New Unity Partnership Discussion Labor Notes archives
AFL-CIO Forms Special Committee To Ward Off Independent Unions LaborNotes
Can This Man Save Labor? BusinessWeek 09.13.04
Machinists consider leaving AFL-CIO Seattle Post Intelligencer
Machinists to Leave AFL-CIO? Labor Blog

Move afoot to reconfigure US unions into a New Unity Partnership Straight Goods 06.27.04
Leaders to push for labor overhaul By Nancy Cleeland, LA Times 06.21.04
A new strategy to reverse labor’s decline? SocialistWorker 01.16.04
New Unity Partnership: Bureaucratizing to Organize? CounterPunch 12.01.03
Woodruff and Wypijewski: Debating the NUP CounterPunch 11.04.03
Five Union Presidents Launch Bid to 'Revolutionize' AFL-CIO LaborNotes 10.03
As AGC Girds for Elections, Union Chiefs Talk Cooperation ENR 09.22.03
"The Gang of Five" Union Leaders Plot Radical Takeover of AFL-CIO - LaborTalk 09.17.03
The New Unity Partnership: A Manifest Destiny for Labor CounterPunch 10.06.03
New Unity Partnership leaked 13 page document 200 dpi scans
reduced file size: page 1 and page 2
"Pooling Our Resources for Growth" SEIU Q and A re: AFL LaborNotes 09.05.03
Sweeney, union workers arrested at Yale stamfordadvocate 09.13.03
Breaking Ranks with the AFL-CIO Businessweek 09.05.03
"Organize or Die" (not the '02 LATimes article) theamericanprospect 09.01.03

Committee Releases Final ULLICO Report; Calls on Labor Department to Fully Investigate Whether Sweetheart Stock Deals Violated Federal Labor and Pension Laws house.gov 10.28.03

Code Red Issued at Drake Hotel ufcw board 08.05.03
AFL-CIO gets dissident labor journalist kicked out of hotel as 'security risk' release 08.05.03
AFL-CIO Executive Committee Becomes ‘White Male’ Club for Top Union Leaders by Harry Kelber
10 ways to reform an undemocratic AFLCIO by Harry Kelber

ULLICO Board Members Have 30 Days To Return Profits BNA 05.22.03
Big Labor's Governance Lesson BusinessWeek 05.27.03
Turn-Around Expert Named Acting President Of ULLICO release 05.22.03
Statement by AFL-CIO President Sweeney: ULLICO and Thompson Report 05.14.03
New Board Takes Over Troubled ULLICO LaborTalk 05.14.03
Tense Moments in a Labor Power Struggle BusinessWeek 05.09.03
Robert Georgine Resigns All ULLICO Posts BW 05.08.03
Committee Subpoenas ULLICO CEO Georgine house.gov 05.08.03
Ullico CEO Georgine quits after stock scandal Reuters 05.08.03
Laborers Union O'Sullivan Elected New Chairman of ULLICO 05.08.03
Panel to Subpoena Outgoing Ullico Chief AP 05.07.03
Give Back the Money washingtonpost editorial 05.02.03

Georgine Faces Ouster as ULLICO Chief LaborTalk 04.30.03
House panel to probe labor union stock deals washingtontimes 04.25.03
Georgine Will Step Down as ULLICO Chairman ENR 04.25.03
AFSCME Issues Resolution on ULLICO 04.10.03
Gov. to Examine Questionable Stock Deals by ULLICO house.gov 04.24.03
Ullico Forces Chairman Out washingtonpost 04.24.03
House committee opens investigation into ULLICO sfgate 04.24.03
Union Insurance Co. Chairman to Step Down AP 04.23.03
Disabling Organized Labor washingtonpost 04.18.03
The Thompson report - Douglas J. McCarron $418,880
UAW Chief Calls for Ullico CEO to Quit seattlepi 04.14.03
Stock Dealing at Union-Owned Insurer Creates a Schism nytimes 04.08.03
ULLICO Turns Over Special Counsel's Report to Committee house.gov 04.03.03
Big Labor's continuing scandal washingtontimes editorial 04.06.03
Thompson Addresses Comments by ULLICO demands retraction 04.04.03
Statement by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney On Release of ULLICO Special Report
Labor Leader Wants Insurer's Directors to Give Up $6 Million nytimes 04.03.03
Ullico Report Calls Trades Questionable washingtonpost 04.02.03

Labor-Owned Insurer Urged to Release Inquiry Report nytimes 03.28.03
Worries Over Shrinking Assets As Ullico Director Resigns ENR 3.24.03
Carpenters' President Resigns From Ullico Board ENR 03.14.03
Union-Owned Insurer Ullico's Troubles Mount washingtonpost 03.14.03
AFL-CIO Council's Flap With Chao Stalls Its Debate Over Ullico ENR (3/10/03

Uproar Over Stock Deals Divides Labor Leaders washingtonpost 02.23.03
UAW Sues ULLICO to Force Release of Thompson Report uaw 01.30.03
Investigators Subpoena ULLICO Records - Harry Kelber LaborTalk 01.29.03
Union leaders at the insider-trading trough national post 01.23.03
Union Firm Pressured on Claims of Insider Trading washingtonpost 01.21.03
ULLICO Scandal Sows Disunity at the Top LaborNotes 01.03

AFL-CIO Improves Web Site But Won't Allow Feedback LaborTalk 12.25.02
Rightwing Attack on Unions' "Enron" Progressive Populist 01.01.03

Labor's Losses - A union-sponsored corporate rip-off slate/msn 12.19.02
Top AFL-CIO officials resign in insurance scandal worldsocialist 12.13.02
Unions' PR campaign backfires stpetersburgtimes Dec 9
Labor Leaders Quit Ullico Board to Protest Handling Of Stock Deals washingtonpost Dec 3
AFL-CIO President Sweeney On Resignation from ULLICO letter Dec 2

Labor Leaders at Odds on Stock Deals washingtonpost Nov 28 (more)
Will Sweeney be 0-5? washingtontimes op/ed Nov 27
Union Insurer's Board to Review Probe of Stock Deals washingtonpost Nov 25
A New Twist in Labor's ULLICO Scandal Businessweek Nov 15
posted @ NY Local 157 Labor Chieftains' Secret Stock Deal
Union Chief to Return $200,000 From Stock Deal Under Inquiry nytimes Nov 1

Top Bush Union Ally To Return Stock Gains washingtonpost Oct 31
Yet More ULLICO Fallout BNA Oct 30
Carpenters Union Head Facing Federal Probes washingtonpost Oct 14

ULLICO spells union corruption full text -socialistworker.org
"Trade union life insurance, like other forms of trade union capitalism, works injuriously upon the labor organizations," William Z. Foster, a veteran labor and Communist Party leader, wrote of ULLICO shortly after it was founded in 1925. "It diverts their attention from the struggle and into capitalist enterprises. It poisons the organizations with an anti-working class ideology, and subordinates them organizationally to capitalist institutions. It corrupts the leaders, enriches them and makes them less and less responsive to rank-and-file interests and control. It is a menace to the labor movement."

Bosses of Big Labor cash out Washington post editorial Sept 1
360 dragged into Global investigation Financial Post Aug 31
U.S. Congress eyes 360networks deal canada.com Aug 31
Ullico: The AFL-CIO's corporate scandal World Socialist Web Site Aug 29
Big Labor's Enron - Self-dealing benefits union bosses at the expense of workers National Review Aug 13
Labor's Enron - Union Officials Profited from Shady Stock Deal by Jane Slaughter May 2002
The Tip of the Union Pension Fund Scandal Iceberg - NLPC Congressional Testimony
ULLICO Shareholders Approve Probe Of Insider Stock Deals By Directors LaborTalk May 15
Commentary: A Black Eye for Labor by Aaron Bernstein Businessweek

Ex-Governor to Look Into Union Stock Deal by Steven Greenhouse NYTimes May 1
AFL-CIO Curtain of Silence At Union Leaders’ Profit-Grab at ULLICO by Harry Kelber May 1
Georgine, ULLICO’s Boss, Hand-Picked A Batch of Union Presidents as Directors by Harry Kelber Apr 24
Top Union Leaders Profited at ULLICO As Insiders in Enron-Style Stock Deal by Harry Kelber Apr 27
Probes Eye Union Chiefs' Trades enr.com - 3/25/02
Global Crossing: Labor's Questionable Windfall business week
Labor Dept. sues over union's failed Nevada investment Nevada Sun March 26

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For Immediate Release Contact: Lane Windham (202) 637-5018

Statement by AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney
On Resignation from ULLICO, Inc. Board of Directors
December 2, 2002

Prior to the ULLICO board meeting today, I notified Robert Georgine - - President, CEO and Chairman of the Board of ULLICO, Inc. - - that I am resigning from the ULLICO, Inc. Board of Directors, effective immediately. AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson also resigned from the Board of Directors of ULLICO today. 

For more information, including a copy of the letter of resignation from the ULLICO Board, please contact (202) 637-5018.

###

December 2, 2002

Mr. Robert Georgine
President & CEO
Union Labor Life Insurance Company
111 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20001

Dear Bob,

It is with great regret that I am hereby resigning as a director of ULLICO, Inc. and of its subsidiary the Union Labor Life Insurance Company, effective immediately. 

Last week Governor Thompson's report was made available to directors. Despite my repeated requests, we as a board have not addressed whether the report will ultimately be made available to our shareholders. I am forced to conclude that if I am to fulfill my duty as a director to read Governor Thompson's report, I may be required to withhold that report from the labor movement institutions that are ULLICO's shareholders. As I stated to you in my letter last month, I cannot adequately fulfill both my obligation to ULLICO and to the labor movement under these circumstances. 

In addition, prior to the submission of the report, corporate counsel for ULLICO insisted that my counsel and counsel for Operating Engineers President Frank Hanley be excluded from a meeting with Governor Thompson at which counsel for the company as well as counsel for certain other directors and officers were present. I cannot continue to serve as a director of a company whose counsel is withholding information from me and my counsel.

These two incidents appear to be part of a pattern of increasingly adversarial behavior by ULLICO management and counsel with regards to Governor Thompson's investigation.
-2-

ULLICO, Inc. is an institution with a unique mission and history of serving working families and their unions. Although I have not seen Governor Thompson's report, I have been impressed with the quality of Governor Thompson's work on ULLICO's behalf. I hope that ULLICO responds to Governor Thompson's report in a manner that assures the labor movement that ULLICO remains true to its mission. I again ask that once the board has determined its response to Governor Thompson's report the report and the response be released to all ULLICO shareholders, including the AFL-CIO.
 
Finally, you and I have worked together in many settings for many years. I have been honored to serve with you on the board of ULLICO. It is with great reluctance that I have concluded that I have no choice but to resign.

Sincerely,
John J. Sweeney
President

cc: ULLICO Board
Governor Thompson

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Carpenters withdraw from AFL articles:
(note: article archives are no longer maintained -- some of the older links will be gone)

AFL-CIO Executive Council Grants Indefinite Extension For Negotiation of Carpenters' Reaffiliation CLR 08.13.03
AFL-CIO Sweeney Orders BCTD to Drop Carpenters; Building Trade Leaders Unified in Opposition CLR 08.06.03
Affiliation of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters AFL-CIO 08.06.03
Every attempt to convince the Carpenters to re-affiliate has failed, despite extensive good-faith efforts by the President and other officers of the AFL-CIO and by the leadership of the building trades unions.
In February 2003, the Executive Council unanimously instructed the President of the AFL-CIO to seek, once more, a reconsideration of this position by the Carpenters. These attempts failed.
This disaffiliation now causes significant problems for the construction unions and for the Building Trades Department, because they must choose between enforcing the requirements of the AFL-CIO constitution and causing enormous discord at the job sites, or permitting the Carpenters to continue to violate the basic principles of trade union solidarity.

Bush's Labor Buddy
The president takes a powder on union democracy opinionjournal 01.15.03 also posted at NY Local 157 newsite
The controversy concerns the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and its imperious president, Douglas McCarron. A group of Carpenters' dissidents can't get the Bush Labor Department to agree that a clear reading of labor law would invalidate the Byzantine election rules that Mr. McCarron has put in place to maintain his union control.

Carpenters’ issues with AFL-CIO still unresolved workdayminnesota 12.16.02
Carpenters on verge of re–affiliating with AFL-CIO workdayminnesota Nov 16
Bush and the Carpenters Union washingtontimes editorial 27 Oct
McCarron Defends Close Ties With Bush... Construction Labor Report Oct 9
For AFL-CIO and White House, The Great Divide Is Deepening washingtonpost Sept 2
Bush Courts Renegade Union washingtonpost Sept 2
Bush Courts Carpenters Union in Effort to Build Labor Ties washingtonpost June 19
"Organize or Die" LATimes McCarron interview March 10

Painters' Monroe Bashes Sullivan ENR(4/22/02)
Painters' Union President Monroe Resigns ENR(4/19/02)
Carpenters Won’t Return to AFL-CIO by Harry Kelber
Building Trades' Chief Rejects Carpenters' Terms for Reaffiliating ENR (2/25/02)
Councils Reject Carpenters Reaffiliation Terms BNA Construction Labor Report
What Are the Carpenters Up To? by Charles Walker
Building Trade Unions in Turmoil ENR (6/25/01)

The Six-Year Itch - The Nation Feature Story -September 3, 2001
Then, in late March, Carpenters union president Doug McCarron withdrew his 500,000-member union, a key component of the interrelated building trades, from the AFL-CIO. A maverick who took little part in the federation and had contentious relationships with some other building trades unions, McCarron criticized Sweeney as he departed for not making "fundamental changes" in the federation to promote organizing, as he had done in his union.

Carpenters Lay Out Conditions For Returning To Building Trades (3/4/02)
"But some union insiders say that support is wavering and that Sullivan may no longer be able to hold the department together. Others admit the BCTD is splintered, but say "McCarron's arrogance is unbelievable," which could ultimately hurt his ability to foster change.:

Engineeting News Record BUSINESS http://www.enr.com/news/enrbl_030402a.asp

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February 21, 2002
Mr. Edward Sullivan, President
Building & Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO
815 16th Street, N.W. Suite 600
Washington D.C. 20006

Dear Ed:

For the good of the labor movement, and to advance the interests of construction workers, my organization needs to work together with the other unions in the Building and Construction Trades Department. No good can come from rehashing the history of how the Carpenters came to be currently outside the Department. Rather, it is time to focus on the changes that need to be made, if we are to rejoin the Department.

There are four primary conditions for the Carpenters' re-affiliation:

1) The Department needs to be restructured for many reasons. Drastic measures have to be taken to meet the serious problems created by non-union encroachment in the industry and to put the necessary programs in place to organize on a massive, unprecedented scale. As a part of the restructuring, the current officers need to resign. Understanding that the sacrifice you make in this regard will be for the greater good, I will support an appropriate severance package. The office of the BCTD President then needs to become a part-time position, whose chief responsibility should be to chair meetings of the Department and to serve as its spokesperson. The position of Secretary Treasurer should then be eliminated and the BCTD should create a position of Executive Director, who should be responsible for the day-to-day administrative duties of the Department.

2) The Plan for the Settlement of Disputes on the Construction Industry needs to be modernized to take into account actual conditions in the industry. A committee needs to be appointed to revamp the plan along these lines.

3) Decision making by the Governing Board of presidents should be conducted by weighted voting, i.e., voting based on the per capita tax paid by each affiliate to the Department.

4) The Administrative Committee - comprised of the top five per capital tax paying affiliates - should be reconstituted, meet regularly, and have a substantial role in the direction of the Department's activities.

Once there is agreement on these changes, I will recommend to my Executive Board that the Carpenters rejoin the Department.

I look forward to your reply.

Fraternally yours,
Douglas J. McCarron
General President

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Building and Construction Trades Department
February 21, 2002

SENT VIA FAX AND U.S. MAIL

Addressed to all Building and Construction
Trades Department General Presidents

I am sure by this time you have received Doug McCarron's letter to me dated today. It goes without saying that I am terribly disappointed in the Carpenters' decision, especially after the Building Trades have worked and waited patiently for almost a year.

Mr. McCarron's "conditions" for re-affiliating are unacceptable and most could not even be achieved without wholesale constitutional changes supported by our fourteen affiliates.

Let me be very clear about our intentions. In July, 2000, Joe Maloney and I were elected unanimously to five-year terms as Secretary-Treasurer and President of the Department. Each of us has worked tirelessly toward unity in our movement and growth in the unionized construction industry.

Joe Maloney and I plan to serve our complete terms in office, with the gracious support of the vast majority of our affiliated unions.

When Mr. McCarron disaffiliated from the AFL-CIO, our Governing Board decided, again unanimously, to reaffirm our constitution. Therefore the Carpenters, by virtue of having left the AFL-CIO, also disaffiliated with the Building Trades.

To date the Carpenters have not experienced any real sanctions for their disaffiliation. After the disaffiliation, we asked that the Carpenters be permitted to participate in Building Trades activities at all levels. We believed this would give us time to discuss the Carpenters' concerns and try to work out solutions to them. The only major change was that the Carpenters no longer paid per capita tax.

Because of Mr. McCarron's decision, I believe it is time for us to begin divesting the Carpenters from the benefits of the Building Trades affiliation. I will be contacting you personally in the next few days to solicit your views on this issue.

With kind personal regards, I am

Sincerely and fraternally,
Edward C. Sullivan
President

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A Mutiny in the AFL-CIO
BusinessWeek Exclusive: Carpenter's Union -UBC- Bolts AFL/CIO; First Defection From Labor Federation Since 1968
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 29, 2001--In a sharp slap in the face to AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney, BusinessWeek reports in it's online edition that the 500,000-member United Brotherhood of Carpenters (UBC) has pulled out of the labor federation today. The last time such a split happened was in 1968, when the United Auto Workers stomped out over the Federation's support of the Vietnam War.
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/mar2001/nf20010329_990.htm

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May 2
Secretaries and Chief Executive Officers
State, Provincial and Local Building and Construction Trades Councils

Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Building Trades:

The Governing Board of Presidents met on April 29 near Washington to craft an appropriate course of action in response to the Carpenters' disaffiliation. Carpenters' General President Douglas J. McCarron was in attendance, and presented his views on the subject. We had a lengthy and thorough discussion

President McCarron agreed to participate in a high-level task force that I will convene in the near future. The Governing Board of Presidents unanimously concurred that this task force should be convened. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, and perhaps other prominent labor leaders, will be part of the task force. I will keep you informed of our progress in resolving this very difficult matter.

Furthermore, we are committed to preserve and protect the union sector of our industry and the relationships within it, while also asserting our firm commitment to a united House of Labor.

We understand and appreciate the difficulty and disruption in your operations caused by the Carpenters' disaffiliation. The House of Labor is an intricate network of relationships, and when a family member - like the Carpenters - leaves this House, the vacancy is real and it impacts all of us. I am proud of the thoughtful and harmonious way the vast majority of Building Trades Councils are handling this situation.

The reality, however, is that our democratically-adopted constitution does not provide for any Union to disaffiliate from one part of the House, while remaining affiliated with another part. Therefore, no per capita payments may be accepted by Councils from Carpenters until this matter is resolved.

The following principles and policies adopted by the Governing Board are in full force and effect:

1) President Sweeney and I will convene the task force in the very near future to discuss the issues between the Carpenters and the AFL-CIO. That effort will continue, if necessary, until the AFL-CIO Convention in December 2001. The ultimate purpose of this effort is to achieve the reaffiliation of the Carpenters at every level.

2) During this period, you should maintain the status quo regarding all current working agreements, including PLAs , as well as new agreements negotiated within this period.

3) Also during this period, recognizing the fact that participation of the Carpenters in Buildings Trades Councils affairs is essential in order to consider issues relating to collective bargaining agreements, the Carpenters may participate in Building Trades Councils affairs on on an ex officio basis, and the Councils may work informally and cooperatively with the Carpenters.

We are committed to maintaining the highest possible degree of unity for the top leadership of the AFL-CIO. Under their leadership, the labor movement in the United States is reinvigorated and is regarded as the most potent single political force in the nation. Working families have a strong and effective voice in the AFL-CIO.

Please feel free to contact Secretary-Treasurer Joseph Maloney if you have any questions on this matter.

With kind personal regards, I am

Sincerely and fraternally,
Edward C. Sullivan, President
Building and Construction Trades Department

---

May-June Carpenters Magazine, General President Editorial Page

Carpenters Grab Some Ole-Time Union Religion

The dramatic decision by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America to quit the AFL-CIO should send a message to labor leaders across America that something is amiss spiritually. The carpenters have struck out on their own in the belief that they can better put to use the $4 million a year that the union contributes to the labor federation. ``Organize'' is the marching order from Carpenters' General President Doug McCarron. The union may be right.

The AFL-CIO seems to be losing the not-so-lively national debate over whether unions are good for American workers. Instead of looking at how unionism can affect and hopefully improve the lives of real people with real problems at the local level, the federation's leaders seem to take the 50,000-ft-panoramic view, much the same way that some detached corporate leaders do. But that kind of view and leadership may be producing the disconnect with people that is slowly but surely eroding union influence in America.

Where is the fire and passion that unions used to have? We are not talking about violence and confrontation, but the vigorous debate over ways unions can make a difference in career-building and in the workplace.

The building trade unions have an advantage over others in the federation in that they are more alike than different in their approach to issues and can speak the same language. Despite their sometimes noisy differences, there is strength in numbers and those numbers mean something in construction, which is having trouble mobilizing forces for the execution of projects.

This solidarity issue raises the question of how the carpenters will be able to maintain ties with other building trade unions and still withdraw from the federation. This doesn't seem likely officially, since the federation has ordered a severing of all relationships. But the teamsters' union was able to keep up a meaningful dialogue, at least among the building trades, after it was kicked out of the federation in the 1950s for corruption. It has since reaffiliated.

The 500,000-member carpenters' union cannot be ignored, either. For example, it is part of a new coalition that is petitioning the U.S. government for duties on the import of Canadian softwood lumber. It has joined with other unions and companies in the effort. While we don't support the reimposition of the expired duties, the union's action shows that the carpenters intend to keep up a vigorous voice on the issues that affect it. Maybe with an extra $4 million to spend a year, it can bring more focused clout to issues, the bargaining table, training, outreach and organizing. At the very least, the union has everyone's attention.

ENR: Engineering News-Record 04/09/01 http://www.enr.com/new/editorials40901.asp
Copyright 2001 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. reprinted with permission

Good Old-Fashioned Protectionism
More importantly, the UBC can now spend more money lobbying Washington for protectionist legislation. On March 31—two days after the Carpenters left the AFL-CIO—the 1996 U.S.-Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA) expired. The Agreement had placed a quota on Canadian lumber imported into the United States, which kept lumber prices high; thereby protecting unionized U.S. lumber producers from competition. The Carpenters’ union and U.S. lumber interests, who anticipated the agreement’s expiration, quickly sprang into action.
full text http://www.capitalresearch.org/LaborWatch/lw-0601a.htm

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Reformers jolt Carpenters convention
By Mike Orrfelt, HardHat Construction magazine

ZNET Sept 01 article on United Brotherhood of Carpenters Union and AFL pullout
http://www.zmag.org/ZMag/articles/sept01mcmallum.htm

From The WarZone Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001
Withdrawal Pains! Carpenters plans to exit AFL-CIO spell disaster for membership!!

Construction Carpenters Cheer as McCarron Threatens to Defect From AFL-CIO
By Michael Bologna
Copyright 2000 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., Washington D.C.
(posted with permission of the author)

Counterpunch
Carpenters' Union Quits AFL-CIO -- The War Has Begun By JoAnn Wypijewski
There have been audacious moments in the bureaucratic history of American organized labor, moments when, despite the power-seeking, membership-squeezing impulses of autocratic leaders, some matter of true principle was at issue. Doug McCarron's recent decision to pull the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners out of the AFL-CIO is not one of them.
This is the first time a union president has broken with the labor federation since 1968, when Walter Reuther took the United Auto Workers out over the AFL's support for the Vietnam War. Reuther was a despot, an accomodationist to racists in the industry and his own union, and an enforcer for the liberal establishment against radical challenges, but opposing the war was not simply a rhetorical feint.
McCarron has arrayed himself in the vestments of reform, writing to AFL president John Sweeney on March 29 that he was sick of watching labor's numbers decline, sick of wasting dues money on a growing Washington bureaucracy, with no change in site. On its own there is some justice to the argument, but as Mike Orfelt, editor of the battling pro-democracy building trades newsletter Hard Hat, put it, with McCarron "you have to measure a thimble-full of justice against an ocean of crime."
McCarron's pr machine has so successfully promoted him as a reformer that even in left labor circles it's common to hear people talk of the Carpenters' organizing dynamism; at the other end, Business Week says McCarron has "a lot of credibility on the subject of reform". But though the Carpenters' stable of organizers numbers 600 - many of them staff who simply got a name change - membership is barely keeping pace with attrition. In 1968 the union had about 800,000 members; last year it had 323,929 according to the constituency it posted with the AFL, though McCarron boasts 500,000, and that's the number the newspapers print. But, as always, the rhetoric of "Organize or Die" (McCarron's battle cry) and even the numbers are secondary to the fundamental question, Organize for what?
"War" is the short answer to that question, and "war" is more than a rumor flying through the building trades these days. At the crudest, most self-interested level the only reason any union belongs to the AFL-CIO is to buy a form of anti-raiding insurance: the federation mediates disputes between unions over jurisdiction, a regulatory system meant to keep unions from stealing the work and the members of other unions. McCarron doesn't use words like "stealing" and "war"; instead, he talks about building a "wall-to-wall union", applying an industrial organizing model to construction. But McCarron's particular spin on it is best revealed by a speech he gave in Hawai'i to the National Erectors Association, five days before he wrote his high-minded letter to Sweeney.
click for full text

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Inside the AFL-CIO
Issued Every Tuesday
Column #1 March 20, 2001
Carpenters Set to Quit AFL-CIO;
Sweeney Orders Sharp Response
By Harry Kelber

Reacting to the impending disaffiliation of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners from the AFL-CIO, President John Sweeney has ordered all state federations and central labor councils to expel Carpenters' delegates the moment the exodus becomes final, as required by the federation constitution. The ouster order also includes the Building and Construction Trades Dept., where the carpenters are one of 15 crafts. In his March 2 memorandum to officers of state and local bodies, Sweeney said that he and Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka met last month with Doug McCarron, general president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, in an unsuccessful effort to dissuade him from departing "the House of Labor." The Carpenters, one of the oldest unions dating back to the founding of the American Federation of Labor, have a membership of close to 400,000. The union owes about $4 million in back per capita payments to the federation. While Sweeney did not mention the nature of McCarron's complaints, it is well known that McCarron is dissatisfied with the organizing progress of both the AFL-CIO and the Building and Construction Trades Dept. However, the real reason for the Carpenters' imminent departure lies elsewhere. McCarron, 46, a former drywall carpenter from Los Angeles, who was recently elected to his second five-year term, is determined to transform the carpenters union into a "wall-to-wall" organization, through which contractors could be assured of lining up the services of ironworkers, bricklayers, laborers, plumbers and other trades for a complete construction job. He has won over a number of contractors who see "wall-to-wall" as a more efficient and less costly way of doing business. McCarron hopes to attract tens of thousands of non-union workers in all crafts who are willing to work at below the union scale and with fewer benefits. If McCarron goes ahead with his plans, it will amount to a declaration of jurisdictional war with the other crafts, with predictable turmoil for the construction industry. Some rank-and-file carpenters are dismayed at the McCarron move, but they have little power to change his course. In his first term, McCarron instituted mandatory by-laws for regional councils which virtually stripped local unions of their power. Kenneth Little, chairman of the Carpenters for a Democratic Union, said: "McCarron is turning our union into a corporate business and is trying to make its members into a 'Labor Ready' organization for the job market. McCarron wants us to steal the work of the other trades." Little ran for president on a rank-and-file ticket against McCarron last year and received 10% of the vote. Mike Orrfelt, editor of "Hard Hat," a construction workers' publication, said: "I think this will lead to a war in the building trades. And I certainly hope that it doesn't make construction job sites even more dangerous places to work. I also hope the contractors won't try to drag down wages." McCarron did not return several telephone calls requesting a response. "Inside the AFL-CIO," a new weekly column by The Labor Educator, will be published every Tuesday until the AFL-CIO convention in November. The "LaborTalk" column will continue to appear every Monday.
http://www.laboreducator.org/inside1.htm

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UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS AN D JOINERS OF AMERICA
Douglas J. McCarron
General President
March 29, 2001
John Sweeney; President
American Federation of Labor
Congress of Industrial Organizations
815 16th Street N.W.
Washington D.C. 20006
Dear President Sweeney:
Thank you and Secretary- Treasurer Trumka for coming to meet with Our General officers and Executive Board to make your case for the United Brotherhood of Carpenters continued affiliation to the national AFL-CIO. The sincerity of your belief in the need to resolve this issue was readily apparent to all present.

As you well know our union has undertaken a long and difficult program of reorganization and restructuring. The sole purpose of this effort has been to develop an effective organizing structure which accurately reflects the current conditions or Our industry and is able to help members and non-members alike improve their wages and working conditions.. To this end we have allocated more than 5O% of our financial resources to organizing; hired more than 600 organizers; built the new international training facility you toured to give our members the skills they need; and moved decision making from our headquarters into the field where organizing really takes place.

During all of these efforts, which mirror the goals you have set for the AFL-CIO itself, we have remained hopeful that you would be successful in your efforts to implement similar changes. Clearly you have made real progress in generating greater public awareness of the Labor Movement and an increased presence in the political arena. Unfortunately, despite the strong words and good intentions, the more fundamental changes have not been addressed. The AFLCIO continues to operate under the roles and procedures of an era that passed years ago, while the industries that employ our members change from day to day.

When we agreed to your request and extended the invitation for you and Secretary- Treasurer Trumka to meet with our Executive Board, it was my hope that you would take the opportunity to address these issues directly. I was disappointed that your statement to our Board merely reiterated the positions you took in your earlier letters to me and the AFL-CIO affiliates. This was an opportunity for a substantive discussion of the systemic problems which afflict the operations of the federation. I deeply regret that we were not able to have that discussion, I believe that both you and Secretary-Treasurer Trumka recognize, and are personally committed to, the need for real change at the AFL-CIO. And I am fully aware of the obstacles you face in trying to reform an affiliate organization like the federation. Six years ago, when we began the restructuring of our Brotherhood, the changes we had to make were just as profound and the institutional inertia was as strong. But our obligation was to working carpenters, not to an institutional structure, and we made the changes that needed to be made.

After five years I have seen nothing to indicate the AFL-CIO is seriously considering changes that would cure these problems, nor do I see any realistic chance that An investment of more time or resources by the UBC will alter those facts. And for that reason the General Executive Board of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters has voted unanimously to end our affiliation with the AFL-CIO.

This has been a difficult decision taken only after much thought and deliberation, I want to be
very clear that this is not a case of "taking our ball and going home" as some have claimed. we leave not because of what has been done, but what has not been done. While we are committed to moving forward, implementing our program of organizing and growth, we also hope that the AFL-CIO will be able to resolve its internal conflicts and move forward as well. And it is our hope that in the interim we can maintain an open and cordial relationship at the national as well as at the state and local level.

Yesterday, Secretary - -Treasurer Trumka made the point that the UBC helped build the framework for the labor movement and said that he couldn't imagine a progressive growing labor movement without the Carpenters. That is a role of which our Union is justly proud.

We believe that we are building a new framework for our union. one that will accommodate all the men and women working at our trade. We believe this is the essence of truly progressive trade unionism, and essential to its growth. It is in that spirit that we move forward, and in that spirit we will always be part of the labor movement. Even though we are ending our affiliation to AFL-CIO, our commitment to the goals of the Labor Movement and our willingness to work with you, where we can be effective remains unchanged.
Fraternally,
Douglas J. McCarron
General President

cc: AFL-CI0 Executive Council
Governingboard ofPresidents, BCTD

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UBC disaffiliation letter: To All UBC Members from Douglas J. McCarron http://www.local157

UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS AND JOINERS OF AMERICA

Douglas J. McCarron
General President
April 9, 2001
Dear UBC Member:
You may have heard recently that the Carpenters union is no longer part of the AFL-CIO. I wanted to write you directly and explained why we took that action and what it means.
First, let me be clear what it doesn't mean. The UBC is still a union and you are still a union member, fully entitled to all the benefits, pride and traditions of membership in one of the oldest and strongest unions in North America. The AFL-CIO is a federation, or association of unions, and we are no longer a member of that association. It might interest you to know and over the course of our history we have been in and out of the AFL-CIO several times.
Why did we leave the AFL-CIO most recently? It's a matter of principle. It now costs $4 million a year of your dues money to belong to that association. Yet no one, including the President of that organization, could answer one important question: “ How does belonging to this association directly benefit a UBC member on the job… What real benefit do they get for $4 million a year?”
Over the last thirty years, unions have lost strength and clout. Five years ago we made a decision to stop that decline. Since then, we’ve reduced our Washington DC headquarters staff from 240 to 25. We’ve hired 600 rank-and-file organizers and built an International Training Center to improve training for apprentices, journeyman and union leaders. We’ve done the hard work of restructuring our union and making real changes. As a result, our membership has begun to increase for the first time in decades, and we’re in a stronger financial position than ever.
Meanwhile, the AFL-CIO and many affiliated unions, including some of the other trades, have talked about change, but made few real changes. For example, while we were cutting staff and putting our resources in the field, spending on headquarters staff at the AFL-CIO alone, almost doubled. While we have not increased per capita to the International, the AFL-CIO has increased its dues each year.
I strongly believe in solidarity and the principles of trade unionism, but those principles also involved being sure we used our member’s money in a way that benefits them. The United Brotherhood of Carpenters stands ready and willing to assist any union or union member who will requires it, but we will not spend our members’ money to support a Washington bureaucracy.
At the state and local level, we have left the decision about whether to stay affiliated with the other building trades or state federations to leaders at that level. If continued affiliation with a state or local building trades is in the best interests of our members, then we will support it.
Finally, let me make our position regarding organizing absolutely clear. We have no intention of organizing a single construction union, working wall-to-wall, under vertical agreements. We’re not trying to steal work from the other trades; our focus is on organizing the more than one million men and women out there doing work traditionally in the jurisdiction of our Brotherhood. That said, we also have no intention of allowing any other trade to take out work, harass our members, or raid our locals. We will not tolerate it.
Throughout our history, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters has taken the lead, from the fight for the eight-hour day to the very formation of a national association of unions.
By making the changes we've made in our own union, by refusing to stand by while others talk of change, but make no real changes, we may once again be taking that role, but that's for history to decide. What I am certain of is that we are acting, and will continue to act, in good conscience and the best interests of our members.
 
Sincerely & fraternally,
 
Douglas J. McCarron
General President

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http://www.aflcio.org/publ/press2001/pr0502.htm
OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE FROM THE AFL-CIO :
Joint Statement by AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney and Building and Construction Trades Dept. President Edward Sullivan On Carpenters Affiliation Discussions
May 2, 2001

A month ago, when the Carpenters Union executive board moved to disaffiliate from the AFL-CIO, we expressed our desire to have further discussions to explore the issues raised by the disaffiliation.

The tremendous challenges facing union members and all of America's working families call for a strong and united labor movement. That is our goal and our commitment.

As a result of discussions between the AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades Dept. and the AFL-CIO, BCTD President Ed Sullivan will be convening a high-level task force to meet as necessary between now and the AFL-CIO convention in December. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney will be part of the task force, and Carpenters President Doug McCarron has agreed to participate. The ultimate purpose of this effort is to achieve the reaffiliation of the Carpenters.

The disaffiliation remains in effect during this period, and under the constitution of the AFL-CIO, it applies at every level of the labor movement. Current working agreements, including PLAs, will, however, remain in place. Also during this period, the Carpenters may participate in Building Trades Councils as well as AFL-CIO state federations and central labor councils on an ex officio basis, and all bodies will be encouraged to work informally and cooperatively with Carpenters local unions. No per capita payments may be accepted by any bodies from Carpenters as long as the disaffiliation is effective.

As we have stated throughout the past month, we would like nothing better than for the Carpenters to rejoin the Federation at every level.

For information: Deborah Dion, AFL-CIO 202/637-5036 Bob Ozinga, BCTD, 202/347-1461

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