Union News & Views

United Brotherhood Of Carpenters Endorses Obama

Charles Lezette — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:41:23 -0400

Our union is growing and our members are enjoying the benefits of that growth.

"It is time that our country takes the same steps to change direction and address the serious problems that affect all working men and women. This administration leaves behind a staggering debt, a legacy of unfair trade deals, and a crumbling infrastructure that will cripple our ability to compete economically. "We believe that Barack Obama recognizes the necessity for fundamental change in our nation's policies," McCarron said at the close of a meeting of union leadership in Washington, D.C. The United Brotherhood of Carpenters represents some 550,000 workers in the construction and forest products industries, including large memberships in key swing states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Nevada.

www.carpenters.org

Loophole Makes it Easy for Employers to Exploit Illegal Workers

Charles Lezette — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 21:02:57 -0400

Under the new law, and its interpretation by the Labor Commission, a construction company, say, can hire laborers to perform dangerous manual jobs and if a laborer gets hurt the company can escape liability by having the insurance company throw out the benefits if the employee cannot prove he or she is in the country legally. And, the employer isn't sanctioned for having certified the employee was legally eligible for work when he or she was hired in the first place.

www.anti-union.blogspot.com

www.unionreview.com

Watertown, NY: Court of Appeals Rules Against Carpenters Union

Charles Lezette — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 22:28:58 -0400

The case can be traced back to 2003, when a contractor for Dick's Sporting Goods hired a subcontractor to remodel the mall tenant's space.

In August, a day before the new Dick's store was set to open, a representative from the carpenters union asked mall managers if he could set up a table to distribute literature. According to court documents, the subcontractor employed nonunion carpenters.

In a later hearing on the subject, the union representative said his literature included handouts criticizing the employment practices of both Dick's and the subcontractor. The handouts also included information on the potential benefits of joining Carpenters Local 747

www.local747.com

www.watertowndailytimes.com

Union, College Team Up... New England Regional Council of Carpenters Can Earn an Associate’s Degree

Charles Lezette — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:21:11 -0400

While the union could end up losing a few members, it is betting that it will ultimately gain by helping train a new wave of managers with union experience. Many construction industry managers are coming right out of school, with little or no experience with organized labor, union officials said.

But more importantly, the new program is part of a larger and ongoing effort by the labor organization to provide an array of new opportunities for its members, from trade training programs to a college degree.

http://www.necarpenters.org/

Rough Carpentry, Local Carpenters Union Wages an Ongoing Battle

Charles Lezette — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 01:10:49 -0400

“They’re lowering standards for all carpenters in the Knoxville area,” he says. “We’d like to see them change their practices.”

Helton charges that Proffitt & Sons doesn’t pay what the union considers a fair wage, doesn’t pay benefits to many of its workers, and is engaged in using an inordinate number of 1099 independent contractors, rather than using full-time employees who are entitled to worker’s compensation and unemployment benefits.

“By law, you can’t use that many independent contractors on your site,” he says. “Somebody has to be an employee.”

http://www.unionreview.com/

http://www.metropulse.com/

N.E. Carpenters Union Hits AvalonBay’s CEO, Fliers Target Developer’s Hiring Practices

Charles Lezette — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:35:56 -0400

Carpenters Local 424 Business Manager Rick Braccia said the group has distributed 1,200 fliers in downtown Hingham and at the job site, Avalon at Hingham Shipyard.

“We wanted to make the public aware that AvalonBay, we have found, is a practitioner of the underground economy,” Braccia said.

Blair, in a June 5 letter to the Hingham Journal, said the union is upset that they didn’t get more of the company’s Hingham work.

“We have engaged both union and non-union subcontractors, which has angered the New England Carpenters Union, which wants to do it all,” he wrote.

He denied that his company is part of the underground economy.

http://www.necarpenters.org/

Boston, MA: Contractor on Big Dig Files for Bankruptcy

Charles Lezette — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:00:14 -0400

Federal prosecutors allege that Modern Continental lied about the quality of its work on two areas of the tunnel system, including a section where a ceiling collapse killed a woman. If convicted, the Cambridge-based firm faces up to $24.5 million in fines, as well as restitution payments.

The company said the charges are unfounded.

www.bigdig.com

BigDig From Wikipedia

http://www.necarpenters.org/

(Click Here) Big Dig Contractor Charged with Lying

Union Carpenter Dies at Las Vegas Strip Project

Charles Lezette — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:08:40 -0400

http://www.spfpalocal7777.org/SAFETYFIRSTATCITYCENTER.html

Bates has been a member of the union for 11 years, said Marc Furman, who oversees local carpenters unions as the head of the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters.

The carpenter is the 12th construction worker to die in a construction accident on the Las Vegas Strip in the last 18 months.

But he is the first to die at Echelon, a $4.8 billion multi-towered Boyd Gaming project that broke ground one year ago. Marnell Corrao Associates is the general contractor of the Tower and Tishman is the construction manager.

http://www.swcarpenters.org/

http://www.lasvegassun.com/

Carpenters to Fight Elimination of Income Tax

Charles Lezette — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 12:40:31 -0400

"This is the type of initiative that would have a disastrous impact on construction, school budgets and virtually every state service," said NERCC Political Director Tom Flynn. "You can't just eliminate a third of state revenues and not feel a real pinch. We will be educating our members and helping educate the public about the very dangerous consequences this repeal would have. If we do that, I think it will be defeated."

http://www.necarpenters.org/

JOHN L. SMITH: Let's Hope Walkout After City Center Death Puts Safety Ahead of Speed

Charles Lezette — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:37:26 -0400

The scale of the project poses challenges on many levels. While construction workers came running to land good-paying jobs at CityCenter, building trades officials say their knowledge of standard safety practices is inconsistent. Meanwhile, the state's critics argue too few inspectors have roamed the construction site.

Was the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration ill-prepared -- and arguably unwilling -- to levy hard scrutiny at powerful Perini?

Building trades officials have complained for weeks that, even when OSHA found safety violations, the fines were reduced or eliminated altogether. And when it's acceptable to eliminate safety equipment such as those last-chance nets that might have saved the life of one fallen worker, there's something wrong with the system.