St. Louis, Missouri · Est. 1891
IBEW Local 1 is the first local of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers — representing the electricians who build and power the St. Louis region. Union wages, real retirement, family health coverage, and the best training in the trade.
Why Union
You already do the work. The only question is what you get for it. Here is what a Local 1 card means on every job, every check, every year of your career.
Local 1 journey-level wireman scale is $XX.XX/hr plus $XX.XX in benefits , set by contract and raised on schedule — not whatever the shop decides you're worth this year.
Family health coverage, a defined-benefit pension, and an annuity — paid by the contractor on top of your wage. Your retirement doesn't depend on what's left over after rent.
Every one of Local 1's construction members holds an OSHA 10-hour certification — the entire workforce — and more than 70% hold OSHA 30. Stewards on the job, a contract behind them, and nobody choosing between a paycheck and going home whole.
From a five-year registered apprenticeship to lifelong journeyman upgrade classes — code updates, safety certs, new technology — Local 1 electricians never stop getting better, and never pay tuition to do it.
Since 1891
In November 1891, ten delegates representing electrical workers from across the country met in St. Louis and founded the National Brotherhood of Electrical Workers — the union that became the IBEW. Local 1 carries the first charter, and the responsibility that comes with it.
Local 1 members lit the 1904 World's Fair — the first World's Fair illuminated by electricity — and have wired this region ever since: its stadiums, hospitals, plants, data centers, and neighborhoods. For more than 130 years, this local has set the bar for what an electrical career should pay and how the work should be done.
For Contractors & Owners
Through our partnership with the St. Louis Chapter of NECA — the Electrical Connection — signatory contractors get on-demand access to licensed, drug-tested, continuously trained electricians, backed by a training partnership that has produced more skilled electricians than any education program in Missouri. Manpower that scales with your schedule, and craftsmanship that stands up to inspection the first time.
News & Updates
Sample — Replace
The St. Louis Electrical JATC is accepting applications for inside wireman and communications technician programs. No experience required — bring a work ethic.
Apprenticeship details →April 2026
The $3 billion Armory Innovation Campus in Midtown — including a 120-megawatt data center — was approved with a project labor agreement covering more than 1,050 union construction jobs.
Read more →Ongoing
Local 1 members have donated $1.3 million in labor to Habitat for Humanity builds and rewired more than 500 homes for Rebuilding Together St. Louis.
Read more →