Electricians: The First Women in Local 3

Local 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) was a legend among New York City labor unions. Its charismatic business manager, Harry Van Arsdale, Jr. (1905–1986), spent his three-decade tenure building up wages and benefits, including the nation's first employer-funded pension plan for construction workers. He secured a five-hour day, cooperative housing for members—complete with childcare and a fully staffed nursery—and so much control over jobs that union electricians in New York City had perhaps the most desirable niche in the construction world.

Membership in Local 3 was high coveted and exclusive. The craft union constituted a tight fraternity. Each apprentice had to be sponsored by a member in good standing. Traditionally the route to Local 3 was paved by family connections, as sons followed their fathers into its ranks. In the 1930s and again in the 1950s, a small number of minority men were admitted to the union.

Racial barriers remained largely intact until 1962, when Van Arsdale Jr. carefully opened admission to a group of one thousand minority males. Their presence was unpopular, and they bore the brunt of much hostility from their fellows. Eventually their presence was tolerated, although they were still viewed as interlopers. In 1977 and 1978 more black and minority males were admitted to the local's apprenticeship program.

On many counts, Van Arsdale Jr. transformed Local 3 into the best of all the building trades unions in New York City. Yet even within the craft union most renowned for its progressive record, women electricians would be hard put to find a welcoming hand.

In 1978 women won the right to enter the IBEW. All across the country the union's locals got a taste of feminism within their ranks. In New York City, the experiment started slowly, but eventually the numbers of women in the Local 3 crept upward.

The first women in Local 3 faced numerous challenges as they progressed through the four-year apprenticeship program. In addition to working, they also attended school. The labor studies program of Empire State College, in partnership with the union, incorporated the apprenticeship into an associate degree in labor studies. The women attended classes two nights per week.

After achieving journeyman status, the women faced a new set of obstacles on the job. These issues included sexual harrassment, pornography, and the lack of changing facilities and bathrooms for women.The newly integrated construction sites produced conflicts, and the women looked to their union for help. Local 3 and contractors had done nothing to prepare for the newcomers.

The women turned to each other for support, and they began to organize. They formed Women Electricians (ME), a group that began as a information clearinghouse. ME soon expanded its mission as its members actively tried to improve conditions for women electricians. As their numbers increased, however, the women in Local 3 also encountered differences of race, class, sexual orientation, and sensibility.

The first women to enter the construction division of Local 3 were few. Their stories convey the courage and determination it took to succeed on this new frontier. Electricians Joi Beard, Brunilda Hernandez, Laura Kelber, Cynthia Long, and Evan Ruderman were among the women in Local 3 who experienced the struggles and hard-won gains of those early years.