The International Union of Electrical Workers (IUE) was a North American labor union representing workers in the electrical manufacturing industry. While consistently using the acronym IUE, it took on several full names during its history originally the International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers and after 1987, the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Technical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers.
The IUE grew out of a dispute in the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE). The UE had been founded in 1936 and was given the first Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) charter in 1938. As in many of the new CIO unions organized in the 1930s, the membership and leaders of UE included a variety of radicals, including socialists and communists, as well as New Deal liberals and Catholics. Concerned about the rise of fascism, these diverse forces put aside differences to form a "Popular Front." The UE's first President was James Carey, a follower of Catholic Social teaching, and Secretary-Treasurer Julius Emspak was allied with the Communist Party.
In 1941, however, the Communist faction moved to take total control and voted Carey out as president. Opposition emerged with Socialist and New Deal elements forming "UE Members for Democratic Action", modeled on the liberal, anti-Communist "Americans for Democratic Action." The Catholic element worked with the Association of Catholic Trade Unionists.
Between 1946 and 1949, the so-called "right wing" (as the anti-Communist faction was referred to) led an effort to win back leadership of the UE. While the anti-Communists built support, with the expulsion of the UE from the CIO in 1949, a new tactic was used of forming a new union – the IUE – with Carey as its leader. With the support of the CIO, over 300,000 former UE members joined the IUE in its first three years. While academics debate whether to call it union raids, the IUE relied on NLRB elections to determine which union had the right to represent workers.[1] By the mid-1950s, the IUE had easily overtaken the UE as the dominant union in electrical manufacturing.[2]
As the major union at the General Electric Co., IUE confronted "Boulwarism." Lemuel Boulware was GE's vice president for labor relations from 1947 to 1960. Under Boulware, GE would present the company's contract offer to the union and no revisions would be made. The point was to make collective bargaining meaningless and lessen the value of the union in the eyes of its members. In 1964, the National Labor Relations Board declared such tactics to be unfair labor practices.[3]
The IUE was one of the leading forces in the civil rights movement. IUE President James Carey chaired the AFL-CIO Civil Rights Committee and the IUE played a leading role in the 1963 March on Washington.
In October 1969, IUE and UE called a joint strike against GE after negotiations failed to result in a new contract. The strike, which involved 164,000 workers across the country over 102 days, ended in a major victory for workers.[4]
In 1972, IUE filed a discrimination lawsuit against Westinghouse Electric, claiming that Westinghouse's wage structure resulted in less pay for women than men earned for comparable jobs. Women at Westinghouse earned only 80 percent of that of men doing similar work. IUE's victory in the suit helped establish the legal basis for pay equity.[5]
In 1987, the United Furniture Workers of America, another CIO union, merged with the IUE.[6]
On October 1, 2000, the IUE merged with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and now forms the Industrial Division of CWA. IUE-CWA now represents over 45,000 manufacturing and industrial workers in a wide range of industries including automotive, aerospace, furniture, and appliances.[7]
Carl Kennebrew became the 8th President of IUE-CWA on August 2, 2018. Carl has been a proud member of IUE-CWA for nearly 25 years. He started his Union career as an elected delegate and Vice-President of Local 84755 in Dayton, Ohio. While Vice-President, Carl graduated from The Minority Leadership Institute (MLI), an intensive 3-week program dedicated to increasing the involvement of minorities at all levels of our union. As Vice President, Carl also worked as an organizer, served as the local’s Legislative Political Action Team Member, and as an Executive Board Member for the Dayton Miami Valley AFL-CIO. In August of 2013, Carl became the first Minority President of Local 755, the founding local of IUE-CWA. He was re-elected without opposition in the fall of 2014 and 2017.
In addition, Carl served as a Recruitment Specialist for the Green Alliance for Manufacturing Skills Training in 2012, a program offering dislocated workers free training and certification in the nationally recognized Certified Production Technician (CPT). While employed by DMAX Ltd in Dayton, Ohio, Carl served for ten years as a Leadership Trainer, teaching both management and union members classes such as Diversity, Change, Communication, Team Concept, and many others. Carl obtained Life Coach Certification through Fowler Wainwright International Institute of Professional Coaching and also became a John Maxwell Certified Leadership Trainer and Mediator.
President Kennebrew is a long-time supporter of many community and partner groups such as Stand Up Ohio and the MVOC (Miami Valley Organizing Collaborative). He serves as a Board Member for The OOC (Ohio Organizing Collaborative), a Board Member of Triune Skilled Development Services, whose goal is to assist persons living in subsidy housing with finding their own self-worth and becoming positive forces within society, a Board Member for GDUCI (The Greater Dayton Union Co-op Initiative), a Board Member for The United Way of the Greater Dayton Area, and a Dayton Metro Library Board of Trustee. Additionally, Carl was ordained last year as a Minster for Revival Center Ministries.
In 2017, Carl was recognized one of the Top Ten African American Males in the Miami Valley. Additionally, Carl has also received the Staircase to Excellence Award, the United Way Volunteer of The Year Award, and Dayton’s Men of Influence award.