To begin this year’s Rebuilding Together Metro Chicago event on Saturday, April 24, Powering Chicago union contractors and electricians volunteered their time so that participating homeowners can have electrically safer homes. This is Powering Chicago’s 30th year of participating in this annual event. Due to the continued COVID-19 pandemic, the event was different this year. […]
The birth of unionized labor in the Chicago area didn’t happen by accident. It happened because of the hard work and perseverance of men and women who knew that they deserved better than what their employers were providing them. One of the first examples of local union labor is the story of the Pullman porters. […]
Breaking barriers wasn’t always in Carole Pollitz’s DNA. Before she became one of very few female apprentices at IBEW Local 134, she tried a more traditional path, planned out by her father. “My dad wanted me to go to college, but it just wasn’t for me. I floundered around and didn’t know what I wanted […]
The “Brotherhood” in International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) reminds all members, brothers and sisters alike, that if they are a member, they are family. And when times are hard or when tragedy strikes, family is there to help and support you through the tough times. Nothing exemplifies this sense of family helping family in […]
In his thesis while attending the National Labor College, now retired IBEW Local 134 Vice President Russell Ponder wrote about Michael Boyle, one of Local 134’s legendary members. In doing research to write the paper, Ponder documented several watershed decisions in the union that opened doors for Black members in the 100+ years since the […]
IBEW Local 134 Business Manager Don Finn addresses the Powering Chicago membership and thanks them for their hard work during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Congratulations to the Class of 2019! The Apprenticeship Graduation and Dinner Dance was held Saturday at the IBEW 134 / NECA Technical Institute in Alsip. Over 200 apprentices completed the five-year program and graduated to journey men and women. Congratulations on their outstanding achievements!
For the past several weeks, big rats and other creatures have been spotted on the sidewalk at 15 W. Washington St. But instead of inspiring fear and disgust, they’ve become their own attraction, bringing smiles and thumbs ups. Just blocks from one of Chicago’s most popular tourist attractions, Millennium Park, union workers from IBEW Local […]
IBEW Local 134 will be hosting the 2nd Annual Boxing for Brotherhood on Saturday, October 12th, 2019. All proceeds from this event benefit the Local 134 CFL Delegate Scholarship Fund.
Since 2008, unionization has declined in Illinois, in the Chicago region, and in the United States. There are approximately 111,000 fewer union members in Illinois today than there were in 2008, contributing to the 1.3 million-member drop in union workers across the nation over that time. Declining union membership in Illinois has primarily been the […]
