There’s so little demand for new buildings...

There’s so little demand for new buildings in Southern California that in Orange County alone 5,000 construction jobs were lost last year. New homes are selling slowly, and many of the office buildings that sprouted all over the region in the 1980s are only half full and charging tenants low rents.

“The carpenters have let out their frustration because they can’t make every other union do what they want them to,” said Michael Potts, former head of the Orange County building trades council, which merged with Los Angeles’ when the carpenters pulled out a few months ago. That caused a sizable drop in the council’s revenues from dues, Potts said.

“I agree with some of what the carpenters say, but in terms of showing solidarity, this is poor timing. Public opinion has changed; people are realizing unions aren’t the bogeymen they were made out to be in the 1980s.

“If we were sticking together, I think we could accomplish a lot more.”