Current affairs

Local 494 still feels the power

By Jennifer Pfaff

Two IBEW Local 494 electricians bend and place conduit in preparation for a concrete pour. Images courtesy of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 494. Unless otherwise noted, locations, names and dates were unavailable.

The electricity froze Mike Mueller's body.

His mind no longer had control of his tendons and muscles. The electrician made a critical error while working on a hot wire, and now he was "hung up."

Luckily, a fellow crewmember sprung quickly to action, cutting the power and releasing Mueller from the electrical grip that held him.

It happened years ago, but Mueller still shakes his head talking about the experience. He was wiring light fixtures when he came in contact with a ground.

"We used to work so many hot, or live, circuits," he said. "That was 30 years ago, and it was considered safe. It was standard operating procedure. Now if it happens, it better be by accident."

Today, Mueller is the business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 494 based in Milwaukee. And the union's 100th anniversary - its charter was granted in 1906 - provides a good opportunity for members to reflect on the changes in the industry and the organization through the century.

The organization's history actually reaches back to 1892, when 12 men joined together to create Local Union 2. An ill-advised strike doomed that union in 1899, but it reorganized into Local 82, which lasted 12 years.

An IBEW Local 494 member-recognition dinner in 1949 honors many of the union's longtime workers.

Local 494 grew from that effort. It received its permanent charter from the IBEW on May 11, 1911.

In those early years, with only 25 members, the union negotiated its first closed-shop agreement and won a strike that resulted in the eight-hour, five-day workweek.

The industry - and the union - came a long way from those early accomplishments and failures. In many ways, the electrical industry bears only a passing resemblance to that which operated 100 years ago, and, in many ways, that's a good thing.

In Mueller's opinion, the commitment to safe work practices is one of the greatest improvements within the electrical field during the past century. And tales explaining the need for those safety improvements aren't hard to come by.

Richard Neimon, a retired electrician and past president of Local 494, can relate to Mueller's experience. The same sort of thing happened to Neimon in the early days of his career, except he was alone and saved only when the weight of his body caused him to drop to the floor and break the electrical stream flowing through him.

Electricians and friends from IBEW Local 494 enjoy a picnic on July 8, 1917.

But working with hot wires was only one of many dangers.

"I remember working on a church renovation, and there was scaffolding up the whole inside," Neimon said. "Nowadays, that scaffolding would be all solid, but then there was just a single 12-inch plank.

"I got way up there and looked down, and that 12-inch plank suddenly looked 2 inches. I went down on all fours. I'd crawl to where I had to work, stand up and do my work, then crawl to the next spot."

His fear subsided in an hour or two, and eventually he was running around 35 feet in the air with the same confidence as his co-workers. But fearlessness isn't the same as safety.

These days, every Local 494 fieldworker passes Occupational Safety and Health Administration safety classes and submits to random drug tests. Experienced electricians train apprentices, and members take advantage of training and continuing education offerings.

A crew of IBEW Local 494 workers gets ready to put up a high-voltage tower on May 16, 1949.

That's essential for electricians if they want to stay in the business, said Art McGlothlin, a retired IBEW member who remains active in the organization's retiree volunteer group.

When McGlothlin started as an electrician, he was about 15 and assisting his father wiring houses and barns in rural Wisconsin, thanks to the Rural Electrification Act of 1936. The REA provided federal funding for installation of electrical distribution systems to serve rural areas, and teams of electricians were needed to add the wiring to get the newly available electricity into homes and other buildings.

"The code was an awful lot different; it was a very basic set of rules," he said. "The Wisconsin code book was about 1 ¼-inch thick, and very little applied to residential wiring. Back in the beginning, it was more about common sense."

By the time the REA was enacted, electrical unions, including Local 494, had already weathered World War I, which saw many members go overseas to fight or take up electrical work for the military.

The subsequent Great Depression was a tough time for workers, but IBEW members stuck together. Those with work paid extra assessments so others could pay their dues.

IBEW Local 494 members and friends take a break during a dance. The union used to hold at least two dances a year.

The economic downturn of the 1930s turned to a period of war in the 1940s. Some union members, like McGlothlin, were in the service, while others stayed home to work 10- to 12-hour days, seven days a week, as industry expanded and converted to war production.

McGlothlin was stationed at what was then a secret site on Oahu, working as the only full-fledged electrician. He was on hand to pinpoint the cause of electrical troubles on the grounds and either get a contractor to fix them or take care of it himself.

Eventually, through his position in the Navy, he traveled on six different ships and witnessed two atomic-bomb tests in the Bikini Atoll before returning to Wisconsin to continue his career. He went back to his hometown, Manitowoc, but found work in short supply, so he headed to Milwaukee and Local 494.

He wasn't alone. The 1950s brought prosperity, and Local 494's membership jumped to 5,200.

Local 494 enters its second century with membership numbers between 2,800 and 3,000, a bit less than at its peak but with an eye set firmly on the future.

"Our apprenticeship training is a lot more in depth," Mueller said. "There are so many things to update now - the codes, the technology."

Electricians from Local 494 rest easy knowing their conduit is ready for a concrete pour.

And that kind of focus is essential in an industry that's constantly changing.

"I had to re-educate myself at least four times," McGlothlin said. "A few simple circuits would do for my dad and me when I first started. Then came tube circuitry, solid-state components, packages or plug-in circuit boards, and integrated circuits and machines that almost think by themselves."

Local 494 helped thousands of electricians keep up with the rapidly changing field and the safest way to meet the challenges encountered in the industry. And its members take learning seriously, McGlothlin said.

"As long as there's a fair amount of work, your capability determines how much work you are getting," he said. "The more you know, the more capable you are and the more you work."

And, no matter what year is on the wall calendar, doing the work and doing it well remains at the heart of the union's philosophy.

"You still need good judgment and a lot of skill," McGlothlin said. "And in the end, it's still the same: If it doesn't work, you'd better fix it."