May 2026
Apprenticeship applications are open
The St. Louis Electrical JATC is accepting applications for the commercial-industrial, telecommunication, and residential programs. No experience required. Bring a work ethic.
Apprenticeship details →St. Louis, Missouri · Est. 1891
The IBEW was founded here. The standard still is.
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.
1891
Founding local of the IBEW
7,400+
Active members & retirees
$0
Tuition debt for apprentices
$3M
Invested in training every year
Why Union
The same work. A better deal.
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.
01 / Wages
A negotiated rate, not a guess
Local 1 journeyman wireman scale is $49.29 an hour plus $34.34 in benefits, an $83.63 total package set by contract and raised on schedule. Nobody gets to decide what you're worth this year.
02 / Benefits
Health care and a real pension
Family health coverage, a defined-benefit pension, and an annuity, all paid by the contractor on top of your wage. Your retirement doesn't depend on what's left over after rent.
03 / Safety
The right to a safe jobsite
Every one of Local 1's construction members holds an OSHA 10-hour certification, 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.
04 / Training
A career that keeps advancing
It starts with a five-year registered apprenticeship and never stops: code updates, safety certs, and new technology through free journeyman upgrade classes. Local 1 electricians keep getting better and never pay tuition to do it.
Since 1891
Where the Brotherhood began
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 ever 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
The workforce that de-risks your project
Through the Electrical Connection, our partnership with the St. Louis Chapter of NECA, signatory contractors get on-demand access to licensed, drug-tested, continuously trained electricians. The partnership 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
What Local 1 is working on
April 2026
Armory data center project wins final approval
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
Building the community, not just the grid
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 →