calls into the hall the past few weeks that are going unfilled. That’s allowed our IBEW 11 organizers to get our new organized candidates to take the calls and be on the job sometimes the same or
next day. 

We’ve signed 11 new contractors in the calendar year in 2024. Kudos to Ben Frank and the rest of the organizing department for leading the effort on those campaigns. We’re already getting calls from some of these new, smaller contractors who are putting our members to work. You can read our story on page 4 about our efforts. And don’t be shy about hi-fiving
Ben and the gang for their stellar work.

We’re also proud of member and Organizer Jorge Hernandez for his tireless efforts in organizing Sema Electric and bringing them into the union fold. He received an “Above and Beyond” award from the IBEW 9th District for his efforts. Using some creative organizing techniques, Hernandez and his team used salting techniques to help bring the contractor around. He says it’s all about communications and relationships, and we couldn’t agree more. 

We’re also very proud to announce our Community Workforce Agreement (CWA) with the city of Palmdale. Through long-term relationship building with the community and elected officials, plus showing our worth as skilled and trained workers who can save the city money by bringing jobs in on time and on budget, we’ve been able to fold what was once an anti-union stronghold into the union column. Hats off to Beto Gonzalez and the other organizers in District 5 for helping organize contracts, members, and the actual jobs into work for our members. 

In solidarity, 

Alton Wilkerson