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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.
Carpenters President Douglas J. McCarron has been threatening to break away for more than two years. He has told AFL-CIO leaders and his members that Sweeney is wasting Carpenters' dues money on a bureaucracy of hundreds of officials that the AFL-CIO has hired since Sweeney took over in late 1995.
McCarron, who wasn't available to talk to BusinessWeek Online, argues that the money should be spent on new-member recruitment to turn around labor's decades-long slide in power. In a strongly worded letter to Sweeney, McCarron said: "After five years I have seen nothing to indicate the AFL-CIO is seriously considering changes that would cure (Sweeney's inability to make fundamental changes), 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 (union) has voted unanimously to end our affiliation with the AFL-CIO."
AFL-CIO officials respond that McCarron's actions stem largely from his desire to poach on other building trade unions' turf. They argue that he regularly mounts organizing drives among non-carpenter construction workers, and even offers electrician and other training to members.
The Carpenters departure is a financial blow to the AFL-CIO as well as a symbolic one. While its dues amount to just $3 million a year in the federation's $100 million-plus annual budget, the AFL-CIO spends every penny of it. The 13-million-member AFL-CIO has even drawn down its reserves in recent years.
REFORM ADVOCATE. McCarron's action is particularly damaging because he has a lot of credibility on the subject of reform. Since becoming president of the Carpenters Union in 1995, McCarron has moved more aggressively than any other labor leader, shoving out hundreds of officials, merging overlapping locals, and raking in millions of dollars by renovating and leasing out most of the union's Washington (D.C.) headquarters. McCarron has poured almost all of the proceeds into recruitment, hiring nearly 600 organizers. Some other unions twice the UBC's size have only a few dozen organizers.
On Mar. 27, Sweeney and AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Rich Trumka addressed the Carpenter's executive board in Las Vegas in a last-ditch effort to halt a breakup vote. But they failed to change any minds and the eight-member board voted to withdraw.
An expanded version of the report is currently posted to BusinessWeek Online at http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/index.html. A related article will appear in BusinessWeek's April 9th issue, to be released today at 6:30pm.