President’s Message – August 2023

Why Politics Is Important for Our Members 

Brothers and Sisters,

I hope you all fared well during Tropical Storm Hilary. My flight to Sacramento was delayed. Many flights from other airports were also delayed or outright canceled.  

Why was I flying to Sacramento?

All IBEW Locals in California have formed a common committee – the California State Association of Electrical Workers (CSAEW) – to address political issues in our state. CSAEW meets twice each year in person in Sacramento (and monthly on Zoom) to discuss political strategies and conduct political lobbying when we are in the State Capitol.  

Presently, our state is “Pro Union” and mostly Democratic. It’s our responsibility to push for “Pro Union” legislation that gets IBEW more jobs and keeps the jobs here in our state. We call ahead and book appointments to visit our legislators at their offices. We discuss the issues with them, and we ask them to vote for a particular issue – and sometimes we ask them to vote against a particular issue.  

On this recent trip we asked our legislators to vote for a bill that covers work at the refineries to be expanded to cover other “Green Energy” fuels which will create good IBEW jobs in the near future. On our last day in Sacramento, the legislative committee reviewing the bill recommended acceptance, and the elected officials in the California Assembly voted to approve the bill. That’s just one example of why politics is such an important aspect of our Union and the Building Trades. 

As always, if you have any questions, please give our offices a call. Thank you for the privilege to serve you all. 

In Solidarity,

Gaylord R “Rusty” Roten
President IBEW Local 11