Organizing into trade, industrial, and service unions became a legal right when the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) originally passed in 1935. Long before the
NLRA, the IBEW began with the efforts of a small group of linemen who gathered together in 1891 to form the National Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. These individuals traveled across the United States and helped
electrical workers everywhere to form local unions and become members of the NBEW. This heritage of organizing built the NBEW and continued until the organization grew outside the United States into Canada when it
became the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). The IBEW began before there was a law to protect a worker's right to join, assist, or form a union. Since the National Labor Relations Act passed and
provided that right, the Union has grown to nearly one million members.
The very foundation of the IBEW is anchored in organizing and is defined in the instrument that makes the organization a democracy,
its Constitution. The IBEW Constitution has slowly evolved over one hundred and six years. During that time, the basic philosophy upon which it was written has not changed. Today the intent of the IBEW's Founding
Fathers and the reason the organization is known as the "Union of Hearts and Minds" can be clearly seen in the objects of the IBEW listed at the beginning of the Constitution.
They are:
To organize all workers in the entire electrical industry in the United States and Canada, including all those in public utilities and electrical manufacturing, into local unions.
To promote reasonable methods of work.
To cultivate feelings of friendship among those of our industry.
To settle all disputes between employers and employees by arbitration (if possible).
To assist each other in sickness or distress.
To secure employment.
To reduce the hours of daily labor.
To secure adequate pay for our work.
To seek a higher and higher standard of living.
To seek security for the individual.
And by legal and proper means to elevate the moral, intellectual and social conditions of our members, their families and dependents, in the interest of a higher standard of citizenship.
Whether you work in the CONSTRUCTION or INDUSTRIAL sector, the IBEW is where you will find dignity and respect in your workplace; in your life!
