International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (Canada)

Overview

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) founded in 1891, represents approximately 775,000 active members and retirees who work in a wide variety of fields, including utilities, construction, telecommunications, manufacturing, railroads, government,  cable, radio and television, shipyards, sound and alarm, appliance repair, motor shops, sign shops, pulp and paper mills, mining, and healthcare. We represent many members working in North America’s nuclear sector, including right here in Canada. IBEW Canada has almost 70,000 members working in every province and territory, with 81 local unions across the country.

The IBEW has a long proud history building, operating and maintaining Canada’s electrical systems, from generation, transmission, distribution to the electrification of our nation in homes, office towers, auto plants and of course our role in Canada’s nuclear sector. Together with our employer partners, we continually educate and train our members to meet the demands of today and tomorrow.

Our union has extensive experience representing workers in North America’s utility industry.  Approximately 200,000 IBEW members are directly employed to operate, maintain and provide support for the electrical utility sector in Canada and the United States. 

An additional 70,000 IBEW members are regularly involved as temporary contractors or vender specialty crews providing service and maintenance to the North American fleet of reactors. 

The IBEW International has staff devoted to nuclear matters, and each year hosts a Nuclear Conference so that our members in the nuclear industry can share operating experience and best practices. In addition, at its 39th International Convention, over 3000 IBEW delegates made a formal commitment to supporting the nuclear industry by passing Resolution #37: Support for Nuclear Energy - which included that the IBEW supports the following:

• Continued operation and maintenance of all existing nuclear electricity generating stations in Canada and the U.S. and calls for the construction of new nuclear power stations; and
• Partnerships between private industry and the federal government for the research and development of standardizes advanced reactor design which will improve safety, economy and performance to help meet increasing electricity demand; and
• Partnerships between private industries and agencies that promote a well-trained workforce for the nuclear industry.

With the extensive expertise in the rapidly evolving nuclear industry gained over the past thirty plus years, we’ve shared our insights and provided valuable information to decision makers, and the public, by participating in various public hearings, panels, roundtables, and consultations, concerning the industry. The IBEW firmly believes that our highly skilled members and our organization have a central role to play in Canada’s future plans on the development, construction, deployment and operation of SMRs. The IBEW believes that the federal government should move forward to create a tripartite Canadian Nuclear Energy Advisory Council. Through the tripartite Council, management, labour unions in the nuclear industry like the IBEW, and government ministers could meet to review progress on Canada’s SMR Action Plan and discuss strategic priorities going forward.

IBEW Canada jointly sponsors the National Electrical Trade Council (NETCO) which is an industry-funded, non-profit organization that provides national coordination and leadership on workforce development linked to Red Seal electrical trades in Canada. NETCO is jointly sponsored by the Canadian Electrical Contractors Association (CECA)--a federation of provincial and territorial electrical contractor groups that represents +8,000 electrical contractors who directly employ 70,000 people and generates over $5 billion in revenues. 

NETCO is committed to the promotion of national standards and best practices among training and educational providers, specifically union training centres, that deliver recognized technical training for apprentices and journeypersons in the IBEW and CECA communities.

One of the many advantages of the IBEW is that we are an international union. Although we are based in North America, we regularly meet with other electrical unions from around the world through the organization known as the Global Power Trade Unions. This vehicle is an excellent way for the IBEW to promote our work beyond Canada and with our union colleagues from around the world. We can share our best practices and the Team Canada approach, while advocating for Canadian SMR technology.

SMRs have the potential to be a source of clean, safe and affordable energy, creating opportunities for a resilient, low-carbon future and capturing benefits for Canada and Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

The success of SMR’s will should be measured and tracked by several indicators including the reduction of GHG emissions, grid stability by adding baseload electricity, the direct and indirect jobs, as well as other environmental, economic and social impacts it creates. This starts with a fulsome Team Canada approach that includes having the participation of labour unions in the nuclear industry like the IBEW.

IBEW Canada fully supports the principles outlined in Canada’s SMR Action Plan. We believe that this is evident through our comments provided above in the overview, our thorough list of actions listed below, and the variety of partnerships we continue to work with in the nuclear industry and beyond. 

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