IBEW Local 17

Highly Engaged Employees

A little digging into history and old records reveals that Local 17 has been an active and forceful group since its very beginning. This information can be found not only in the records of the local and international organizations but also in the record of our many employers. Quoting from "A History of the Overhead Lines Department," an internal pu... blication of The Detroit Edison Company authored by Clifford P. Wells, Detroit, 1953; we find the following, rather lengthy and favorable, citation of Local 17. The department may not have had any Union discussions when its work first started back in 1890 because it was not until March 11, 1892 that Local 17 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers was chartered as an organized unit of the American Federation of Labor. From that date on, however, the Department has had organized union employees in the field operations and has had many informal discussions with them relating to working conditions and wages, so we can truthfully say that our relations with unions have been of long standing. The first formal Agreement with Local 17 was entered into in July, 1941, and was simply a letter addressed to the union signed by a Vice President of the Company setting forth wage schedules and certain working conditions, as well as recognizing the Union as the sole bargaining agent to Department employees in certain listed classifications. Since that date, the Agreements have become much more formalized, much more wordy, and much more detailed as to practices. The formal negotiations and formal Agreements have not, however, disturbed our good relations. As a matter of fact, they have probably served to enhance our good relations, because we have able to discuss matters with them more freely and both the Company and the Union have become much more familiar with each others labor-management philosophy. As can be seen, the major utility of the time recognized the right of the workforce to organize and to be represented by the union of their choice, Local 17, in matters ...Read More