July 10 is National Lineworker Appreciation Day, an occasion to celebrate the men and women who keep North America’s electricity running and to memorialize those who have been injured or killed doing their job.

Lineworker Appreciation Day has been celebrated on different days of the year over the last decade, but in recent years the IBEW, along with partners at the Canadian Electricity Association, the Edison Electrical Institute, and others, have pushed to permanently designate today, July 10, as Canada’s and the USA’s official day of thanks and remembrance.

““We appreciate our members who are skilled lineworkers and the important and vital role they perform every day working to keep our electricity running here in British Columbia,” says Doug McKay, Business Manager & Financial Secretary of the Union, “Local 258 also recognizes our members who work directly or indirectly with our utilities to support the lineworkers in the work they do.”

The IBEW’s founder, Henry Miller, died on the job in northwest Washington, D.C., on July 10, 1896 while working to restore power after a storm. He fell after coming into contact with a live wire and died later that night in Georgetown. This day honours not only him, but every lineworker whose life he and the IBEW’s other founders sought to improve.

A campaign to introduce legislation designating July 10 as National Lineworker Appreciation Day in Canada has been underway since 2018.

“At the IBEW, we know the credit our two nations’ lineworkers deserve for the work they do day in and day out. When storms strike or emergencies happen, they show up to work in awful conditions to make sure life can return to normal for the rest of us,” said International President Lonnie R. Stephenson.