Contract Negotiations Update: Delegates Approve Tentative Agreement

Deal reaches tentative agreement on contract with Cement League and Wall and Ceiling which boost wages and includes full mobility.

No Wage Cuts: Carpenters pressured union leadership.

After several contract extensions, the District Council of Carpenters has hammered out a new, tentative five-year deal with the Association of Wall-Ceiling and Carpentry Industries, though agreements with several other industry associations remain outstanding.

Last Wednesday Delegates to the council (see sign in sheet below) voted and approved a Cement League "Memorandum of Understanding" (MOU) by a vote of 45 to 18 and voted and approve a Wall-Ceiling MOU by a vote of 35-28.

Unfortunately, under the current council by-laws the rank-and-file does not get to vote and approve contracts.

With 10,400 members local 157 is the largest local in the UBC and is grossly underrepresented in the delegate body with only 22 delegates (local 2790 has 3000 members with 15 delegates). Since being elected in June, President Patrick Nee has been demanding fair representation and has asked to make additional pro tem appointments which has been denied by Supervisor Spencer. The delegate vote would most likely been defeated if local 157 had its fair amount of representation.

The Wall-Ceiling MOU is contingent on full mobility, or contractors' insistence on the right to hire 100% of workers they choose. Presently, as per a federal judge's order, they must hire a third of their workers through the union's out-of-work-list.

Contractors argue that the system is inefficient and hurts productivity because they end up with workers who may not have certain skills needed on specific job sites. Rank and fliers argue that full mobility will turn the union into a contractors union with no ability to obtain work from the out-of-work-list. The full mobility provision must go before federal judge Richard Berman in the form of a motion for approval.

Review Officer Dennis Walsh, held a forum on September 14, and according to RO Walsh the Cement League MOU is for three years and provides raises of $1.50 an hour in the first year, $2.50 in the second year and $3 in the third year.

The Wall-Ceiling MOU is for five years and provides no raise the first year, an increase of $2.60 in the second year, $2.65 in the third year and $2.70 in each of the fourth and fifth years.

As part of the deal, contractors will get a 20% wage discount (Market Recovery Rate) on residential and hotel projects of 20 stories or less in Manhattan and on all residential and hotel projects in the outer boroughs, regardless of size, Walsh said.

The deal also includes a helper/scraper category, (language to be determined) with a total package not to exceed $25 per hour to "clean up and handle deliveries," and jobs with two carpenters will not need a shop steward.

The association thought it had a deal in place several weeks ago that would have actually cut wages by 5% in the first year, but it fell apart, presumably after rank and file carpenters staged two protest rallies (against wage cuts and full mobility) outside council headquarters and pressured union leadership to scuttle the agreement. 

“It's not as much as we hoped, but it's a step in the right direction,” according to John DeLollis, executive director of the Wall and Ceiling association. “We looked for 5% roll back in first year. That was a greater step towards leveling competition with nonunion (firms), but it's gone.”

Contract negotiations for the carpenters are being led by Frank Spencer, who was appointed in 2009 by the general president of United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America to oversee the local union after several of its officials were indicted for bribery.

As usual the council has not updated their website with detailed information about Wednesday's delegate vote. A statement posted on September 9th, announced the Wall-Ceiling deal, (giving no details) and said that progress was made this week in talks with the Building Contractors Association and the General Contractors Association.

“The District Council continues to make positive movement to reach our overall goal of reaching agreements with all of our association partners,” the statement said.

Bargaining will resume on Monday September 12, with those two remaining groups, according to the statement. DC Delegates 9 14 11