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From the December/January issue of UDR.
Carpenter reformers win in New England
by Carl Biers
Thomas Harrington, a Boston Carpenters official who is closely associated with the rank-and-file caucus Carpenters for a Democratic Union, was elected on September 29 to the powerful Executive Secretary-Treasurer post of the 26,000-member New England Regional Council of Carpenters. His election by secret ballot vote of council delegates, 68-65, represents a major victory for reformers in the United Brotherhood of Carpenters.
Over the past decade the carpenters union has been restructured from a network of small to moderately sized local unions into a series of large autocratic regional councils. In the restructuring, carpenters lost their right to vote directly on collective bargaining agreements and to directly elect the officials who represent them. Those powers, and others, were transferred to the centralized regional councils. The council structure is dominated by its executive secretary treasurer who wields immense powers, including the authority to hire and fire all business agents, organizers, and representatives. No other council official receives a salary by virtue of their office. Locals, under the council system, are ceremonial shells, forbidden from spending money on attorneys or officer salaries, limited, in essence, to electing delegates to the council.
The rank-and-file’s loss of democratic rights and the imposition, without warning or input from below, of officials who are not directly accountable to the members, sparked protests nationally. In New England, the rebellion was especially pronounced, well-organized, and, in September, successful.
According to the International, the goal of the restructuring, was to replace a system of local fiefdoms with one that it is better able to represent carpenters’ interests against building contractors that are larger and increasingly regional in scope--to consolidate the union to match the employers’ centralization. CDU activists agree that greater centralization is needed but insist it should be accompanied by the expansion of democratic mechanisms, especially those like the direct election of officers. Instead, under the new setup, all power has been transferred away from the 26 locals to the regional council in Boston and the autocratic Executive Secretary Treasurer is empowered to negotiate contracts, hire and fire all council staff process grievances, and control virtually all moneys.
New England carpenters fought back. They formed CDU; carried petitions to members throughout the six New England states; demonstrated at council meetings; elected pro-democracy delegates to the council; and organized, with AUD, a national rank-and-file carpenters’ rights conference. In 1999 their efforts forced the council to restore the members’ right to ratify of contracts. CDU pursued a Department of Labor complaint and federal lawsuit contending that the council, because it exercises so many functions that traditionally belong to locals, should be regarded as a local and required to hold elections every three by direct vote of the members. Tom Harrington is the lead plaintiff in the suit which is pending before an appeals court.
According to rank-and-file carpenters and officers, Harrington’s election resulted from a combination of factors: intense rank-and-file pressure on council delegates to democratize the council, a bristling reaction to incumbent EST David Bergeron’s heavy-handed wielding of his wide powers, and a fear that Bergeron’s effort to make the union more appealing to nonunion contractors by evening out wages and conditions in New England would bring down standards in Boston and other cities in the region. Bergeron’s close relationship with UBC International President Douglas McCarron, who engineered the restructuring and, controversially, pulled the Carpenters out of the AFL-CIO earlier in the year, was also a factor.
The New England reformers had to overcome formidable obstacles. Locals do elect delegates; but the EST has total unchecked authority to appoint--and unappoint--all organizers, business agents, and other council staff. Approximately 50 of the 133 council delegates hold appointed $50,000 plus per year positions, estimates Michael Cranmer, a delegate from Boston Local 33. Some staff had been fired for "getting on the wrong side of Bergeron," says Cranmer.
Bergeron’s alliance with the heavy-handed McCarron earned him more enemies, suggested Cranmer, citing the example of a Connecticut business agent, Chuck Appleby , who was brought up on charges and suspended by the International for enforcing a local agreement over a national one. In that case, the local agreement had stricter language requiring contractors to hire local members before bringing in travelers. This suspension created animosity in the Connecticut delegation which may have tipped the balance against Bergeron.
Harrington, the new Executive Secretary Treasurer, says: "Every carpenter, from those on our executive board to those putting on the tools, deserves a voice in this union and this industry." Although much of the council structure is dictated by the International’s constitution, Harrignton has pledged to operate more democratically and has indicated that he will continue to pursue the litigation that, if successful, would force the council to operate as a local, with direct secret ballot elections of officers every three years.
Articles on
the Harrington case and the Carpenters reform movement:
Carpenters
win right to elect regional council officers
Consolidation
in the Construction Trades
Carpenters
form National Reform Group
Reformers
Jolt Carpenters Convention
Carpenters
Reformers Win in New England
Court
challenges DOL on Carpenters Regional Council
Harrington v Chao: Judge
Stearns's "memorandum and order" (pdf)
AUD Bill of Rights
for the Building Trades
AUD brief opposing stay of order
Sample letter requesting direct elections
Letter to Carpenters from Carl
Biers
Court deals setback
for democracy in Carpenters union
Links
to Carpenters rank-and-file websites
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Next Article: The politics of DOL enforcement
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