Contents

1 ContentsThis is NECAis your first look at the pro-grams and services that NECA provides forthe nation s leading electrical contractorsand the customers they serve. For additionalinformation, please consult your NECA chap-ter office or visit our website to NECA! ..1 Who is NECA? ..4 NECA Membership and Structure ..4 Labor Relations at NECA ..6 IndustryInformation from NECA ..10 Management Education at NECA ..13 Industry Research at NECA ..14 NECA Convention and Trade Show ..15 NECA Standards and Safety ..16 Advocacyat NECA ..18 Marketing Members at NECA ..19 The Future of Our Industry ..21 This is NECA!NECA is the voice of the $100 billion industry responsible for bringing lighting, power,and communications to buildings and communities across the United States.

2 NECA s nation-al office and 119 local chapters advance the electrical contracting industry through advoca-cy, education, research, and standards development. The National electrical ContractorsAssociation celebrated its 100th anniversary in is NECA is an introduction to the association s numerous services and programsfor electrical contractors nationwide, as well as the goals and policies that shape NECA swork. Should you have any questions, please visit NECA s website, of an INDUSTRYThe electrical construction industry was still in its infancy when a group of contractors came together to establish whatwould become the National electrical Contractors Association.

3 The industry itself can be said to have been born in 1879 when Thomas Alva Edison changed the course of history byintroducing a successful carbon incandescent lamp. In fact, many of the first electrical contractors rose from the ranks of employ-mentin the Edison ElectricIlluminating Companies that were formed around the country. Other early contractors began by work-ing for the telephone companies or for the forerunners of public utilities, which were set up to power electric street cars. As faras can be determined, the first official electrical contracting business opened shop in New York Cityin 1882. Soon, hundreds of other electrical contracting companies sprung up in major cities acrossthe associations began to flourish at about this same time, partly in order to repre-sentmanagement interests in response to the growing organized labor movement of the late19th and early 20th centuries.

4 Local associations of electrical contractors were established tomeetthe needs that could not be met by individual contractors working alone. Working incooperation allowed the contractors to share tools and skilled workers both of whichwere in short supply in those early days and to exchange ideas and information, just asassociation members do today. 1 Banding together also helped contractors gain agreater say in the development of local business ordi-nances. One of the first local associations of electrical con-tractors was founded in New York City in 1892. Despite thisprogress, local associations lacked the strength and unifiedvoice necessary to deal with some big issues, including:1.

5 Lack of uniformity in manufacturing specifica-tions for equipment and components hampered progress,as did the absence of consistent installation production techniques had not yet beendeveloped for many items used in interior construction, sooften a project would halt for weeks or months because theelectrical contractor had to order a one-of-a-kind junctionbox or bushing specially made to fit one particular job. Also, when a contractor was called upon to retrofitor redo an installation originally done by another company,often it was more expedient to tear out most of the previouswiring work and start over from scratch because the newelectrical contractor was unable to duplicate the unfamiliarmethods used in the initial installation.

6 The fact that con-tractors often traveled across state borders to work on largeprojects compounded this problem. Adding to the confusionwas the fact that there was no standard protocol, so contrac-tors were often in dispute with architects and draftsmenover drawings that failed to specify procedures in any Inconsistency was also a problem in the laws andregulations governing electrical construction. In those earlyyears, very few laws actually addressed the trade at the National electrical Code had come into existencein 1897 as a single document unifying five different codesused in different regions of the country, contractors were notsatisfied with this set of regulations that they had no voiceindeveloping.

7 Many felt that the code reflected merely thedesire of insurance companies to reduce losses for dam-aged property, rather than stressing practical installationmethods that would ensure workers safety. At the same time, many electrical contractors sawthe need to establish state laws on licensing the trade. By1900, Minnesota was the only state to have enacted suchregulations, and local electrical contractors associationswere beginning to look to it as a model that should be repli-cated. They perceived that requiring everyone in the busi-ness to meet basic standards of competency would benefitthe industry s reputation and protect the The lack of standards for competency aggravatedanother problem threatening the growing electrical contract-ing industry: bluntly, not all of these entrepreneurs werehonest or skilled.

8 The poor performance of just one electri-cal contractor could have tarnished the image of all hiscounterparts and prejudiced potential customers against electrifying. Also, in the face of increasingly stiff competi-tion, many contractors suffered from the less-than-ethicalpractices of some of their rivals. Many early industry leaderssaw the need to develop a basic code of business ethics, inaddition to uniform codes and standards for Buthowcould novice electrical contractors, whowere more likely to have been educated (if trained at all) inthe mechanicsofthe job, rather than in commercial man-agement, be persuaded to operate according to ethicaldirectives?

9 To accomplish this objective, a system of provid-ingmanagement training would have to be local associations were already addressing this con-cern, but they realized that the industry would not flourishunless all its members across the nation adopted a profes-sional approach. Industry expansion was also hampered bya lack of skilled craftsmen to do the work. 25. Responding to the organized labor movement and enacting fair labor relations practices was also important to thesenew electrical contractors. At the turn of the 20th century, the nation was still recovering from the severe economic depressionof the 1890s. Many contractors remembered days when anti-union feeling ran high, due, in part, to the prevalent misconceptionthat the country s financial turmoil stemmed from union forces inflating the wage base.

10 Some electrical contractors would carrytheir prejudices for a generation or more, postponing until after World War I the establishment of the relationship of mutualrespect and cooperation that unionized electrical contractors and their workforce enjoy of an ASSOCIATIONIt would take some time for the fledgling electrical construction industry to address all these concerns, but movement inthis direction began before the 20th century commenced. By 1899, an organization representing six associations of electrical con-tractors within the state of New York was formed the United electrical Contractors of New York early 1901, the New York group was preparing for its convention at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo.