For a century, IBEW Local 115 members have helped build communities across Eastern Ontario. This year, the Local is marking 100 years since receiving its charter, a milestone that represents generations of members, innovating project sites and an organization that has continued to evolve while holding onto the values it was built on.
For Local 115 Business Manager Jason Kish, reaching the century mark is a source of pride for the entire membership.
“The milestone means a great deal to all of us,” Kish said. “It shows the longevity, commitment and solidarity we have for this organization.”
Today, Local 115 stretches across a large part of Eastern Ontario, with four units representing members in Cornwall, Brockville, Kingston and Belleville. Despite that broad geography, Kish said the Local has always maintained a strong connection to the individual communities its members call home.
That connection is reflected in a simple idea Local 115 has long embraced: local people working in their local communities. Members can drive through their hometowns and point out the buildings and projects they helped construct, something Kish said creates a sense of pride not only in the Local, but in each of its four units. The Local also gives back through its support of charities, hospitals and other causes throughout the region.
But working close to home hasn’t always been possible.
Over the decades, Local 115 became known for members who were willing to travel wherever the work took them. When construction slowed at home, they packed their bags and headed to other jurisdictions across Ontario and Canada, eventually earning Local 115 a memorable nickname: the “suitcase local.”
For members, travelling meant being able to continue providing for their families, but it also came with sacrifice. Weeks or months away could mean missing birthdays, anniversaries and other important moments at home. Kish said the support of spouses, partners, children and families deserves to be recognized alongside the members who made those trips.
Through it all, Local 115 members developed a reputation for being people other Locals could count on.
“Our work ethic, pride and willingness to sacrifice is a constant,” Kish said. “I hope that never changes.”
A trade and a Local that keeps changing
The electrical trade those early members knew would be almost unrecognizable on a modern jobsite.
Battery-powered tools have replaced many of the extension cords that once ran across jobsites, while advances in tools, equipment and materials have made the work more efficient. But one of the most significant changes Kish has witnessed has nothing to do with technology.
Local 115’s membership is becoming increasingly diverse.
More women and workers from different cultural backgrounds are entering the skilled trades, a shift Kish said has been particularly noticeable over the past decade. For him, that growth demonstrates that the Local can welcome a new generation of workers while maintaining the standards and principles of the IBEW.
Women have also played an important role in that history. Kish singled out Barb Monk, Local 115’s first woman member, as a pioneer who helped open the door for the women who followed her, including Martine Seviegny-Lamonte, Romy Bauer and Christine Hendriks.
Today, Local 115 has grown its female membership enough to establish a women’s committee, giving members another way to support one another and, as Kish puts it, “pass the torch forward.”
Passing that torch has become increasingly important as Local 115 looks beyond its centennial.
Through training, its Next Gen Committee, conferences, sports and other events, the Local is working to bring apprentices and younger members more deeply into the union. Kish believes that the relationship needs to work both ways: experienced members can pass down knowledge of the trade and the union, while younger workers bring their own skills and perspectives, particularly when it comes to technology.
“The apprentices and the younger members are the future,” he said. “Sharing our experience and our knowledge is invaluable.”
The people behind 100 years
Ask Kish about the people who built Local 115, and the list quickly becomes a long one.
There is Richard Soroka, who spent 26 years as Business Manager and helped guide the Local through difficult periods; Bill Pearse, who followed him and served as Business Manager for 19 years; and Tom Reid, a Belleville unit member who rose through the IBEW to become International Vice President for Canada.
There are organizers such as Dean Sinnott, who has served the Local provincially and locally for 26 years, and instructors Rudy Lenneau and Bill Dodge, whose work helped develop training opportunities for members and apprentices.
There are the presidents, officers, office staff, families and countless members whose names may not all fit neatly into a centennial story but whose work collectively made the Local what it is today. The history stretches right back to Del Cherry, who signed Local 115’s original charter in 1926.
For Kish, who has gone from apprentice to a 31-year member, seeing the Local continue to grow through the inevitable ups and downs of the construction industry is what makes him proudest.
For all that has changed in 100 years, he also sees a clear line connecting the Local’s past to its present: organizing.
The IBEW was built by workers standing together for safety, fair pay and the ability to provide for their families. Kish believes that mission remains just as relevant today, particularly as the union works to show more electrical workers the value of representation, pensions, benefits and high-quality training.
Celebrating the first 100
Local 115 will officially celebrate its centennial on October 3 with a casino-themed anniversary evening bringing together members, retirees and guests.
For Kish, one of the things he’s looking forward to most isn’t the entertainment itself. It’s seeing different generations of Local 115 in the same room.
“I am looking forward to seeing the past and present members co-mingling and sharing stories and having fun,” he said, “and making a memory that will hopefully be looked back on for future generations to see.”
And while a 100th anniversary naturally invites people to look backward, Kish is already thinking about what Local 115 might look like when another generation celebrates this milestone.
His hope is that future members will learn from both the successes and mistakes of those who came before them, appreciate what the Local has provided for generations of workers and their families, and feel a responsibility to leave it in good hands for whoever comes next.
“I hope that in 100 years they are looking back and saying, those were the people that handed this to us and we want to make sure we can hand it to the next generation.”
After a century of jobsites, road trips, changing technology, new generations and countless members who have carried the Local forward, that may be the simplest way to sum up Local 115’s first 100 years: each generation building something for the next one.