Failing grade: IBEW 1 bannering Lindbergh Schools over use of non-union electrical contractors

By TIM ROWDEN

Editor

Green Park, MO – IBEW Local 1 is bannering the Lindbergh School District over its use of non-union electrical contractor St. Louis Electric, which pays below area standard wages and benefits negotiated by Local 1.

This is not a new development but part of a pattern in the Lindbergh School District over the last six years of using non-union electrical subcontractors on its schools and other construction by allowing general contractors to use the lowest bidder for electrical work, rather than requiring they hire the most qualified contractor whose skilled, trained workers ensure the safety of children and teachers in the district.

Local 1 Business Representative Dave Roth and members Chris Thompson, Joe Wiese and Rick Dinnella took the message directly to district residents last week by bannering and handing out fliers at an open house at the new Dressel Elementary School at 10911 Tesson Ferry Road.

Local 1 members bannered outside both entrances to the school on Tesson Ferry Road and Musick Avenue.

“We are community residents who contribute to the millions in tax dollars spent in the Lindbergh School District,” Roth said. “We do not want others undermining the wages and benefits that support our families and the community.”

Local 1 spends millions of dollars every year to make sure its apprentice and journeymen electricians are trained in the proper installation of all facets of the electrical industry.

“Children’s safety should be a top concern,” Roth said.

“Employers who cut wages and benefits reduce the earning power of all working people and contribute to a situation which ultimately hurts us all,” he said. “Businesses that use contractors that pay substandard wage and benefit rates contribute to the erosion of area standards.”

With the safety of district students at stake, not to mention millions of dollars in construction work, Local 1 is asking district residents to express their concern to district officials and ask that they require union-trained electrical subcontractors to be used on future building projects in the district.

To express your concern, and ask Lindbergh Schools to stop this dangerous and wage-killing practice, call:

• Superintendent Dr. Jim Simpson at 314-729-2400, Ext. 8600 or email jsimpson@lindberghschools.ws

• Executive Director of Planning and Development Karl Guyer at 314-729-2400, Ext. 8651 or email: kguyer@lindberghschools.ws.