IBEW Leadership Team Re- Elected

IBEW members (?) demonstrated their support for progressive change by unanimously electing International President Edwin D. Hill and International Secretary-Treasurer Jon Walters to five-year terms at the 37th IBEW Convention which just concluded in Cleveland, OH yesterday (09/16/06). They ran unopposed and won by acclamation. (like who were they gonna allow to oppose them?)

Let's clear the air here. That opening paragraph, taken off the IBEW company website is so full of bullshit that it makes me want to puke! Hill and Walters were elected by elected rank and file delegates who regularly piss their pants and prostrate themselves and genuflect in the presence of International Officers for fear of some unknown retribution if they don't strictly toe the line and support without question 'anything' the IO wants to say and/or do. Make no mistake about it, there's no democracy in the elections of IBEW officers and they (the IO) are going to continue to do anything and everything in their power to preserve the status quo.

We've Been HAD!...Again!

Once again, an aging IBEW President with absolutely no intentions of finishing out his term, uses the power of his office and the incumbency advantage, to secure with absolute certainty that his hand-picked successor will be virtually guranteed several years of a 'free ride' as President of the IBEW. Don't believe it? Just take a trip down memory lane. It's the way of things in the IBEW and has nearly 'always' been that way. What a CROCK of bullshit and we keep allowing it to happen. This is the 'very' reason so many members like myself support with vigor OMOV (One Member One Vote) direct-elections of IBEW International officers and why the International uses all the means at their disposal to fight it.

This country is a "Representative Republic" and yet we "direct-elect" our Presidents, Congressmen and Senators right on down to and including in some cases the local dogcatcher. The founding fathers of this great nation knew that nothing less would pass muster with the citizens who fought and died to establish this country and that they couldn't trust politicians to elect each other. I ask you very simply then, why should IBEW rank and file members be expected to live and work under less standards? The rank and file fought for and won the wages, benefits and conditions that we enjoy. It wasn't any part of a closed-door backroom deal made in the inner sanctums of the 'Good Ole Boys Club' in Washington, DC or anywhere else. The history of our fights and struggles were on the job and on the picket-lines and is ours to brag about, not theirs! It not only chafes my ass that they would rob us of that glory but pisses me off that they use those hard fought for and won rights as chips in their elitist poker games with the opposition.

Perhaps you should really take a little history lesson about Ed Hill to understand the status quo in the IBEW. It's revealing of the mentality of just whom we're dealing with.

IBEW Roundup
Billy N. Chadwick v. Edwin D. Hill
Danger of democracy on the internet? Kill it!
Social Security Fright

Good Luck Brothers and Sisters, you're gonna need it!