Henry Miller & the National Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
Entire content taken from Dreams of Dignity, Workers of Vision, A History of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Written by: Grace Palladino. Copyright, 1991.
When a group of experienced linemen and wiremen worked together at the St. Louis Exposition in the fall of 1890, they began to meet on a regular basis to compare industrial notes and discuss common industry-wide problems. Linemen, the group learned, suffered an exceptionally high mortality rate, but they could expect to earn no more than fifteen to twenty cents an hour for a twelve hour day. Convinced that they had no chance to improve their situation as individuals, the St. Louis group got in touch with Charles Kassel, an organizer for the American Federation of Labor (AFL). With Kassel's help they established a mixed union of linemen and wireman that was chartered as AFL Federal Labor Union 5221.
The St. Louis union was by no means the first to organize electrical workers, however. Linemen had experimented with industrial unionisms in the 1870s when they joined the Brotherhood of Telegraphers and affiliated with the Knights of Labor. But these rugged workers had trouble cooperating with the more genteel, white collar telegraph operators who dominated the mixed organization, and in 1883 the fragile bonds that linked these two groups disintegrated during a bitter strike against Western Union. After linemen allegedly cut the company's power lines and the strike took a violent turn, telegraph operators refused to support their linemen brothers.
Around the same time wiremen were beginning to draw similar conclusions about the practical power of craft unionism, especially in cities like New York and Chicago where linemen already had plenty of work. Although they would eventually get to the point where they needed to affiliate with a national union, in the 1890s urban wiremen concentrated on building up local power first.
The St. Louis union, on the other hand, envisioned a broader style of unionism from the start. When Henry Miller became president of the St. Louis union in 1891, he immediately set up a national organizing committee. Gathering together a group of well traveled "floaters" who had worked all over the country, Miller and Vice President James T. Kelly, along with William Marytne, compiled a master list of all the electrical workers they knew, and early that year the committee sent out circulars urging their colleagues to organize unions. Disappointed when only a few workers responded, Miller took his message directly to the people, traveling throughout the Midwest at his own expense and established unions in Evansville, Indiana; Louisville, Kentucky; Indianapolis, Chicago, and Milwaukee. With the necessary ground work completed by September 1891, the St. Louis union issued a call for a national convention.
On November 21, ten delegates representing about three hundred workers in eight cities met in St. Louis to organize the National Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Convinced that "common cause and universal sympathy" should exist among all workers in the trade, this handful of men intended to build a "thorough" organization that would supply the industry with competent, well trained electricians able to command the highest wage rates and unwilling to work for anything less.
Because an electrical worker had to be "first class or he is of little use" as Henry Miller put it, the NBEW intended to "make an effort to see that the line is drawn... to secure better wages for the best men."
Recognizing the sacrifices made by individuals personifies the requirements for Hall of Fame inductions. Henry Miller gave of his own time and money to see that the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers could become a reality. Thanks to Henry Miller and those individuals who stood beside him in his campaign to unionize the industry. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers spans nationwide with affiliates in both Canada and the US and has a membership of over 750,000 strong.