ibew.org reports the IBEW Founders Scholarship is now open for applications offering awards of up to $32000 to members and their families pursuing post-secondary education with a deadline to apply in the coming weeks.

laborrelationsupdate.com reports President Trump nominated James Macy to fill a third Republican NLRB seat which if confirmed would give Republicans a majority and open the door to overturning Biden era precedents including the Stericycle workplace rules standard and the Cemex union recognition framework.

wnylabortoday.com profiles IBEW Local 99 Joint Apprenticeship Training Center Director Robert Cruz in Cranston Rhode Island who draws on his own experience in foster care to help apprentices enter the trade tuition free and graduate earning $61 an hour to start.

wweek.com reports a Democratic candidate for Oregon House District 52 lost a building trades endorsement after taking an anti-data center position illustrating the tension between environmental concerns and union construction jobs in the growing sector.

ibew.org reports Nashville Local 429 is staffing a major Modular Power Systems prefabrication facility in Mount Juliet Tennessee where up to 1400 IBEW electricians will build electrical components for data centers and cell towers across the eastern US.

thehill.com reports Port Washington Wisconsin voters approved the first anti-data center referendum in the nation requiring public approval before tax incentives are awarded to future projects

nevadasportsnet.com features IBEW Local 401 organizer Jillian Nahman on the growing number of women entering the electrical trades

ibew.org: International President Cooper calls on locals to seize a once in a generation surge of construction investment across North America topping 2 trillion dollars with over 27000 new workers organized in 2025 alone the best year since 1969.

ibew.org: Secretary Treasurer Noble reports that union membership rose to 11.2% of wage and salary workers in 2025 the highest share in 16 years with nearly half of new union growth coming from Southern states despite ongoing attacks on labor rights.

ibew.org: IBEW broadcast and recording members have powered live sports coverage at the Super Bowl, World Series, Indy 500 and other major events for more than 85 years working as camera operators, audio technicians and utilities behind the scenes.

ibewgov.org reports Tampa Local 915 member Brian Nathan won a close Florida state Senate special election by just over 400 votes campaigning on wages affordable housing and family sustaining jobs as part of a broader IBEW midterm election mobilization push.

nbcchicago.com: An IBEW apprenticeship expo in Chicago highlights opportunities for women entering the electrical trade, showcasing a program designed to recruit and support female electricians in a field where women remain significantly underrepresented.

opvp.navajo-nsn.gov: Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren, the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, and IBEW are coordinating to bring electricity to 13,000 homes across a 27,000 square mile tribal area, with IBEW sending electricians annually through the Light Up Navajo initiative while advocating for federal funding to sustain the effort.

aflcio.org: The March 23 edition of the AFL-CIO Working People Weekly List rounds up top labor news including approximately 200 South Jersey healthcare workers voting to unionize and Harvard custodians ratifying a new four year contract after months of bargaining.

EEI and IBEW presented Senators Susan Collins and Jack Reed with the John D. Dingell Award for their sustained bipartisan support of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, with Collins securing a $20 million funding increase to bring total LIHEAP funding to $4 billion in FY2026.

Per a new EIA report, wind and utility scale solar generated a record 17 percent of US electricity in 2025, up from less than 1 percent in 2005. Utility scale solar rose 34 percent year over year, while combined wind and solar reach 19 percent when residential installations are included.

Warner Bros. Discovery agreed to be acquired by Paramount Skydance in a $110 billion deal, ending a bidding war after Netflix withdrew its offer. The transaction is expected to close in Q3 2026 pending regulatory and shareholder approval.

Hundreds of Franklin County, Missouri residents filled a high school gymnasium to oppose rezoning agricultural land for two proposed data center campuses, with local trades union representatives countering that the projects would bring thousands of union jobs paying over $100,000 a year while a planning commission recommendation still awaits final county commission approval.

Lowell City Council voted 10 to 0 for a one-year data center moratorium after IBEW members and neighbors clashed over a Markley expansion, illustrating the broader political squeeze facing Gov. Healey as consumer anger over high energy costs collides with her AI driven economic agenda and a stalled data center tax exemption that remains unfinalized 16 months after she signed it into law.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced a formal partnership with North America Building Trades Unions at a BlackRock infrastructure summit, committing $1.5 million over five years to support NABTU training and recruitment as the company projects it will need 20 percent more skilled tradespeople than currently exist to hit its 10 gigawatt compute target by 2030.

Profile of Nscale founder Josh Payne, Australian former coal miner who raised $2 billion at $14.6B valuation for AI data center company, with Sheryl Sandberg joining board amid infrastructure boom

Demand for licensed electricians is rising sharply as AI infrastructure and data center construction expand, with younger workers increasingly drawn to the trades for stable, well-paying careers.

Construction unions including the IBEW are celebrating approval of a major AI manufacturing facility in Independence, Missouri, calling it a generational win for union jobs in the region.

Residents opposing the approved AI data center in Independence are organizing a referendum petition drive to challenge the city council vote on the project.