Takeover of carpenters' union locals is shameful

I would like to comment on the recently announced consolidation of the carpenters local union halls across Montana. This action was taken by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters without any input by the members of the local unions.

The UBC thought it necessary to slip into Billings under the cover of darkness and call the locals president and financial secretary at 6 a.m. to announce their arrival and demand access to all financial documents and files.

lt took two days for them to make sure that they were not going to leave anything of value behind and shred all the files so no one would know that Local 1172 ever was a part of Billings or eastern Montana. We carpenters have been conducting business out of our local halls with our dues money for years without financial assistance from anyone and use all our facilities regularly.

The democratic process that has served all Americans and carpenters alike has also been taken away. The officers of our new "local" have been appointed for us. These new officers appear to be made up of Regional Council staff members with a few exceptions.

I have also learned that they will all be flying to Las Vegas for "training." Now that should save the members money. If they are really serious about saving the working carpenters in Montana money and reducing the dues we pay, they could stop sucking nearly 4 percent out of our paycheck every week.

There has been no announcement as to how they plan to use the $125,000 that left Billings. Our pension fund could sure use the help.

Mark Lincoln

Bridger