PeterWK's Periodical

IWW organizing gets the goods!

UBC: Respect Our Craft!

For a union that historically hated Industrial Unionism, they seem to dig it when it can pad their membership and benefit the bosses.  I happy the AFL-CIO has a chartered an Independence carpenter’s union to fight back.  The United Brotherhood  of Carpenters has taken the route of the SEIU: raiding other unions jurisdictions, consolidating power, throwing democracy out the window, and being a pal of the bosses. 

From the outside looking in, some are mystified by why unions are fighting each other at such a dark time in the labor movement.  Example:  The SEIU breakaway union, the National Union of Healthercare Workers getting desertification elections at SEIU hospitals and bringing SEIU members into their union, and things like this.  They say unions should be focusing on building themselves back up and shouldn’t be infighting while the movement is in ruins.  The problem is that it’s not enough just to be in a union.  The union has to actually work and do something for you.  The SEIU used to be an awesome union with some of the best organizing around.  Now they’re a corporate union focused only on money and being the bosses’ pal.  They don’t give a shit about contracts and improving the lives of their workers.  They also don’t want their membership to have a say in how their union is run. Also, they raided the shit out of UNITE HERE just for money and Bruce Raynor. The UBC is doing the same thing: lowering wages in the construction industry, trampling democracy, and raiding all sections of the building and trades department of the AFL-CIO.  The UBC (like the SEIU) is a cancer to the labor movement.

I hope the Independent Carpenters can do what the NUHW has been doing and bring democracy back to their members.

Also, under their current leadership they’ve gotten very close with the GOP: they supported Bush for President, and even supported Rick “the dick” Snyder for governor here in Michigan.

Also, sign the petition!

and check out this article:

http://mostlywater.org/welcome_businessfriendly_carpenters_union

”..Solidarity and brotherhood have always been at the core of what makes the unionized skilled trades in America so strong.

As construction unions, we understand we have to have a working relationship with our contractors and we have to work together to make them profitable. Otherwise, they will not bid work, hire our members, or stay in business. The only way the union construction industry can grow is through cooperation and partnership.

Sadly, the concepts of partnership, solidarity and brotherhood are being systematically eroded by the actions of Doug McCarron and his leadership team at the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (UBC)….”