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More than six years ago, Milwaukee Local 2150 Business Manager Timm Driscoll brought together executive officers, staff and members to brainstorm on the future direction of the local. Mergers with smaller units had changed the complexion of the organization, several major utility contracts had been combined into one and the locals already significant geographic jurisdiction had expanded with the new additions.

The gathering, which culled a cross-section of representatives from every wing of the diverse local, was facilitated by a prominent labor professor and kicked off by International Secretary-Treasurer Jerry OConnor, then Sixth District Vice President.

Participants in the strategic meeting considered continuing down the path of a typical servicing union, keeping existing members content while protecting the locals jurisdictional turf. But this cadre of 2150 members instead decided to launch a multi-faceted program aimed at increasing the locals influence in the political arena, honing the skills and attitudes of current members and organizing more in core industries of outside construction and utilities as well as reaching out to other, less traditional units.

Today, all of those efforts are bearing fruit, but none more so than organizing. Since 1997, Milwaukee Local 2150 has won 15 of 16 organizing campaigns, adding more than 800 members in a multi-year blitz that shows no sign of letting up.

We believe it all ties together, said Local 2150 President Forrest Ceel. In the long run, if you dont do these things to try to keep the union growing and stronger, you start to stagnate, you start to dwindle and then you die.

Ceel, who is also a business representative, said as a result of the locals recent emphasis on lobbying, he spends a great deal of time in the state capital of Madison attempting to sway leaders on legislative and regulatory issues. After hiring a full-time organizer, the locals organizing program is showing a 94 percent success rate. (NLRB figures on national averages show unions win approximately 50 percent of elections.)

The local recently won two elections within days of each other. In a December 11 NLRB-certified election, 120 professionals at a nuclear power plant, mostly engineers, voted to join the local. A week later, the union won a majority of 315 workers at Waukesha Electric, a manufacturing plant.

Organizing is a heck of a lot of fun when you win, Ceel said.

Business Representative Randy Sawicki, the locals organizer, said the vote of the WE Energies engineers was particularly satisfying, considering professionals usually think of themselves as belonging in their professions association, not a union. But as salaried workers and thus exempt them from the Fair Labor Standards Act, they got tired of working additional hours without additional compensation.

A separate company administers the facility and employs the new unit of professional employees, who work in quality assurance, information technology, engineering analysis, and licensing and regulatory affairs. Those workers had occasional dealings with Local 2150 in its representation of some of the plants hourly workers, Sawicki said.

A week later came the victory at Waukesha Electric, which brought in 315 new members who produce electrical transformers for the utility industry.

Sawicki has the title organizer but said he neither accepts nor deserves credit for the wins. Im only the byproduct of a concerted effort on the part of our local, he said. Organizing success is the result of the vision and commitment of the leadership of this local. He has been on the job since shortly after the watershed meeting in 1997.

All of 2150 thinks about organizing, and about keeping focused, which means we give the organizers the tools to do what they need to do to be successful, Driscoll said.

The realization that each component of the locals strategic vision was inextricably tied to the other came slowly, Driscoll said.

We sat down and decided that the number one reason unions have problems is because we dont have the right people supporting us in government, Driscoll said. We started to raise money for COPE, but then we realized that we didnt have people in an important representatives district. So you have to start increasing your membership more so that when you send your lobbyist to talk to a representative, you can say this is how many Im speaking for. Two hundred or 5,000, it makes a huge difference.

Another acknowledgement of the locals increasing political influence comes when companies employing Local 2150 members approach them for help in legislative or regulatory matters. The more power you have, the more your employers begin to say things like Can you help us? Driscoll said. As long as its good for the construction or the utility people we represent, well support them. Then when they get to the point where if theyre contracting work out, we ask if they remember when we helped them, so then you complete the circle.

Working together on political and legislative issues benefits what might otherwise be a confrontational relationship between the union and its represented companies. When theres some issue we differ on, they want us to go away, Driscoll said. But at least when we disagree, we can disagree respectfully.

Ceel said the local is now respected in Madison as an influential player in political circles. After five years at the state capital and the Public Service Commission, they know us, Ceel said.

Internal organizing and political education also became key to Local 2150s program, said Jan Schwingshakl, the locals former Education, Research and Training Coordinator, who is now an international representative in the International Office. The local made existing members powerful allies in organizing with courses in Membership Education and Mobilization for Organizing (MEMO) and Construction Organizing Membership Education Training (COMET). It created the support among the membership that is essential to organizing, Schwingshakl said. She also sought to change political attitudes by educating members on issues and legislation that affects workers. At the International Office, Schwingshakl is doing some of the same things on a larger scale.

Now Local 2150 has hired a training director for people in outside construction to broaden their skills, Driscoll said.

Local 2150 has nearly 4,500 members, mostly in outside construction and utilities. Its large geographic size covers the eastern half of Wisconsin and part of Michigans upper peninsula. Were so geographically spread out, its very hard to have a real active community service program, Driscoll said. Thats been a disappointment but were still working on it.

The locals approach has not escaped the notice of the districts vice president, who presented Local 2150 with the first-ever Sixth District Henry Miller organizing award two years ago. IBEW Sixth District Vice President Lawrence Curley said Local 2150 was singled out for the award named after the IBEWs founder and first president because of its constant commitment to organizing and education.

Curley said other locals could learn a lot from Local 2150. It all plays together, he said. Their involvement in the labor movement is second to none. They have a large jurisdiction and do a great job representing their members.

Vice President Curley said Local 2150 has also shown a willingness to help with other organizing campaigns in the district, when needed. If someone said today they need 100 organizers for a campaign in Indiana, for example, Local 2150 would be among the first locals to send in organizers to help out, along with a lot of other locals in the district, Curley said. Theyve done it over and over again. And when they needed help, we were able to send them in.

Local 2150 leaders consider their efforts basic to their responsibilities as members of the Brotherhood.

A lot of unions say theyre going to do this kind of stuff but they dont, Ceel said. We believe when Ed Hill and Jerry OConnor said we need to get involved, we take it seriously.

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