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A Matter of Principle

You see and hear a lot about the "bottom line" for employers. As a trade union, we deal in a different currency. Principles define who we are and what we do.

Two key trade union principles have been on my mind latelythe right to strike and the responsibility to live up to our word. They are related.

Without the right to strike, we can neither have nor enforce our collective bargaining agreements, which are the worlds greatest single instrument for human dignity. Thats why we fight so fiercely to protect the right to strike in North American legislatures and courts.

Make no mistake, the strike is a weapon and whether youre talking about individuals or nations, weapons have to be used properly. In the summer of 2000, IBEW members at Verizon and Raytheon engaged in strikes against their employer when negotiations failed. In both cases, the strikes resulted in signing collective bargaining agreements, thereby giving our word to an agreement that improved the working lives of our members.

This is how the strike weapon is used. When negotiations fail and when other remedies are exhausted, workers put down their tools and refuse to give of their labor until justice is done.

As with so much else in life, timing is everything. The same act of walking off the job done under different circumstances becomes not an affirmation of our principles but a violation of them.

Earlier this year, I was deeply disturbed by reports that our members were walking off construction jobsites in several areas. These work stoppages were unauthorized and not in keeping with what we had agreed to do in our working agreements.

I have always believed that where theres smoke, theres fire. Sure enough, in most cases, there were problems mostly real, sometimes perceived. In some cases, the behavior of general contractors on the job was making things worse. My gut instinct is to stick up for our members and demand that any injustices be corrected.

But the various stoppages and slowdowns raised other issues calling for an additional response. I sent letters to all construction locals, and I emphasized in my speech to this years Construction Conference that unauthorized walk-offs or wobbles were not acceptable. The IBEW exists to obtain justice for its members. We demand that employers live up to their word and in doing so we must also demand the same of ourselves.

In our 111 years, we have painstakingly built procedures and mechanisms to resolve differences in the construction industry. As I said in my keynote address to the 36^th International Convention, no system is so perfect that it does not need periodic maintenance.

But saying that the system has faults is not an excuse for violating the foundation on which it is built. If we give our word to be part of a system, we cant walk off on a whim when things go wrong.

For the better part of our history, leaders of good will from the IBEW and our employers have hammered out differences so we could deal with our customers and their needs as a unified force. None of our branches succeed unless we have and hold the market, which is the customers who buy our products, skills and services. That includes all the training and organizing needed to remain the best, brightest and most productive workers.

The IBEW is rooted in bedrock principles. Responsible use of the right to strike is one of those principles. We demand fairness from employers and all officials with authoritybut we demand it of ourselves as well. Living up to our own standards is not always easy. But if we are to continue to be part of a movement built on higher principles, then it is what we must do.

We will never shrink from our duty to our membersand that means authorizing and executing a unified strike when necessary. But it also means living up to our word. Its a matter of principle.

Edwin D. Hill
International President

  Presidents Message
June 2002 IBEW Journal