Apprentices
Apprentice construction electricians can only join Local 213 if they are selected for an apprenticeship by the Joint Training and Apprenticeship Committee. Please visit the IBEW Local 213 and ECABC Joint Training Committee web site for information about this process.

Journeymen
Journeymen construction electricians can join Local 213 simply by completing an Application for Membership at our office, proving they have a B.C. Certificate of Qualification, and paying a $7.00 initiation fee. After they do this, Local 213 provides them with a list of signatory employers. The applicants can then either find a signatory employer who will request them by name from the Local 213 Hiring Hall or wait for the next regularly scheduled initiation.

Provided the employer is entitled to request a journeyman electrician by name (they are only entitled to request every second journeyman in this manner), applicants who are name requested are immediately initiated and dispatched. As "A" members, they then pay working dues (which are tax deductible) in the amount of 6.3% of their monthly wage plus $10 per month. They also contribute $11.30 per month to the IBEW International Pension & Death Benefit Plan. Based on the number of hours they work, their employer makes contributions on their behalf to the Local 213 Electrical Workers Health, Welfare and Pension Plan.

Applicants who elect to wait for the next scheduled initiation may wait two, three, or even four months before they are initiated and placed on Local 213's dispatch list. During this period, they pay no dues. After they are initiated and placed on the dispatch list, they pay unemployed dues in the amount of $22.80 per month (which includes their $11.30 IBEW International Pension & Death Benefit Plan contribution) until they are employed. Thereafter in order to maintain their membership, they must pay working dues when they are employed as foremen, journeymen, or apprentices anywhere in the electrical construction industry within Local 213's territorial jurisdiction and unemployed dues when they are not.

Local 213 electricians take a great deal of pride in the fact that they are among the most well-trained, efficient, and productive electricians in the world. Their success in obtaining and maintaining good wages and working conditions depends on Local 213's ability to provide fully-trained, skilled, technologically-current electricians to signatory contractors. Accordingly, Local 213 reserves the right to at any time reassess the skills of any "A" Member and to place that member in an appropriate course or apprenticeship term for further or additional experience, training, or retraining.

Industrial Workers
In order to join Local 213 as an industrial (or "BA") member, you must be hired by a signatory employer or a majority of the employees who work for your non-signatory employer must apply for membership and vote in favour of Local 213 representation.    

The process for non-union workers usually starts when one or more employees apply for membership and supply us with a list of the employees who work for their employer. Without revealing the source of  this information, we contact the employees one by one or in groups to establish whether they want to join. If most of the employees who work for your employer apply for membership, we send copies of their membership applications to the Labour Relations Board along with an application to be certified as the group's bargaining agent. Membership applications are confidential. Neither Local 213 nor the Labour Relations Board will tell your employer or coworkers who has applied for membership.

Under the Labour Relations Code, Local 213 can apply for certification if 45% of the employees who work for a non-union employer apply for membership within a 90-day period. In practice, we know that many employers try to inflate the number of employees eligible to sign cards and vote. They might claim that managers and persons who are not at work are also employees. Accordingly, we require more than 45% support  before we apply for certification.

After it receives the certification application, the Labour Relations Board will tell your employer that we have applied for certification.  The Board will then ask an Industrial Relations Officer to inspect your employer's payroll records to determine whether at least 45% of the employees have applied for membership. If the Industrial Relations Officer finds that they have, s/he will schedule a "representation vote" that will be held within 10 days of the application date. If more than 50% of the employees vote in favour of representation, the Labour Relations Board will issue a certification. Local 213 will then serve your employer with notice to commence collective bargaining. Under the Labour Relations Code, the parties must meet within 10 days, commence bargaining, and make every reasonable attempt to conclude a collective agreement.