WRENCH IN THE WORKS: rank and file carpenters are taking on the entrenched leadership of their union.
reprinted from the San Francisco Bay Guardian, MAY 26, 1999
By Lucia Hwang
IT WAS A TOUGH PITCH to make, but the message boomed from the bullhorn loud and clear.
"Brothers and sisters, lay down your tools! Walk off this job and join us! We need to take back our union!" carpenter Rob Rooke shouted to more than 100 construction workers at the corner of Mission and Second Streets Friday morning.
Some of the hard hats peeping over the side of the 27-story Dinwiddle project had been expecting the small band of hollering carpenters. Word had spread that rank-and-file Bay Area carpenters were risking their jobs to "wildcat" -- to stop work without authorization from their union to strike. On Thursday, May 20, they had shut down construction at San Francisco International Airport and other sites; on Friday the 21st they fanned across the region, visiting colleagues site by site and urging them to strike. Their mission: to overthrow top officials and democratize the governance of their union.
The carpenters belive union leaders have sold them out. On May 15, Northern California Carpenters Regional Council officials approved what many workers see as a suspiciously weak four-year contract -- during a construction boom. But striking workers emphasized that they want more than just a better contract: they want more say in union decisions. In the past decade, carpenters' union reformers say, changes to union bylaws have concentrated power in the hand of officials insulated from the problems members face.
"This isn't just about the contract -- this is about the members being shut up and shut out of the process," Renee Curran, a carpenter with Local 22 in San Francisco, told the Bay Guardian.
Labor activists across the country have pushed to end the kind of top-down governance of unions -- but the carpenters' strike, which continued early this week, was one of the most dramatic pushes for union democracy the Bay Area has seen in decades.
"It doesn't surprise me that this is happening, because this conflict has been brewing for a long time" in the carpenters' union nationwide, Carl Biers, executive director of the Association for Union Democracy in New York City, told us. Many union delegates, he said, "are not really representing working carpenters. Why not let the members who are working vote directly on [contracts] themselves?"
Members lost the right to vote on contracts when top national officials restructured the union a year and a half ago, consolidating locals and districts into regional councils. The "one member, one vote" system was replaced by a delegate system. Under the new rules, contracts are ratified and union officials elected by representatives of locals and by appointed delegates -- not by union members.
Locked out.
From Mountain View to San Francisco to Livermore, carpenters brought construction projects to a standstill all over the Bay Area last week. The huge construction project at the airport was shut down; most of the work at the Giants' new ballpark was stopped. Workers also walked off jobs for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, and Peoplesoft.
The striking carpenters have three main demands. They want the recent contract nullified, and they want the union's bylaws rewritten so they can vote on future contracts and elect officials. They also want to impeach John Casey, the executive secretary-treasurer of the Northern California Carpenters Regional Council.
According to strikers, Casey appointed one-third of the delegates who voted on the contract at the council's May 15 meeting. The delegates voted 127-107 to ratify the agreement. Without the support of Casey's appointees, many elected delegates say, it would never have been approved.
The carpenters have a lot of problems with the contract -- but they single out the $1.25-an-hour wage increase. Strikers say that it doesn't even keep up with inflation and that the raises workers will be taking home will be more like 50 cents an hour once the costs of training and health benefits are deducted.
They also want to eliminate provisions that give up overtime pay for work done on Saturdays to make up for weekdays missed because of bad weather or equipment failure. And they want breaks beyond a half hour for lunch in one 10- to 12-hour day.
Rank-and-file members say officials barred them from entering the May 15 meeting and wouldn't let them speak. It wasn't long before the word "strike" started flying around.
A staffer at the council office referred calls to Michael Roger of law firm Van Bourg, Weinberg, Roger, & Rosenfeld. Roger could not be reached for comment.
A press release from the council, faxed to the Bay Guardian, states that the council "stands by its decision to respect the democratic process used to ratify a new four-year agreement.... A small but vocal minority who are not happy with the outcome of that vote have held demonstrations at several job sites in the Bay Area. These actions are not sanctioned or supported by the union.... While respecting the right of its members to express their displeasure with the outcome of the democratic process, the union continues to urge its members to return to work."
Building blocked
Workers at the Dinwiddie site knew that stopping work could get them fired. Most construction contracts contain "no-strike" clauses; the previous day an arbitrator had found that striking workers at the Giants stadium were liable for "discipline, discharge and other damages." But the strikers were relentless.
"What's wrong with you all? Get down here! This is for your kids!" Rooke shouted as office workers watched in curiosity. "What are you guys? A bunch of scabs?" roared Richard Irwin, a lather with Local 48L.
One carpenter came down from the site and appeared on the sidewalk with his lunch pail, jacket, and tools. He was met with hoots and applause. A few others followed. But most of the workers remained on the site, weighing the risks.
Suddenly dozens of workers filed into the construction elevator and rode down. The carpenters on the street cheered.
The Pacific Gas and Electric Co. crew working on Mission Street packed up in support. Minutes later elevator workers with Otis picked up their things and left for the day. Like a dozen other construction sites around the Bay Area, the Dinwiddie job was shut down.
At press time the carpenters were expected to return to work May 25, but there are plans for more strikes in the future. Strikers say they are astounded to have achieved so much in just a few days of organizing. "This has brought us together -- more so than I've ever seen in the carpenters," said Allen Holmes, a carpenter with Local 152 in San Jose.
Many carpenters say they have no one to blame but themselves for allowing union leadership to boss them around.
"Nobody wants to do it like this," Harry Luks, a carpenter with Local 217 in San Mateo, told us. "But if we don't stick together, we won't have a voice."
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