International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers - Local 11

Every year on Labor Day, IBEW Local 11 makes its presence known in the most immediate way possible: with the shirts on their backs.

Hundreds of IBEW Local 11 members and families wear a T-shirt sending the strongest message possible about what’s most important at the annual Labor Day parade and rally in Wilmington.

In the ongoing battle to protect our rights as union members and push forward with organizing, we sometimes run into the same enemy, over and over again.

This year, the enemy is back with a new name and a new number. And this time, they have unlimited funds to try to do away with unions forever.

Make no mistake about it. Proposition 32 represents the biggest threat to our livelihood since the days when it was almost illegal to organize a union.

Prop. 32 is on the California state ballot for November. In some ways, it is similar to “paycheck deception,” a type of proposition that was on the California ballot in 2005 and 1998. Both times, it was defeated.

Since then, we have witnessed the polarization of our country and the effort to end unions in our time. We have seen growing income inequality—the fact that the top 1 percent make far more money, in 2012, than they ever did before.

On a Saturday morning at IBEW /NECA’s Electrical Training Institute in Commerce, nearly 100 potential Electricians and volunteer mentors are gathering. Some are just out of high school, some are a few years into the work force, and some are older and thinking about changing careers. They’re all here to take classes to prepare for the apprentice test that will be offered four days later.