Why are some IBEW logos left handed and some right handed?

Answer 1

We covered this at great length some ten years ago. President Ed Hill who is a member of many IBEW email lists responded to the discussion around the time when the symbol was changed from 15 lightning bolts to 10. He checked the archives and could find no official reason why it changed from left to right, It was originally the left hand because Henry Miller our first president, as we all know, was left handed and the hand is supposed to be his. It was some time in the late 40s or early 50s that it changed.

I speculated that it might have been in response to unions being unrightly accused of being communist organizations during the Senator MacCarthy witch hunts and the era of Red Scare MacCarthyism when union leaders and activists had to testify they were not communists and sign loyalty oaths declaring the same.

The IBEW again could not find any historical reference to the specific reason, however.