Retired Electrical Workers President Ed Hill died in his hometown, Beaver, PA., on Dec. 1. He was 81. Hill led IBEW from 2001-2015, but was best known for pioneering methods to insure his Electrical Workers got in on the ground floor of new projects, thus making sure they got jobs. But he had his fun side, too, including motorcycle riding and joyful pranks on colleagues, said AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler, his longtime top aide. “Whether it was rethinking the relationship between employers and unions that led to the creation of the IBEW’s Code of Excellence and business development initiatives or his willingness to take on powerful voices within his own union with the market recovery measures that led to the successful alternative classification system, Hill was always ready to do what it took to put IBEW members to work,” the union said in its statement announcing his death.
photo: Hill was a second-generation member and a labor activist from his earliest days. Here, he leads a labor rally as business manager of Beaver, Pa., Local 712 in 1973.
photo: Hill was a second-generation member and a labor activist from his earliest days. Here, he leads a labor rally as business manager of Beaver, Pa., Local 712 in 1973.