ARTICLES ABOUT THE UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS (UBC)
By Mike Pesa
INTRODUCTION
I am a senior history major at Kent State with a passion for labor justice. In Fall 2003, I participated in an internship through the New York City UnionSemester program, which temporarily places students with an NYC labor union from 9 to 5 (or in my case 8 to 4) and also includes evening classes on U.S. Labor History, Contemporary Labor Issues, and a credit-optional class on New York City Culture and Politics. I was placed with the New York City District Council of Carpenters, a unit representing ten locals affiliated with the national (+ some Canadians) United Brotherhood of Carpenters (UBC). Apparently the Carpenters wanted me because they needed someone with writing abilities to work on their magazine. While I did that, and many other miscellaneous tasks, I took in everything I could about the union and how it functioned. I didn't like a lot of what I saw, but I also found plenty of potential for positive change. Below are some documents I wrote about the Carpenters, based on my first hand knowledge, as well as the testimony of some dissident members from Carpenters for a Democratic Union and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), the latter of which I am a member. I hope that student labor activists, frustrated workers, and union reformers find this information useful. Despite my use of satire and humor throughout much of my writing, I want to emphasize that this is not a website for armchair radicals to get off on and do nothing about it. The words that follow are intended for people who take the rank and file workers of the building trades seriously and want to struggle side by side with them as equals.
In time, I hope to expand this site to include be a much more extensive labor website, with the Carpenters page being only one part of it. I also hope to use this site to start building a project I am working on for the Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC), that I call "Labor and the Environment". Please check back every so often for updates, and email me at mpesa@kent.edu if you have any comments or ideas.
In Solidarity,
~Mike Pesa, Feb. 03, 2004
ARTICLES ABOUT THE UBC
"Jesus Was a Union Carpenter" (Internship Paper I)
This is a piece I did roughly two months into my internship. It was in response to a specific set of writing prompts from the UnionSemester program coordinators, so parts of it are about myself. However, it introduces my perspective on the basic characteristics, historical background, and cultural context of the union, and is an essential pre-requisite to my more analytical and forward-looking paper, "If I Had A Hammer".
"If I Had A Hammer: Carpenters, Students, and the Path to Transforming the Building Trades" (Internship Paper II)
In this longer essay, I was basically given free reign to write in the style that I wanted to. The first half of the paper analyzes what's wrong with the union; the second half suggests a path to reforming it, and the building trades at large. I reccomend that readers take a look at "Jesus Was a Union Carpenter" before reading "If I Had A Hammer", since the first paper lays out some basic information that is important to know in order to understand the concepts in the second paper.
Labor and the Environment
An article I wrote for an organization I'm involved with, the Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC)
ARTICLES I WROTE FOR THE DISTRICT COUNCIL
"100,000 rally in Queens at climax of union-sponsored Immigrant Worker Freedom Ride / The UBC: A Union of Immigrants"
This is my original version of a two-part article that I wrote for the New York City District Council of Carpenters' magazine, "The Carpenter". The published version was significantly cut down by the editor, but my basic message was still left intact.
FAIR USE NOTICE
Please do not plagiarize me or republish my work without crediting me. If you do reprint my work, please inform me about it (see email address above). Thank you.
LINKS TO OFFICIAL UBC SITES
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America
The New York City District Council of Carpenters
The Carpenter Magazine (As of early February, the Winter Issue that I worked on is not yet available online)
Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO
LINKS TO CRITICAL/REFORM-ORIENTED SITES/ARTICLES
Carpenters for a Democratic Union
Gangbox: Construction Workers News Service
IWW Building Construction Workers IU 330
British Columbia Carpenters. Contains scathing commentary and halarious cartoons bashing Doug McCarron and Co.
A Victory for union democracy:
Carpenters win right to elect regional council officers.
Why Bush Loves the Carpenters
Going Wall To Wall (Long as hell, but worth the read!)
Labor leaders live high on hog as members struggle to earn a weekly wage
Reform Groups Build Pressure on Carpenter Leadership
LINKS TO ARTICLES ABOUT THE UBC'S BREAK WITH THE AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO Executive Council Grants Indefinite Extension For Negotiation of Carpenters' Reaffiliation (This article is the latest in a long series of updates about this continuing saga. For background info, see the list of related articles at the bottom of the article.)
LINKS TO ARTICLES ABOUT THE NEW UNITY PARTNERSHIP
New Unity Partnership [Original "Leaked" Document]
Palace Coup at the AFL-CIO [Business Week]
New Unity Partnership: Five Union Presidents Launch Bid to 'Revolutionize' AFL-CIO [Labor Notes]
The New Unity Partnership: A Manifest Destiny for Labor [Counterpunch]
‘The Gang of Five’ Union Leaders Plot Radical Takeover of AFL-CIO [Labor Educator]
Woodruff and Wypijewski: Debating the New Unity Partnership [Counterpunch]
Bureaucratizing to Organize? [Counterpunch]