Electrical Workers' Local 1, AFLCIO — Local services in St. Louis

. For those who don’t know, they only let you apply once, and they keep your application on file for years and never let you update it after that. Your application, test score, everything you submitted is unchangable once you submit it and they don’t even bother telling you any of this until five minutes before you take your test. The grading system for their apprenticeship is a complete secret and they refuse to look at anything besides the grades you got in highschool. There are basically two ways to get in: either you're the child of a member, or you work for a nonunion shop owned by a former IBEW member, like Braco Electric, Anytime Electric, Electric MD, or Frank’s Electrical Service. If you did great at geometry in high school, they might consider you—but probably not. Taking algebra classes won’t help either, because once you submit your application, you’re stuck with it. It’s rigged. They used to have a clause in their constitution giving preference to members’ kids. They refused to accept applications from people above the age of 25 until the late 90s when the government had to step in and force them to. They had a 95% market share at one point, but they’ll never get it back—they’re simply not responsible enough.

To the individual who claimed my statement was false:

Every single contractor listed is owned by a former IBEW member. I’ve made multiple attempts to update my application, revise my cover letter, and submit changes—each time I was denied by the secretaries at the JATC office. I’ve spoken with current and former IBEW members in person and through Reddit. One of the first questions I typically ask is: “Were you allowed to update your application?” followed by “What was your application experience like?” Every single person I’ve spoken to has confirmed they experienced the exact same roadblocks I did.

So whoever responded to my review is either deliberately spreading false information or couldn’t be bothered to check the situation for themselves. You have a legal obligation to maintain a fair and impartial hiring process, and it’s clear that this obligation is not being met.

If your front-desk staff are misleading applicants or behaving inconsistently due to dissatisfaction with their jobs, then perhaps it’s time to implement accountability measures—such as cameras—to monitor how applicants are being treated and what is being communicated to them. Don’t wait for an incident to occur, like someone losing their temper and lashing out at an applicant who’s simply trying to improve their life.

Also, since you appear to be either uninformed or unwilling to fact-check, let me provide a bit of historical context in case your “false information” accusation was directed at that.

In 1967, two individuals attempted to sue IBEW Local One under the recently updated Title 29, Part 30, C.F.R. Their initial claim was rooted in the statute’s provisions related to genetic discrimination, arguing that rampant nepotism in the hiring process constituted a violation. In response, the union discreetly removed constitutional language that had explicitly favored family members and denied any wrongdoing. When surveyed, 60% of new applicants were found to be relatives of existing IBEW members—even after accounting for the large number of applicants marked as having “failed to respond to interview requests.”

The judge ultimately dismissed their claim, stating that 60% was not a high enough threshold to prove systemic nepotism, and no legal precedent existed at the time to support their argument. The plaintiffs later amended their lawsuit to pursue a racial discrimination claim instead.

You can read the court document here: https://clearinghouse-umich-production.s3.amazonaws.com/media/doc/52459.pdf Use Ctrl + F to search for terms like “nepotism” and...

Today I called about COVID testing just inquiring on if it is done at the building. I couldn't even get the question out before the female on the line RUDELY cut me off with the most attitude EVER stating WE DO NOT DO COVID TESTING HERE YOU GUYS KEEP CALLING..." Before I knew it I cut her off and told her I was only asking and hope she had a good day. Just truly rude and uncalled for. I hope their work is better than the representative that's answering the calls because that was...

Fairly disappointed with this local’s hospitality. I’m a proud IBEW member and my family always stops at locals and gets me stickers and shirts when they can on vacations. I love to rep and support all locals. Unfortunately when my mother stopped by Local #1 she was rudely told she couldn’t acquire anything for me and was promptly told to leave. Way to represent our brotherhood. I expected...