The History of IBEW
Open Shop Movement
Shortly after the armistice of November 11, 1918, the open-shop movement in the United States, the infamous, misnamed American Plan was adopted; and every piece of antiunion propaganda and trick in the book were pulled against us and our fellow union members in the AFL.
Antiunion employers attempted to destroy the labor movement through legal and not-so-legal means. Employers in Canada and the United States campaigned nationwide against unions. Restrictive laws were passed. Court injunctions, strikebreakers and spy agencies were used. Frequent bombings and beatings terrorized members and potential members. The tactics of the robber barons of the day and the government they ``owned" were very effective at intimidating organized labor. Aided by the scourge of unemployment, by 1925 our membership had dropped to 56,349 a loss of 91,723 members in six years.
In 1919 the presidency of the Brotherhood changed. Brother McNulty, who guided our union through the dark days of secession, resigned; James P. Noonan replaced him.
The 15th Convention was held in New Orleans in 1919. One of the most important actions of that Convention established an International Strike Fund. The fund went into effect on January 1, 1920, and was financed by collecting 14 cents per month from each member and by appropriating half of all initiation fees.
The 1919 Convention is remembered in IBEW history as the body which took a historic step forward in labor-management relations. That Convention approved a plan which other management and labor groups try to emulate to this day. This wild-eyed idea of the Roaring Twenties is known as the CIR Council on Industrial Relations. This body is credited with providing stability in the construction branch of our Brotherhood.
The Conference Club
The idea for the CIR was conceived in the era after World War I, when labor strife was rampant. As early as 1916, a small group of electrical contractors met regularly to discuss matters pertaining to the electrical contracting industry. The group called itself the Conference Club. Some of the issues it raised involved difficulties in labor-management relations. L. K. Comstock, a contractor, proposed that members of the club meet with a committee from the IBEW to draft a ``national labor agreement" designed to benefit both groups mutually. A joint committee from the IBEW and the Conference Club met in March 1919 to consider this proposal.
Charles Ford, IBEW International Secretary, was chiefly responsible for the IBEW's participation in devising the plan for what eventually became the CIR.
The joint committee decided a labor agreement between them was not essential. They needed an environment in which to conduct open and frank discussions to resolve their differences. The Conference Club persuaded the National Association of Electrical Contractors and Dealers (later renamed National Electrical Contractors Association [NECA]) to become the signatory employer organization, an action affirmed by NAECD's July 1919 convention. Our New Orleans Convention of 1919 likewise approved the Declaration of Principles creating the CIR.
The council was organized in 1920 with the same requirements as today: equal representation by employer and union, disputes submitted voluntarily, and all decisions unanimous. The council was a milestone in our Brotherhood's history. Like a ``supreme court" of the electrical construction industry, the CIR has settled thousands of disputes without strike, earning for us the title "strikeless industry."
While many in our ranks have questioned the value of the CIR, it is unquestionably superior to other alternatives. Were dispute resolution left to arbitration, the cost would be astronomical. Were resolution of differences available only through strikes, the result most likely would be self-destruction.