All Sides Lose If Feuds Continue in the Carpenters Union

Union leaders bashing other union leaders at times is understandable--after all, internecine warfare is routine in such long-established institutions as the Democratic and Republican parties.

But some battles currently raging in construction industry unions, particularly in Southern California, are bound to hurt the modestly successful efforts that have been under way to stop the massive membership erosion going on more than a decade.

There are feuds in the Carpenters Union, the largest in the construction industry, marked by angry name-calling and costly legal battles as several leaders fight over everything from the merger of union locals to the best way to stop the spread of non-union contractors. Since noisy feuds generally attract more attention than quiet cooperation, it isn’t surprising that the battles in the construction unions are handicapping efforts to stop membership losses.

Fortunately, there is a positive side to the construction unions’ story: a major new program started by the Building and Construction Trades Council of California headed by Jerry Cremins. It is intended to unite the unions in California and, in time, around the country, although it is being boycotted by the Carpenters Union.

Bankrolled with an estimated $1 million a year, the program can spur organizing drives, increase on-the-job safety and assist union negotiators in drafting contract proposals to help unionized contractors compete against non-union companies.

Also, the program enables unions across the state to use a computer network to alert other unions about contractors that are violating labor agreements, safety regulations or minimum wage and hour laws. The new computerized system enables the unions to work together to combat the anti-union companies.

Preliminary reports from some unions around the country show that union membership in the construction industry may have leveled off in the past few months. Some unions even say they have made slight gains.

But it isn’t certain whether these reports reflect either a real end to the crushing membership losses or the situation in all construction unions. And the possibility of improving the fortunes of some of the oldest and once strongest unions in the United States is not improved by the often vitriolic battles.

Illustrative of the difficulties within the unions are the arguments being heard in the Los Angeles units of the 107-year-old Carpenters Union.

Partly because of mergers prompted by nationwide membership losses, the number of carpenters locals in the United States dropped to 1,466 from 2,200 in the past 10 years.

Many of the mergers came only after heated battles, with local leaders trying to hold onto their autonomy, a long-cherished tradition among craft unions. The issue of autonomy is central to the feud going on among the carpenters unions here.

Douglas McCarron, recently elected head of the Los Angeles District Council of Carpenters, wants to cut the number of construction locals in the district from 18 to four.

Thirteen locals approved the plan. Five, however, are furiously protesting, denouncing McCarron as a dictator trying to centralize power in his office.

To emphasize its protest, one carpenters local has even asked another union, the Operating Engineers, rather than its own parent union, to negotiate new contracts on behalf of its members.

And the officers of the Operating Engineers have agreed--another measure of the depth of the interunion rivalry.

The five rebellious unions, which would be eliminated by the plan, have gone to court to stop it.

The rebellion isn’t cheap. Paul M. Posner, attorney for the five dissident locals, sent them a bill last month for $10,170, charging $100 an hour for 101.7 hours of work. And the court fight is still at an early stage.

The rebels say the cost may be high, but union democracy is at stake. “Our members have voted to stop mergers and save our local unions, and that’s what the fight is all about,” said Stanley Oakley, secretary-treasurer of dissident Local 769 in Pasadena.

The rebels are right in their contention that slashing the number of locals from 18 to four means fewer officials will be elected directly by the membership.

But McCarron, backed by the union’s international leaders, has a persuasive argument. The union does have serious troubles and something has to be done to rebuild it at both the local and international levels.

The Carpenters Union membership in the United States and Canada has dropped to 601,000 from more than 850,000 in 1973. Construction unions represent only 21% of the industry’s workers today, compared to 30.9% shortly before President Reagan took office.

In the Los Angeles area, membership has dropped 39% to 21,621 in less than 10 years.

McCarron calls the old 18-local system antiquated. With just four locals, costs can be cut substantially, giving the union money to hire more union organizers and make the remaining locals function more efficiently.

He denies that the members will be deprived of their democratic rights since they will still elect officers of the remaining locals.

He further antagonized the dissidents by setting up a computerized job placement system so that out-of-work carpenters can telephone a dispatch headquarters for jobs instead of reporting in person each week to get jobs through the hiring hall.

The rebels charge that this new system opens job dispatching to possible abuse by unseen computer operators who could give work to their friends.

McCarron vehemently denies the accusation, noting that workers can still check their place on the out-of-work list in person any time.

He calls the dissidents self-centered local leaders trying desperately to hold onto their positions of power in an inefficient, expensive, outdated system.

More disturbing than the fight within the Carpenters Union are the hostilities with other unions.

Relations between the various craft unions here were reasonably harmonious until recently. For example, in a rare example of true union solidarity, Southern California carpenters struck for more than five months in 1983, primarily to help members of other unions get and keep jobs.

The carpenters at the time won a subcontracting clause in their agreements requiring contractors who hire union carpenters also to hire only unionized subcontractors such as plumbers, painters and plasters.

But now the carpenters are about to sign new agreements eliminating the hard-won subcontracting clause. McCarron justifies that action by arguing that several other construction unions are not working with employers to keep labor costs down, undermining the competitive position of union workers.

The Carpenters Union is not trying to bring its members’ wages down to non-union levels, which sometimes are as low as $5 or $6 an hour. Journeymen union carpenters now earn a reasonable $21.19 an hour, plus $3.45 in fringe benefits, although they almost never work a full year.

But the Carpenters Union is offering to give up some already-negotiated gains and trim future increases to make them more competitive.

The agreement raised the hackles of leaders of some other unions, who insist that there is no need to give up past contract gains to challenge non-union workers since union workers are much more productive.

Unfortunately, that argument hasn’t halted the growth of the non-union contracting, and the possible slight increase in union membership in recent months may be due to the even greater increase in construction jobs, not a decline in non-union companies.

Traditional battles between construction unions over jurisdiction haven’t ended, either. For instance, the Operating Engineers here charge the carpenters are trying to take jobs away from the engineers and other unions, and the engineers warn they will respond in kind. The carpenters deny the charge.

Perhaps the statewide program to encourage cooperation between construction unions may help end the feuding, but peace isn’t going to be achieved easily.

The fights within and between unions combine to make life a little easier for non-union contractors--something none of the combatants want. The feuders must stop fighting each other because that only delights their real enemies, the increasingly strong non-union forces.