When thousands of workers marched together in New York City on Sept. 5, 1882, they sent a message that still resonates today: organized workers have power. This Labor Day, we’re celebrating that power by looking at recent Boilermaker organizing victories and the workers who stood together to win them.
In a notoriously anti-union and right-to-work state, workers at Ash Grove Cement in Midlothian, Texas, voted in favor of joining the Boilermakers.
With a landslide victory, workers at Trojan Battery in Sandersville, Georgia, won with an 89-23 vote to join the Boilermakers.
Only three months after a formal organizing campaign, workers at General Dynamics NASSCO in Bremerton, Washington, voted to join the Boilermakers.
The state of Wyoming had not had a union election or a union win in the last 15 years, until workers at Mountain Cement Company in Laramie, Wyoming, stood together and won with a 63% vote.
Despite four previous failed union drives at the facility—none of them Boilermakers’ attempts—the workers at Dometic in Litchfield, Illinois, stood together and won with a 55-43 vote.
Union laborers fought and died for the right to organize the nonunion into a better way of life. This Labor Day, we honor their memories through organizing. If you know a workplace that isn't organized yet, the Organizing Our Future Incentive Program rewards Boilermakers and local lodges for identifying workplaces that are ripe ground for organizing campaigns.
For more information on the program, visit www.joinibb.com/incentive-program.
