Members of IBEW Local 48 returned Garth Bachman to a third three-year term as business manager and elected other officers in a ballot tally announced June 20.
Local 48 represents more than 6,200 workers in Oregon and Southwest Washington. That includes journeyman and apprentice electricians in construction, sound and communications electricians, and maintenance electricians who work in industry and local government.
Bachman, a Local 48 member since 1989, outpolled challenger Charles Stahlheber 625 to 66.
Business manager in a construction union is a position of great responsibility, not just directing staff but also coming up with political and economic strategies to grow union market share and keep members employed, and helping to oversee apprentice training and union benefit funds.
Since Bachman was first elected Local 48 business manager in 2019, Local 48 has grown from about 5,000 members to over 6,200. Meanwhile, Local 48’s last two three-year contracts with the local chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) will have raised total compensation by $22 an hour by the time the current contracts expire Dec. 31, 2026.
Local 48’s Edison Pension has also had a remarkable recovery in the last 5 years going from 78% funded to 100% funded. Bachman said the comeback is the result of a combination of factors: decent investment returns, record employment hours (employers contribute to the pension fund on an hourly basis), and years of sacrifice. Each year for 5 years the members of Local 48 put $.40/hour into the pension without that money accruing any benefit in an effort to make the plan healthy. The strategy worked and now that the plan is fully funded the $2 an hour will now accrue benefits. The improved funding status enables the pension trustees to lower the full retirement age from 65 to 62 years of age for participants who started after 2011, with much smaller reductions for retiring earlier. Trustees are also looking at other possible benefit improvements like increased benefit multipliers and potential 13th checks for current retirees.
But it’s also a moment of challenge for Local 48, in that work has been slowing locally for the past year. That meant Local 48 stopped taking in new apprentices.
“It’s not the worst we’ve ever had by any stretch, but it’s just not what we’ve been used to for the last 10 years. We’ve had a really good run, but it’s construction and it runs in cycles.”
Bachman said the slowing work outlook was made worse this year by the Trump administration, which has worked to cancel billions of dollars of federal investments in clean energy infrastructure that were expected to result in work opportunities for union electricians.
Bachman said he’s of course pleased to have been re-elected, but he’s also concerned that voter participation was lower than in the past. Members were mailed ballots with postage-paid return envelopes and had a month to vote, but only about 12% sent back a ballot.
“Membership participation is a priority,” Bachman told the Labor Press. “We HAVE to get more involved.”
In his next term, Bachman will be focused on negotiating successor agreements with NECA.
He’ll also continue to work to increase the union share of the residential market. Right now as part of that campaign, more than 40 billboards in the Portland metro area invite homeowners to visit qualifiedelectricianspdx.org and get $300 toward electrical work. The side doesn’t use “union” as a selling point, but the union residential contractors taking part in the program are competitive on price and arguably the most skilled in the industry.
Besides business manager, members also elected officers. Noteworthy this year was the number of female members who are getting involved in the union. When ballots were counted, women made up about half the union’s leadership, even though they’re a small fraction of the total membership. Those elected were:
- PRESIDENT Paul New
- VICE PRESIDENT Kat Smith
- RECORDING SECRETARY John Wilson
- TREASURER Susan Rodway
- EXECUTIVE BOARD Ed Drapeau, Darrell Bell, Amanda Swan, Curtis Sheppard, Amber Sommer, and Melissa Anderson
- EXAMINING BOARD John Scharosch, Alex Clark, and Brent West
In all, 11 members vied for the six Executive Board seats and four members ran for the three Examining Board seats. The candidates running for president, recording secretary, and treasurer ran unopposed.
