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Omaha Contractor Signs With Local 22

June 30, 2005

After years of salting and talks with the owner, IBEW Local 22 finally organized Omaha Electric Service, Inc.. The contractor was lured by the deep benches of quality workmanship.

The top-down effort brought in 35 new members to the IBEW and shocked the anti-union Associated Builders and Contractors. The contractor, known by its acronym OESI, had been one of the three largest nonunion electrical contractors in the city.

"He’s a good contractor; he’s going to be successful and we want to be part of that" said Local 22 Business Manager John Bourne. "OESI wants to go the next level and you need qualified people to do it." With two major construction projects coming up this year, OESI will now be in a better position to bid. The projects, in Manawa and Nebraska City, each will employ up to 300 electricians, to be supplied by Local 22 and Lincoln Local 265.

OESI has been happy with the quality of workers who have taken job calls since the contractor signed in February, said organizer Brad Doyle. The multiyear process of gaining the contractor’s confidence in the skills and benefits of the IBEW/National Electrical Contractors Association was slow but steady. Now Local 22 has hopes of signing at least one other electrical contractor in Omaha.

Bourne said the local took the route union market share specialist Mark Breslin advocated in his presentation to the Construction Conference last year – treating potential contractors as partners. "It worked," he said. The local had initiated several unsuccessful campaigns at OESI over the years, Doyle said.

"It all started out with me going up there into the front door and saying, ‘I’m from the union and I’m here to help,’" Doyle said. "We hope this is just the beginning."

IBEW Directory: Local 22

Local 22 Web site

Southern Nevada Chapter NECA Partnering With IBEW