Longtime Nonunion Ace Electric Signs
with Des Moines Local 347

September 21, 2005

Most observers would probably say that a 59-year-old open shop electrical firm wouldn't hastily turn its back on tradition. That, however, is just what happened in Des Moines, Iowa, in June 2005.

Gerry Granberg, business manager of Local 347, and Jeff Rose, an experienced organizer, weren't shocked when Ace Electric signed with IBEW. "We've seen in the past that an organizing campaign can change course in an instant and you have to be able to adapt and go with the flow," says Granberg. What started as a bottom-up campaign quickly turned to a top-down victory when Ace Electric becoming a signatory contractor in September.

The campaign started when a worker at Ace Electric who has family members in the IBEW called the Local 347 hall to report that some of his co-workers wanted to learn more about the union.

A small group of Ace workers met Granberg and Rose on a shopping mall parking lot; a frank and constructive discussion ensued.

Granberg suggested that Rose visit Ace's offices to have a talk with owner Dave Mickle or his son, Marty, about signing with Local 347.   Rose spoke with Marty Mickle for nearly two hours about the benefits that the firm would reap as a signatory contractor. Ace voiced concerns about manpower and training for both apprentices and journeymen.

Rose invited the younger Mickle to tour the Local JATC and meet with the director and instructors. Mickle was impressed with the training center, but had more questions about the NJATC curriculum and journeyman training.

Rose also invited Mickle to visit the union hall.   Mickle agreed, qualifying his growing interest by telling Rose that there was "one man with a whole lot of questions about the union," his father.

After all parties held a follow-up meeting at the union hall, Granberg and Rose offered Ace's owners the opportunity to put one of the local's journeymen on an Ace project for one month to assess his workmanship. They agreed that the journeyman would not organize as a "salt."   Ace readily accepted.   "I believe that a relationship of trust began to form at that point," said Rose, adding that the IBEW's workmanship "spoke for itself."

Most Ace workers already were receptive to the union.  Granberg says that his local's high-profile community activism helped convince them that the union was on their side.  

From radio spots advertising the local to marching in the Des Moines Labor Day parade or raising $154,000 for tsunami relief, Local 347 has a commanding presence in the city.   When a Des Moines radio station celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, Local 347 put up sponsorship money.   The station reciprocated with a one-hour special on its relationship with the IBEW.

John South, a 50 year-old journeyman in Ace Electric's 23-member shop, says, “everything about the union makes sense," particularly his increased wages and pension coverage.   Most Ace workers will see their hourly rates increase by $10 to $15 per hour.   Without a pension plan, previously, the workers can now plan their retirements based upon a $4.05 per hour Ace contribution to the local union's pension fund and the National Electrical Benefits Fund (NEBF).

Since their signing, Ace Electric is looking to pick up more work.   They have expressed appreciation for the high-visibility of the IBEW, contrasting their relationship with the union to their prior membership in the virulently anti-union Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), which they say didn't help the firm increase its business.

Local 347's organizing success is matched by increased market share in the residential sector.  Recently, the local encouraged a major signatory contractor to bid on more residential jobs, successfully arguing for the firm to bring in a manager experienced in the work.   The contractor now has 70 residential wiremen on the job.

Local 347 is no newcomer to challenges.   In 2002, the local showed its mettle by joining with local building trades to fight ABC over the union's right to negotiate a project labor agreement (PLA) on construction of a new events center.   ABC spent $260,000 to challenge the unions in the Iowa Supreme Court, maintaining that the PLA violated Iowa's right-to-work laws. ABC lost. Des Moines Building Trades have since started negotiating a PLA on construction of a new $68,000,000 Polk County prison.

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