Local 157 blogspot

A Mobilized Membership Is An Irresistible Force

2013-01-01T09:34:00.000-05:00

Let's be heard! Local157.blogspot.com is dedicated to empowering and mobilizing the membership into an irresistible force through the free and open exchange of information, ideas and opinions in the belief that as Union members you have the right to information, to hear, and to be heard! A Mobilized Membership Is An Irresistible Force

Labor Pains

2012-02-12T07:55:00.000-05:00

Union Protesters Elicit Varied Reactions in Lower Manhattan

Members of the New York City District Council of Carpenters (NYDC) protesting across from the

Holiday Inn construction site at 99 Washington Street where only non-union workers have been hired.

Lower Manhattan lives with the sights and sounds of construction on a daily basis, but the conditions under which its construction workers labor are largely hidden from outside eyes. Two ongoing protests drew attention this week to a central factor in any construction project: hiring practices.

As construction on the future Holiday Inn at 99 Washington Street ramped up in January, the New York City District Council of Carpenters (NYDC) began regularly picketing Casino Concrete, a subcontractor on Cava Construction's hotel project, for using non-union labor. The NYDC has been demonstrating on-and-off for the last year, because they say the project's developer, Sam Chang, reneged on a project labor agreement that stipulates that only union laborers would be used. Casino Concrete did not respond to requests for comment.

NYDC protesters on Washington Street

The union's criticism of Mr. Chang is supported by a letter, dated September 13, 2011, from City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Transportation Committee Chair James Vacca to the City's Department of Buildings and Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The letter describes Sam Chang as "the quintessential example of a 'bad actor' who should not be allowed to operate in our City." Additionally, the authors noted that "Sam Chang has violated New York's building codes over a thousand times, at more than fifty work sites -- mostly hotel projects. He has put the lives of thousands of workers at risk and accrued more than $1.6 million in fines," most of which the authors assert he has failed to pay.

Ruben Colon, a representative for the union, described the impact of Mr. Chang's hiring practices: "The workers are not the issue, but the problem is with the construction company that hires only non-union members. These workers are mainly from minority populations, many of them Hispanic. Hiring non-union laborers often times leads to discrimination against minority populations, poor working conditions and unsafe labor practices," said Mr. Colon, who that morning had called in an Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSHA) violation against the construction site. The OSHA Complaint involved a worker not being tied off properly using a lanyard, and therefore, being at risk of a fall.

Non-union carpenters also earn significantly less per hour than union carpenters, said Mr. Colon.

"A union carpenter makes a well-deserved $46.15 per hour in wages and another $38.50 in benefits. The average non-union carpenter makes anywhere between $12 and $25 an hour with partial benefits, if at all," he explained.

Statistics on the NYDC's recent class of apprentices enrolled at the union's Labor Technical College indicate that the organization has been making headway in terms of hiring minorities. Of 1,061 new apprentices inducted into the NYDC in 2010, 623 were persons of color, and 128 were female. In Mr. Colon's Area Standards Department, out of 10 Organizers, 4 are racial minorities, and one is female. Throughout the five boroughs, racial minorities comprise 30 percent of the NYDC's membership.

The United Hispanic Construction Workers (UHCW) protesting outside the offices of

Hunter Roberts Construction Group

Just a few blocks from the protest at 99 Washington Street, another group of construction workers has been protesting in all weather outside Two World Financial Center for the last two weeks. Their concern is not about union status, but about the right to work itself. The United Hispanic Construction Workers (UHCW), a civil rights coalition of union and non-union members, has been holding a morning vigil outside the offices of Hunter Roberts Construction Group to protest its hiring practices. UHCW, a 20 year-old non-profit coalition of construction workers headquartered in the South Bronx, asserts that Hunter Roberts discriminates against hiring local construction workers from minority populations -- largely Hispanic and African-American men and women from economically depressed communities. The UHCW could offer no quantitative data to support this allegation, instead basing the claim on collective eyewitness accounts and the hiring history of Hunter Roberts.

"Hunter Roberts has projects going on in our communities. We're here because we want a chance to work in the communities where we live," said Daryll Jennings, UHCW's field director at the protest. The civil rights coalition helps its members find employment by shuttling them to job sites throughout the Bronx and Manhattan every weekday. The Coalition's members include laborers, welders, plumbers, masons, carpenters, engineers and electricians. Hunter Roberts did not respond to requests for comment.

Local response to the protest has been mixed, depending on the location. Outside Two World Financial Center, several residents voiced interest in the workers' reason for being there as they silently held up signs. At 99 Washington Street, however, the Merchant Café has been adversely affected by the whistle blowing typically associated with union protests. "We support the right of the union to protest," said Ali Webster, the restaurant's general manager, who has achieved some temporary relief by speaking to a union supervisor onsite, but finds that she has to begin her efforts anew each day. "But we lose seating during lunchtime every day because of the noise. When they all start blowing their whistles, it's unbearable. And that's our main business hour!"

text and photos by Dianne Renzulli

Union carpenters get a new tool: Voting rights

2012-02-09T16:35:00.002-05:00

Rank-and-file carpenters will get to vote on their contracts for the first time in their union's history. The question now: Will the deals go through?

By Daniel Massey

Rank-and-file carpenters will get to vote on their contracts for the first time in their union's history, just one month after new leaders took over the organization promising to make it more transparent.

The delegate body of the 25,000-member New York City District Council of Carpenters voted unanimously Wednesday night to allow the union's members to have final say on a series of five contracts negotiated with contractor associations last year.

“We decided that the best way to go forward was for rank-and-file ratification of the contract,” said Mike Bilelo, the union's new executive secretary-treasurer. “It's something I campaigned on. It's part of the transparency of the new district council, the desire for us to put control of the organization back in the hands of the membership.”

A clerical gaffe by leaders of the national carpenters union, which ran the District Council until earlier this year, forced them to table a delegates' vote on the five contracts, which leaders had hoped to push through before the new brain trust was installed.

“We've been in limbo,” said John DeLollis, executive director of the Association of Wall-Ceiling and Carpentry Industries. “At least we're coming to a vote and we'll know where we are. It's very difficult to run a business when you don't know what it's going to cost the next year or the year after.”

Mr. DeLollis said he believed there was a 50-50 chance the contracts would pass. He said contractors would step up efforts to educate employees on the deals and why they should be approved.

The contracts contain a so-called market-recovery rate, which would give contractors a 20% discount on hotel and certain residential work. And they include a controversial “full mobility” provision that would to enable contractors to select any member of the union to work for them; the current system compels them to hire at least one-third of their workers via union referrals.

Mr. Bilelo would not indicate whether he was in favor of the contract, saying he did not want to “taint the process.” He campaigned vigorously against full mobility, but it might be to his benefit to have the contracts pass. He would not be blamed for deals that he did not negotiate and would not face the prospect of messy, complicated negotiations for new deals so early in his tenure.

Simply allowing the votes helps Mr. Bilelo's standing with his members because it involves them in the process.

The deals were agreed to by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, which assumed stewardship of the historically-troubled union after its chief was jailed following a 2009 racketeering scandal.

“It's a good move,” said Dennis Walsh, a monitor appointed by the federal government to oversee the operations of the scandal-plagued union. “I think it's the most direct way to see what the rank and file feel about all of these provisions in these contracts. It's a positive step and it will get the rank and file involved in determining the course that's best for their future.”

Contract Update: Rank and File to Vote on Contracts

2012-02-08T20:27:00.003-05:00

Breaking News: Just got back from the Delegate Body meeting where the Delegate Body in an historic vote, voted to have the rank and file ratify the collective bargaining agreements by mail in ballot, conducted by the American Arbitration Association. Will post more details about this historic vote later...stay tuned.

An Open Letter to EST Bilello from John Musumeci

2012-02-07T16:36:00.001-05:00

Dear Mr. Bilello:

I write in response to malicious statements made and continue to be made against me by your assistant and request a written and public apology by President Lebo.

I have been informed that Mr. Lebo in response to a question at a Local 45 union meeting on January 31, acknowledged responsibility for a “procedural error” on the “motion"to bar members from attending delegate body meetings” and then suggested a rational to bar members.

Citing Amalgamated and the contract negotiations, Lebo singled me out by name as a security risk, alleged I was responsible for the January 10, Crain’s article, “In blow to contractors, gaffe stalls union vote,” he implied I was responsible for the threats of legal action against the District Council by contractor associations and stated he had “written up charges against me” and threatened me in his office. He then said he didn’t file the charges because of “free speech” issues but indicated he may file charges at a later date, saying, “The charges are still in my desk.”

According to one Local 45 member present: "Lebo imputed Musumeci as being detrimental to the health of the union and members."

What kind of game is this, do you intend to run your administration by taking credit when things go right, avoid responsibility, retaliate and find someone else to blame when things go wrong?

Character assassination, threats, intimidation, secrecy, censorship and concealment, contempt for member’s free speech rights are repugnant in an open and democratic union and antithetical to your platform of member’s rights, transparency and democracy which you were elected on.

In response to Lebo’s statements the following FACTS are presented to set the record straight:

1. Using Amalgamated and contract negotiations, as pretext for no gallery was opportunism on the part of your administration and not a “procedural error.” You could have argued for a gallery, and suggested if secrecy is really necessary, a motion for “executive session” can be made within a meeting, requiring rank-and-file to leave the room. Instead on January 25, President Lebo brought to the floor a question of a “members gallery,” which immediately was seized upon by pro-censorship delegates (with your approval). Neither you nor Lebo, argued for or defended the right of rank-and-file to attend delegate meetings, nor did you act in any to defend “members rights, transparency and democracy.”

2. If you’re looking to blame someone for the flak and threats of legal action from contractor associations demanding explanation why they were not informed and had to read about the tabling of contracts in Crain's, you need to only look in the mirror. The events of January 10th were completely under your control. Prior to the announcement to the delegate body, you and Lebo had a meeting with John Ballentyne, where he informed you about the “missing page” from the contracts and the intent to table the contract vote. It was negligence and incompetence on the part of your administration to not inform the contractors prior to or directly after Ballentyne announced the information to the delegates at 1:57 pm that caused the blowback, flak and embarrassment your administration experienced. Furthermore I immediately informed you and Lebo by email at 4:17 pm, giving you a heads up and a link to the Crain’s articled thus providing you another opportunity (which you neglected to take) to properly and officially inform the contractors on the status of the contracts before they hear about it (news travels fast) or read about it in Crain’s.

3. On January 9th, Crain’s published an article “Carpenters sue to block contract vote.” Crain’s has written twenty-two articles regarding collective bargaining agreements since June 2011. It should come as no surprise to anyone that Crain’s would write a follow-up article. The District Council was aware of the Crain’s January 9th article, the lawsuit filed by carpenters and the two days of rank and file rallies beginning Monday afternoon to voice displeasure with the effort to fast track a Tuesday ratification vote. Prudence would dictate your administration would anticipate the need for a statement ready to be posted on the Council's website after the vote informing the membership and the contractor associations of the outcome.

4. To date your administration has not officially informed the membership and has kept the membership in the dark about tabling the contracts and the status of the contracts. Your administration has used resources of the District Council to deflect from your negligence and made me a target for retaliation, to be made an example of. Lebo filed charges with the IG's office and then withdrew them because he was advised of the likelihood of a counter-suit, and loss in court based on free speech rights.

5. I have done absolutely noting that is “detrimental to the health of the union and its members,” on the contrary this membership is better informed on local157blogspot then on the District Council’s website which continues to be silent under your administration.

I would suggest and recommend you take immediate steps to mitigate the anti-democratic consequences of your administration, which is “detrimental to the health of the union and its members,” and focus on the more important issues and business of the Union and members.

Sequel to the above, I am respectfully requesting you instruct President Bill Lebo, to write a letter of a clear and unqualified apology and retraction, to be posted on the District Councils website and further request that at the next scheduled meeting of Local 45, President Lebo publicly retract and apologize for the malicious statements he has made against me.

TAKE NOTICE that in the event of failure/refusal to comply with the above-mentioned request, pursuant to Section 5 (F) of the District Council Bylaws, I will institute a complaint with the Chief Compliance Officer and Inspector General for investigation.

Sincerely,
John Musumeci
Delegate to the District Council
Request Letter of Apology

Job Opportunities at the District Council

2012-02-07T16:00:00.000-05:00

Please read about two job openings at the District Council below.

Director of Communications

We are a non-profit organization located in downtown Manhattan.

We are seeking a Director of Communications to report to our Director of Operations. The Director of Communications will design and direct our external and internal communications strategy. This position is a hands-on role which involves extensive interaction with our members as well as our staff.

Responsibilities:

Creating, leading, and implementing the communications strategym targeting current, future and lapsed members
• Ensuring effective and consistent messaging and branding
• Improving member outreach and information sharing through more effective use of our web site, newsletter, social networking, and public relations
Writing executive communications, video and presentation scripts, and new updates to members and potential members as well as internal parties
Coordinating and directing work of contractors handling different aspects of our communications activities
Responding to member inquiries.

Requirements:

Seasoned communications professional with at least 8 years experience in communications. Previous communications management experience at a non-profit and/or membership-based organization is preferred. Experience handling communications at more than one organization preferred.
Demonstrated experience in developing successful client-focused messages required, membership-focused messages preferred.
Experience supporting all levels of management, including executives.
Strong knowledge and application of online communications strategies and tactics, latest web technologies, tools and best practices.
Previous experience enhancing and maintaining a corporate website.
Previous experience managing news content.
Demonstrated passion for customer service.
Strong work ethic and positive, team-oriented attitude.
Previous supervisory experience.
Bachelor’s in Communications, Marketing, Business or a related field.
Stellar oral and written communication skills. Bi-lingual a plus.
Fluent in Microsoft office applications

Our organization offers a competitive salary and excellent benefits package, including a fully funded annuity.

Interested candidates: Please submit your resume and cover letter by Tuesday, February 14, 2012 to Dana Brownstein, Human Resources Director at:

dbrownstein(at)nycdistrictcouncil.org.

Deputy Political Director

The New York City and Vicinity District Council of Carpenters is seeking to hire an Assistant Political Director to provide support to the Political Action Director. This is an excellent growth opportunity for a motivated, ambitious, pro-active individual seeking to further establish his or her career in politics. This position will provide the selected candidate with exposure to various aspects of managing the political needs of a dynamic non-profit organization.

The selected candidate will:

Assist the Political Director in implementing political strategy and integrate politics with all the work of the Union;

Assist the Political Director in managing a successful program to create effective advocacy relationships between the membership and elected officials, community and industry partners, and other stakeholders;

Help train members for political electoral campaigns, and legislative meetings and other community based activities;

Assist the Political Director in coordinating political field activities, lobby visits, phone banking and events for our policy, legislative and electoral participation campaigns at the city, state and federal level;

Help mobilize and train new member leaders and activist for legislative and electoral activity;

Support organizing campaigns, including rallies, press events and targeted employer activity;

Assist with coordinating the Union's work with local labor and community allies

Assist the Political Director in establishing and maintaining relationship with elected officials and key elected staff.

Create, maintain and update a membership interactive e-activist web presence.

To be considered for this position, candidates must demonstrate that they have:

At least three years experience in City, State or Federal politics. Relevant background in economic development preferred.

A Bachelors degree in Political Science or a related field.

Strong verbal and written communication skills.

Strong Microsoft Word and Excel skills required. Power Point preferred.

A working knowledge of VAN (Voter Activation Network) software, and utilize it improve and manage voter registration preferred.

An outgoing, assertive, sociable and energetic personality.

Interested candidates: Please submit your resume and cover letter by February 20, 2012 to Dana Brownstein, Human Resources Director at:

dbrownstein(at)nycdistrictcouncil.org.

Attention Members

2012-02-06T18:22:00.001-05:00

Delegate Meeting scheduled for Wednesday February 8, 2012 @ 5PM in the Labor Technical College, 2nd floor Common Room.

Full Employment — For Now

2012-02-06T18:19:00.002-05:00

Rebuilding the World Trade Center brings jobs to ironworkers, but not forever

Terry Moore, business manager; John Skinner, president and
George Fernandez, recording secretary for Local 46

By Bendix Anderson, LaborPress Senior Editor

One World Trade Center is now easily visible from much of Manhattan and Brooklyn, towering more than 90 stories over the City.

Full employment has returned to unions like the Metallic Lathers and Reinforcing Ironworkers Local 46, thanks almost entirely to the work of rebuilding. More than a third of Local 46’s members now work at Ground Zero. But the project is now at its peak, and will be finished in a few years. To create new construction jobs for union workers, Local 46 has joined with the rest of the building trades to negotiate project labor agreements that offer concession to developers in return for commitments to build union.

“We’ve got hard decisions to make,” said Terry Moore, the new business manager for Local 46.

More than 700 metallic lathers are now at work on at the World Trade Center. Thanks to the massive project, 100 percent of the Local 46’s 1600 active members are employed. That’s a huge improvement compared to 2010, when unemployment peaked at 35 percent for the Local 46.

But these workers can’t build the Freedom Tower forever. This year, construction teams will “top out” the 1776-foot skyscraper at 105 floors. Three World Trade Center and the Transportation Hub now under construction are also making progress. Union officials expect that at least 250 to 300 Local 46 members will be busy at the WTC for the next three years. But that’s less than half the current number at work at the site.

To make up the difference, union organizers and negotiators are working to turn more construction jobs into union jobs.

For example, building trades, including Local 46, recently signed a project labor agreement with Equity Residential, a national real estate investment trust founded by Chicago billionaire Sam Zell. In return for a 20 percent cut in the total wage package for workers, Equity agrees to use union labor to build in New York City.

To get Equity’s attention, Local 46 hired an outside firm, Locker Associates, that among other things tracked Sam Zell so that whenever Zell visited New York for a speaking engagement, the union could demonstrate. “I picketed them for eight months,” said Moore. Now that the PLA is signed, Local 46 workers at Equity Residential projects will receive the same pay and benefits as their fellow workers at other union projects. That’s because of a “target fund” created by Local 46 that pays to make up the difference between the PLA rate and the regular rate for each effected worker. All Local 46 members now contribute $3.85 per hour into the fund.

Construction unions seek to negotiate more PLAs, concentrating on projects in Manhattan and the outer boroughs that can sustain the wage rates of union construction workers, said Moore. He is now settling into his position as business manager for Local 46 after a recent election, taking over for prior business manager Bob Ledwith.

“We’ve got big shoes to fill,” said Moore. “Our union has always been aggressive… We’re going in the same direction, even more aggressive.”

Indiana gov. signs right-to-work bill, state becomes Rust Belt’s 1st to enact labor union law

2012-02-01T17:39:00.001-05:00

By Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana is the first Rust Belt state to enact the contentious right-to-work labor law prohibiting labor contracts that require workers to pay union representation fees, after Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels signed the bill Wednesday afternoon.

The Senate approved the measure a few hours earlier Wednesday, following weeks of discord that saw House Democrats boycott the Legislature and thousands of protesters gather at the Statehouse.

“Seven years of evidence and experience ultimately demonstrated that Indiana did need a right-to-work law to capture jobs for which, despite our highly rated business climate, we are not currently being considered,” Daniels said in a statement. A spokeswoman said he would not take questions on the measure Wednesday.

Indiana is the first state in a decade to enact a right-to-work law.

Lawmakers voted Wednesday to make Indiana the Rust Belt’s first right-to-work state, passing legislation that prohibits labor contracts requiring workers to pay union representation fees.

Thousands of union members gathered inside the Statehouse chanted “Shame on you!” and “See you at the Super Bowl!” as the vote was announced. Thousands more amassed outside for a rally that spilled into the Indianapolis streets, already bustling with Super Bowl festivities, hoping to point a national spotlight on the state.

Indiana will be the first state in a decade to enact a right-to-work law, although few states with legislation in place boast Indiana’s union clout, borne of a long manufacturing legacy. The move is likely to embolden national right-to-work advocates who have unsuccessfully pushed the measure in other states following a Republican sweep of statehouses in 2010.

Passage of the law will close one chapter in a contentious debate that sparked a five-week walkout by outnumbered House Democrats last year and saw them stage numerous boycotts this session, delaying action on other bills and threatening to spill over into Sunday’s Super Bowl.

The Republican-controlled Senate approved the bill in a 28-22 vote Wednesday morning. The bill now heads for the desk of Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, who has said he will sign it upon arrival.

“We’re giving freedom to workers who don’t want to be a part of something they don’t believe in,” said Republican Sen. Carlin Yoder, shortly before the vote.

Over the past year, Republicans have pushed for other anti-union laws in battleground Rust Belt states where many of the country’s manufacturing jobs reside, including Wisconsin and Ohio, but they also have faced backlash from Democrats and union supporters. Wisconsin last year stripped public sector unions of collective bargaining rights.

Despite massive protests outside the Capitol, Wisconsin’s GOP-dominated Assembly passed a law backed by Gov. Scott Walker in March that strips nearly all collective bargaining rights from public-sector unions. Walker is now preparing for a recall election after opponents turned in a million signatures aimed at forcing a vote and ousting him from office. In November, Ohio voters repealed a law limiting collective bargaining rights that was championed by Gov. John Kasich and fellow Republican lawmakers.

State police estimated that 3,000 protesters packed the Statehouse Wednesday and another 3,000-4,000 packed the Statehouse lawn. Union protesters in Indiana said Wednesday they were not ready to be silenced.

About half of the protesters marched to the Indiana Convention Center and cheered when a person went over head on the zipline set up for Super Bowl fans.

Some of the protesters were holding signs reading “Hands off My Union,” ‘’Stop the War on Workers” and another said “Ditch Mitch.”

Bruce Frazier, 56, an ironworker from Muncie who works in Indianapolis, stood on the south lawn of the Statehouse on Wednesday afternoon surrounded by more than a thousand union members and supporters protesting the vote.

Frazier said many of the buildings now being used for this week’s Super Bowl events were built with skilled labor.

“We built everything in Indianapolis to bring the Super Bowl here — and this is how they thank us, by breaking our way to make a living,” he said.

Indiana AFL-CIO spokesman Jeff Harris said protesters planned to hand out leaflets before Sunday’s game. Daniels said this week that it would be a “colossal mistake” for union protesters to disrupt Super Bowl festivities and that any such move could backfire on them.

Indiana AFL-CIO president Nancy Guyott pledged that Wednesday’s vote wouldn’t be a permanent victory, noting that Indiana has adopted and repealed right to work before.

“We’ll take our state back, one block at a time,” she said.

Supporters say right to work helps create a pro-business climate that attracts employers and increases jobs. Opponents say it leads to lower wages and poorer quality jobs, and they accused Republicans of rushing the bill through to avoid disrupting the Super Bowl.

But with Republicans outnumbering Democrats in the House and Senate, and House Democrats facing stiff fines if they walked out for a lengthy period as they did last year, opponents had few opportunities to stop the bill.

Testifying against the bill Wednesday, Sen. Vi Simpson, D-Bloomington, said there was no evidence that right to work created jobs and likened the bill’s fate to the Super Bowl, but with one team playing at a huge disadvantage.

“Our side has fewer men on the field, and our team doesn’t have pads or helmets,” Simpson said. “We already know what the final score is going to be.”

Experts say many factors influence states’ economies and that it’s nearly impossible to isolate the impact of right to work. For major industries, access to supplies, infrastructure, key markets and a skilled workforce are key factors, according to business recruitment specialists. For a state’s workers, the impact of right-to-work legislation is limited because only about 7 percent of private sector employees are unionized. Over the years, job growth has surged in states with, and without, right-to-work laws.

Oklahoma, with its rural-based economy that produces comparatively fewer union jobs than Indiana, was the last state to pass right-to-work legislation, in 2001.

Free Speech Under Attack

2012-01-31T05:30:00.000-05:00

"In New York it seems corruption in the form of members being intimidated into submission is at it's worst. Men and women are in fear of losing their jobs or of being brought up on bogus union charges."–– William S. Lebo, June 25, 1998

By Richard Dorrough

Much rumor has been flying around concerning potential charges against John Musumeci. John has not reported on this because he needs to maintain a working relationship with his attackers who for the record are Local 157 President Pat Nee and District Council President Bill Lebo.

It was reported on this blog, and I have confirmed with my own sources, that both parties threatened to bring John up on charges. Both were attempting to silence his free speech rights and intimidate him.

Now you have seen the true colors of this new regime that promised rank and file rights and then voted and did nothing to protect the rank and file from access to information in the member's gallery fiasco.

Why did President Lebo accepted the motion to bar members from attending delegate body meetings in the first place since it was out of order, as Walsh has confirmed by his veto, due to its bylaw violation and illegal attempt to amend those bylaws.

Why did neither Lebo, nor EST Bilello, argue for or defend the rights of the rank-and-file to attend delegate meetings?

Ignorance is no excuse since these two knew the bylaws inside out when it came time to give Lebo a $185,000 paid secretaries job with elected officers duties attached to it.

"At the Jan. 25 meeting, Bilello reported his administration took flak from contractor associations about the CBA's tabling on Jan. 10, and the news being published in Crain's well before the District Council informed the contractors."

John is being threatened for providing members with information. He became an easy target for retaliation, to be made an example of. It is rumored that Lebo filed charges with the IG's office but withdraw them because he was advised of the likelihood of a counter-suit, and loss in court based on free speech rights.

An educated member is a dangerous thing.

It is not surprising that Nee threatened John. I have always held to my position that Nee was and is a self-serving jackass who will sell out Local 157 for any council job he can get offered. I was shocked that such a fool was even considered for office. Nee's actions since president have vindicated my assessment of him. It is of no surprise that when asked to do so he would threaten John with charges.

Lebo on the other hand has turned out to be a sad surprise. While I predicted that he and Biello would make no fight for member's rights and would merely try to survive in their positions, the $185,000 pay out, the attempts to hide their actions and silence free speech is past mere surviving but a sell out, here we have Lebo who stated:

"I am a 26 year rank and file member who has a long history of fighting for membership rights."

"Brothers and sisters now is the time for all members to decide on change and I went to Washington DC and testified before Congress on the Impediments to Union Democracy.”

While in Washington, Bill Lebo did indeed reveal the oppressive and tyrannical practices of the UBC.

Lebo said: “Douglas McCarron has been taking over District Councils throughout the United States as well a Canada and merging them and the Local unions within -- without a vote or membership consent, and forming what he and the UBC constitution call Regional Councils.”

"I believe the New York City District Councils take over had less to do with fighting corruption and more to do with Douglas McCarron’s methodical creation of his personal and publicized goal of restructuring of our union, which is no more than the building of his own private empire.”

"Men and women are in fear of losing their jobs or of being brought up on bogus union charges, as I was."

Yet Lebo who was a victim of the same censorship and intimidation now has picked up the UBC torch to do the same to another rank and file member who believes in his free speech. A rank and file member who serves the membership by reporting on what the UBC and NYC Council wants to hide.

Mr. Lebo has no problem with “a kangaroo courts” with "members being intimidated into submission” and with “bogus charges as long as it is he who is doing so. I guess it is only dirty if others do it.

We can only hope that John does not let this blatant attempt at intimidation stop him. Lebo and the Council have backed off because they know John will sue the shit out of them and they know they will lose.

One great advantage that has emerged from this NYC struggle is that members are finally aware that if they take the UBC outside of their Kangaroo court, the UBC loses every time. They are now running to their lawyers.

John will not hesitate to use the courts to fight against the tyrannical efforts of the UBC. One never would have thought to see Bill Lebo's name on such a case as a defendant of tyranny.

What happened to the man who declared:

"The United States Constitution guarantees every American citizen the rights of freedom of speech and assembly." The Landrum-Griffin Act and the Bill of Rights for members of Labor Organizations within also guarantees us these supposed to protect us from this intimidation that is no less than labor racketeering, yet it goes on and goes unchecked."

How could the UBC turn such a man in so short a period of time? While little tykes Nee is a given for moronic actions, egotistical decisions and arrogant delusions much more was expected of Lebo.

Seeking Accounting Firms

2012-01-30T16:30:00.003-05:00

Request for Proposal

The NYC & Vicinity District Council of Carpenters is accepting proposals from CPA firms to provide audit (and tax) services for our Council in the future. Interested parties should submit a proposal to us by 5pm on February 10, 2012, for consideration. Response must be sent to:

Matthew Walker, Director of OperationsNew York City District Council of Carpenters395 Hudson St., 9th Fl.New York, NY 10014 A description of our Council, the services needed, and other pertinent information follows:

Background of NYC & Vicinity District Council of Carpenters

The NYC & Vicinity District Council of Carpenters is a 501(c)(5) Labor Organization, with a related 501(c)(3) Charity Fund , 527 PAC Fund, and two 501(c)(2) title holding corporations. Annual revenues are between $27 million and $29 million per year, and the Council employs 90 people in 2 locations. The Council is membership-based and has approximately 25,000 members. The Council has a June 30 fiscal year-end, with a requirement to file an audited financial statement with the Executive Committee, the Council Delegate Body and general membership and an LM-2 with the Office of Labor Management Standards, Department of Labor by September 30 of each year in addition to applicable tax returns required by the Internal Revenue Service.

Services to Be Performed

The District Council is seeking to hire two (2) firms. Based on the expertise of your firm, your proposal is expected to cover one or both of the following two positions (although a selected firm may only hold one position):

Position 1: Service to the District Council

1. Annual audit to be completed in compliance with the previously mentioned filing requirement and meetings with audit committee and/or members of management, as necessary

2. Tax filings for the Council, related Charity and PAC funds, and title holding Corporations.

3. Quarterly reviews of internally prepared financial statements4. Annual list of recommendations for enhanced internal controls and compliance issues Position 2: Service to the Audit Committee.

As a part of this committee:

1. Monitor compliance with the financial requirements of the District Council Bylaws

2. Review the District Council’s financial systems and procedures, making recommendations regarding best practices on a periodic basis

3. Monitor the District Council so that no financial fraud or corruption occurs

4. Quarterly report to the Delegate Body (at a minimum)

5. Develop policies and procedures for the Audit CommitteeRequest for Qualifications

The NYC & Vicinity District Council of Carpenters is accepting proposals from CPA firms to provide audit (and tax) services for our Council in the future. Interested parties should submit a proposal to us by 5pm on February 10, 2012, for consideration. Response must be sent to:

Matthew Walker, Director of Operations
New York City District Council of Carpenters
395 Hudson St., 9th Fl.
New York, NY 10014

1. Describe your firm, discussing its audit philosophy, including the use of technology, and how it may differ from other firms.

2. Describe in particular, your firm’s local office; that is, partners, staff, and clients served.

3. Describe your firm’s local and national not-for-profit practice, including participation in professional, government, or other organizations related to the Union industry. Please also describe Union organizations similar to us.

4. Provide a list of other Union organizations your firm audits, both locally and nationally. Additionally, please indicate those Union organization clients your firm has obtained during the last three years.

5. Identify the partners and managers who might be assigned to the audit. Please provide bios. Also, please identify other professionals resident in your local office who are qualified to serve our Council and their experience serving similar Union organizations.

6. Describe your firm’s capabilities and commitment to provide tax, information systems consulting and other management services to Union organizations. Identify any that are unique in this field.

7. Please provide local references from clients for whom you provide similar services.

Your Response to This Request for Proposal

In responding to this request, we request the following information:

1. Detail your firm’s experience in providing auditing and tax services to Union organizations in the not-for-profit industry, as well as associations of a comparable size to NYC & Vicinity District Council of Carpenters (the Council).

2. Provide information on whether you provide services to any related industry associations or groups.

3. Discuss the firm’s independence with respect to the Council.

4. Discuss commitments you will make to staff continuity, including your staff turnover experience in the last three years.

5. Identify the five largest not-for-profit clients your firm (or office) has lost in the past three years and the reasons. Also discuss, in instances when loss of the client was due to an unresolved auditing or accounting matter, the process of attempting to resolve the issue(s).

6. Identify the partner, manager, and in-charge accountant who will be assigned to our job if you are successful in your bid, and provide biographies. Indicate any complaints against them that have been leveled by the state board of accountancy or other regulatory authority, if any. Indicate any corrective actions that have been taken by the firm with respect to these people.

7. Describe how your firm will approach the audit of the Council, including the use of any association or affiliate member firm personnel and the areas that will receive primary emphasis. Also discuss the firm’s use of technology in the audit. And finally, discuss the communication process used by the firm to discuss issues with the EST, financial management team and audit committees of the Executive Board.

8. Set forth your fee proposal for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012 audit, with whatever guarantees can be given regarding increases in future years. Provide your proposed fee for the required quarterly review work and for tax preparation. Your fee proposal should also delineate hours by level of staff.

9. Describe how you will bill for questions on technical matters that may arise throughout the year.

10. Furnish current standard and discounted billing rates for classes of professional personnel.

11. Provide the names and contact information for other similarly sized clients of the partner and manager that will be assigned to the Council for reference purposes.

12. Describe how and why your firm is different from other firms being considered, and why our selection of your firm as our external accountants is the best decision we could make.

13. Include a copy of your firm’s most recent peer review report, the related letter of comments, and the firm’s response to the letter of comments.

Following are key contacts for information you may seek in preparing your proposal:

Key PersonnelMichael Bilello EST (212) 366-7400
Matthew Walker Director of Operations (212) 366-7530
Judy Montreuil Chief Accountant (212) 366-3382

Requests for additional information, visits to our site, review of prior financial statements and tax returns, and appointments with the EST or financial management team (Director of Operations, Chief Accountant and member of accounting team) should be coordinated through our Chief Accountant. You may reach her at the number listed in this proposal. Please return the completed proposal to my attention at the address provided.

Relationship With Prior CPA or Current Service Provider

These services have been provided by Terrence R. Mooney, CPA. However, that firm is no longer able to provide the services our Council requires due to a lack of independence. In preparing your proposal, be advised that the EST and/or financial management team will give permission to contact the prior auditors.

Evaluation of Proposals

The Council will evaluate proposals on a qualitative basis. This includes our review of the firm’s peer review report and related materials, involvement with Union clients, interviews with senior engagement personnel to be assigned to the Council, results of discussions with other clients, and the firm’s completeness and timeliness in its response to us.

Construction starts plunged 31% last year

2012-01-30T16:22:00.000-05:00

While the value of residential starts rose 24%, that rebound was more than outweighed by a 39% plunge on the nonresidential side. An industry official calls the trend line “very troubling.”

By Ali Elkin

The value of construction starts in New York City fell 31% last year, largely as a result of a steep decline in nonresidential projects.

In value terms, the data showed $13.8 billion worth of construction projects began in New York in 2011, compared with $20 billion in 2010, according to a statement Monday from the New York Building Congress which cited figures from McGraw-Hill Construction Dodge. The figures cover starts on new buildings as well as restorations.

The only good news was that the value of residential construction starts jumped 24% in value last year. But that was swamped by the 39% plunge in the value of nonresidential starts.

Part of the overall downturn last year stemmed simply from the fact that starts were being compared to 2010, a year when an unusual number—by recent standards, anyway—of high big projects got underway. Seven of them were worth upwards of $500 million on a list headed by a big rehab of Madison Square Garden and the start of work at the Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn. In 2011, there were only two projects that passed the benchmark, John F. Kennedy International Airport's Terminal 4 and the projects related to the No. 7 subway extension. Richard Anderson, president of the New York Building Congress, referred to 2010 in the press release as “year of the big-ticket construction project,” and said a fall off was understandable.

“Still, the 31% decline in New York City is very troubling,” Mr. Anderson said in the statement.

The data also showed a 35% decrease in public works construction not involving buildings, such as the creation of roads and bridges to $2.6 billion worth last year from $4 billion in 2010. Public building construction is down 54% from its 2008 peak.

Review Officer to Delegates: You're Vetoed!

2012-01-29T16:19:00.000-05:00

Click to enlarge.

Vindicated, Review Officer Dennis Walsh vetoed a motion made at last Wednesday meeting of the Delegate Body to bar rank and file members from attending meetings of the Delegates.

In an article Delegates to Membership: Drop Dead, we reported that a majority of the 100-member delegate body voted to bar the rank and file as new council leadership stood silent and did not argued for or defend the rights of the rank-and-file to attend delegate meetings.

In a letter written today Walsh said, "I find that the motion and its adoption violate the Stipulation and Order and the Bylaws of the District Council."

"As the motion to henceforth bar members from attending delegate body meetings was ultra vires and would function as a de facto amendment of the Bylaws, pursuant to Paragraph 5.b.iii [c and e] of the Stipulation and Order."

Walsh also noted for the record that "rank and file members were in attendance during the entire meeting of January 25, 20l2, without any delegate objecting, and that no harm to the District Council or its affairs ensued."

"The new administration is off to a rocky start, first over 80 elected delegates oppose transparency measures, violate the Bylaws and act undemocratically, then elected council leadership threatens to file charges against John Musumeci, because they are uncomfortable with free speech and the speed of information posted on this blog."

"If this is a prelude of things to come, we were better off under UBC supervision," a rank and filer who wishes to remain anonymous said.

The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society

2012-01-29T11:30:00.000-05:00

Someone posted this excellent speech by JFK in the forum. The delegates who voted to bar the membership from delegate meetings, and the new District Council Leaders who sat silently while the rights of the rank-and-file were trampled on, should listen closely to the words of JFK.

The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it.

Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it.

And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it is in my control.And no official of my Administration, whether his rank is high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up our mistakes or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they deserve to know.

But I do ask every publisher, every editor, and every newsman in the nation to reexamine his own standards, and to recognize the nature of our country's peril. In time of war, the government and the press have customarily joined in an effort based largely on self-discipline, to prevent unauthorized disclosures to the enemy. In time of "clear and present danger," the courts have held that even the privileged rights of the First Amendment must yield to the public's need for national security.

Today no war has been declared--and however fierce the struggle may be, it may never be declared in the traditional fashion. Our way of life is under attack. Those who make themselves our enemy are advancing around the globe. The survival of our friends is in danger. And yet no war has been declared, no borders have been crossed by marching troops, no missiles have been fired.

If the press is awaiting a declaration of war before it imposes the self-discipline of combat conditions, then I can only say that no war ever posed a greater threat to our security. If you are awaiting a finding of "clear and present danger," then I can only say that the danger has never been more clear and its presence has never been more imminent.

It requires a change in outlook, a change in tactics, a change in missions--by the government, by the people, by every businessman or labor leader, and by every newspaper. For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence--on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations.

Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed. It conducts the Cold War, in short, with a war-time discipline no democracy would ever hope or wish to match.

Nevertheless, every democracy recognizes the necessary restraints of national security--and the question remains whether those restraints need to be more strictly observed if we are to oppose this kind of attack as well as outright invasion.

For the facts of the matter are that this nation's foes have openly boasted of acquiring through our newspapers information they would otherwise hire agents to acquire through theft, bribery or espionage; that details of this nation's covert preparations to counter the enemy's covert operations have been available to every newspaper reader, friend and foe alike; that the size, the strength, the location and the nature of our forces and weapons, and our plans and strategy for their use, have all been pinpointed in the press and other news media to a degree sufficient to satisfy any foreign power; and that, in at least in one case, the publication of details concerning a secret mechanism whereby satellites were followed required its alteration at the expense of considerable time and money.

The newspapers which printed these stories were loyal, patriotic, responsible and well-meaning. Had we been engaged in open warfare, they undoubtedly would not have published such items. But in the absence of open warfare, they recognized only the tests of journalism and not the tests of national security. And my question tonight is whether additional tests should not now be adopted.

The question is for you alone to answer. No public official should answer it for you. No governmental plan should impose its restraints against your will. But I would be failing in my duty to the nation, in considering all of the responsibilities that we now bear and all of the means at hand to meet those responsibilities, if I did not commend this problem to your attention, and urge its thoughtful consideration.

On many earlier occasions, I have said--and your newspapers have constantly said--that these are times that appeal to every citizen's sense of sacrifice and self-discipline. They call out to every citizen to weigh his rights and comforts against his obligations to the common good. I cannot now believe that those citizens who serve in the newspaper business consider themselves exempt from that appeal.

I have no intention of establishing a new Office of War Information to govern the flow of news. I am not suggesting any new forms of censorship or any new types of security classifications. I have no easy answer to the dilemma that I have posed, and would not seek to impose it if I had one. But I am asking the members of the newspaper profession and the industry in this country to reexamine their own responsibilities, to consider the degree and the nature of the present danger, and to heed the duty of self-restraint which that danger imposes upon us all.

Every newspaper now asks itself, with respect to every story: "Is it news?" All I suggest is that you add the question: "Is it in the interest of the national security?" And I hope that every group in America--unions and businessmen and public officials at every level-- will ask the same question of their endeavors, and subject their actions to the same exacting tests.

And should the press of America consider and recommend the voluntary assumption of specific new steps or machinery, I can assure you that we will cooperate whole-heartedly with those recommendations.

Perhaps there will be no recommendations. Perhaps there is no answer to the dilemma faced by a free and open society in a cold and secret war. In times of peace, any discussion of this subject, and any action that results, are both painful and without precedent. But this is a time of peace and peril which knows no precedent in history.

It is the unprecedented nature of this challenge that also gives rise to your second obligation--an obligation which I share. And that is our obligation to inform and alert the American people--to make certain that they possess all the facts that they need, and understand them as well--the perils, the prospects, the purposes of our program and the choices that we face.

No President should fear public scrutiny of his program. For from that scrutiny comes understanding; and from that understanding comes support or opposition. And both are necessary. I am not asking your newspapers to support the Administration, but I am asking your help in the tremendous task of informing and alerting the American people. For I have complete confidence in the response and dedication of our citizens whenever they are fully informed.

I not only could not stifle controversy among your readers--I welcome it. This Administration intends to be candid about its errors; for as a wise man once said: "An error does not become a mistake until you refuse to correct it." We intend to accept full responsibility for our errors; and we expect you to point them out when we miss them.

Without debate, without criticism, no Administration and no country can succeed--and no republic can survive. That is why the Athenian lawmaker Solon decreed it a crime for any citizen to shrink from controversy. And that is why our press was protected by the First Amendment-- the only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution- -not primarily to amuse and entertain, not to emphasize the trivial and the sentimental, not to simply "give the public what it wants"--but to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to indicate our crises and our choices, to lead, mold, educate and sometimes even anger public opinion.

This means greater coverage and analysis of international news--for it is no longer far away and foreign but close at hand and local. It means greater attention to improved understanding of the news as well as improved transmission. And it means, finally, that government at all levels, must meet its obligation to provide you with the fullest possible information outside the narrowest limits of national security--and we intend to do it.

It was early in the Seventeenth Century that Francis Bacon remarked on three recent inventions already transforming the world: the compass, gunpowder and the printing press. Now the links between the nations first forged by the compass have made us all citizens of the world, the hopes and threats of one becoming the hopes and threats of us all. In that one world's efforts to live together, the evolution of gunpowder to its ultimate limit has warned mankind of the terrible consequences of failure.

And so it is to the printing press--to the recorder of man's deeds, the keeper of his conscience, the courier of his news--that we look for strength and assistance, confident that with your help man will be what he was born to be: free and independent.

Twitter Added to 157 Blog

2012-01-29T09:51:00.003-05:00

I just added Twitter to the Blog, so make sure you start following me at 157blogspot.

Delegates To Membership: Drop Dead

2012-01-28T16:43:00.000-05:00

That was the clear message sent at last Wednesday delegate meeting when a majority of the 100-member delegate body voted to bar members from attending delegate body meetings.

Rank and filers in attendance were shocked by the action of the delegates and the silence of the newly elected council leaders as delegates voted to deny them access and transparency measures specifically written into the new District Council Bylaws.

"This is outrageous, two weeks into the new administration and we are being shown the door, its back to business as usual," said an angry rank and filer.

"Neither Lebo, nor Bilello, argued for or defended the rights of the rank-and-file to attend delegate meetings, nor did they act in anyway consistent to their platform of "members rights and democracy" which they were elected on."

"Furthermore, by denying member-rights and democracy, the authoritarian BOSS regime Bilello/Lebo has actually given ammunition to Amalgamated, by substantiating claims the UBC is undemocratic and abusive and no improvement therein will occur under the new District Council administration," a member posted.

The District Council of Carpenters has been under emergency supervision by the UBC since former boss Michael Forde, was jailed following a 2009 racketeering scandal. New leadership was elected late last year, running on a platform of "members rights, democracy and full transparency of Council’s actions."

"I have only one goal here, get this District Council working for its membership," said Executive Secretary-Treasurer Mike Bilello, at a swearing in ceremony on January 11, ending the 2 1/2 year long supervision.

The District Council has been plagued with a two-decade long history of corruption and being undemocratic. On June 3, 2010, a federal judge signed a Stipulation and Order appointing Review Officer (RO), Dennis Walsh, to oversee the operations of the union and its benefit funds giving him broad power to rid the union of corruption and restore democracy.

The new Bylaws hammered out between the RO and UBC are the result of "extensive negotiations" and include "numerous exceptions" to the UBC Constitution, including among other things, the direct election of the EST, President and Vice President by the rank and file, the establishing of a unique Trial Committee and procedures, and the establishing of numerous functions such as, an HR function, as well as an Inspector General and a Chief Compliance Officer and a provision for a members gallery.

Section 22 of the Bylaws states that “upon a majority vote, the Delegate Body may invite members to attend and observe said meetings as space allows and upon such conditions as may be deemed necessary to insure the integrity of the proceedings.”

In response to an email requesting comment on Section 22 and the motion to bar members, the RO said, "the standing presumption is that no members may attend a meeting of the delegates, but that in any meeting, a delegate may make a motion to allow members to attend, subject to any necessary condition, which may be approved by majority vote."

"I view Section 22 as giving a delegate an absolute right to make such a motion at each and every meeting of the Delegate Body."

"Pursuant to Paragraph 5.b.i.4, I am reviewing the policy passed by the delegates to bar members from attending delegate body meetings to determine if it functions as a de facto alteration of the Bylaws, which would be subject to veto" the RO said.

Below is a list of delegates obtain by 157 blogspot who voted against the motion to bar members from attending delegate body meetings. If anyone knows of additional delegates that voted against the motion please contact me and I will update the list.

A Few Good Men standing for democracy and transparency

Local 157: Pete Corrigan, Kevin Corrigan, Tom McGonnigle, Sam Noone, Bill Walsh, John Daly--Local 926: Robert Alverez, Joseph Sabatino, Luis Simancas, Nicholas Tavernite--Local 1556: Craig Johnson, Charles Lucas Jr.

(John's note: Unfortunately Greg Kelty and I were not able to attend the meeting, had we been there we would have voted against the motion.)

NYCDC - New Hire Information

2012-01-24T16:42:00.002-05:00

The District Council would like to welcome a new representative, Bob Joule, Local 1556, who came on board on Thursday, January 19, 2012. Mr. Joule will work out of the Business Representative Centers.

From The RO: Proposed Local 157 Appointments

2012-01-23T16:44:00.001-05:00

This is in response to your undated letter sent to me via email on January 15, 2012, purporting to appoint an “Executive Committee Delegate pro tem” and two persons as “Delegates pro tem” to “fill vacancies in office until an election is held.
rolcoal157

DELEGATE MEETING NOTICE

2012-01-23T16:30:00.000-05:00

The District Council has scheduled a Delegate meeting for Wednesday January 25, 2012 @ 6PM in the Labor Technical College 2nd floor common room.

Leaders Uncomfortable with Speed of Free Speech

2012-01-22T08:16:00.000-05:00

More than 2600 websites are blocked in the People's Republic of China under the country's policy of Internet censorship.

The dictators ban such sites as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, because the dictators know it is a powerful tool to spread information and it’s packed with democratic power.

With Blogs called microblogs, or weibo in China, the government launched its strongest official measure yet to quell electronic expressions of discontent that threatens to undermine its leaders' firm hold on power.

In the name of defending Chinese cyberspace against "harmful information," the Beijing city government require users who post microblogs to register their real names with the microblogging services—to be verified by government authorities—sweeping away the anonymity that has helped cloak dissidents online.

Even more vexing for officials has been the speed with which information can spread on microblogs.

And the same holds true with some UBC officials. Leaders are nervous and uncomfortable with the quantity and speed of information posted on this blog, they are accustomed to a monopoly of access to the membership and control of information.

Seeing a threat, their instinctive reaction is to attempt to silence by threating to file internal union charges claiming among other things, information posted is "confidential" information about UBC "business" and that by distributing ("or leaking") such "harmful information" to the general public, including employers and media, members have violated the oath (page 91) of membership, acted contrary to his/her responsibility to the UBC, and interfered with the union's performance of its legal or contractual obligations.

Nothing could be further from the Truth.

The Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA), also known as the Landrum-Griffin Act, is the federal law that provides rights for union members.

Sections 101(a)(1) and (2) of Title I guarantee equal voting rights and rights of free speech and assembly to "every member of a labor organization," and § 609 of Title VI makes it unlawful for a union "to fine, suspend, expel, or otherwise discipline any of its members for exercising any right to which he is entitled" under the Act.

Section 102 provides that any person whose rights under Title I have been infringed by any violation thereof may bring an action in federal district court for appropriate relief.

The Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 was the product of congressional concern with widespread abuses of power by union leadership. The relevant provisions of the Act had a history tracing back more than two decades in the evolution of the statutes relating to labor unions.

Tensions between union leaders and the rank-and-file members and allegations of union wrongdoing led to extended congressional inquiry. As originally introduced, the legislation focused on disclosure requirements and the regulation of union trusteeships and elections. However, various amendments were adopted, all aimed at enlarged protection for members of unions paralleling certain rights guaranteed by the Federal Constitution; not surprisingly, these amendments -- ultimately enacted as Title I of the Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 411-415 -- were introduced under the title of "Bill of Rights of Members of Labor Organizations."

The amendments placed emphasis on the rights of union members to freedom of expression without fear of sanctions by the union, which in many instances could mean loss of union membership and, in turn, loss of livelihood. Such protection was necessary to further the Act's primary objective of ensuring that unions would be democratically governed and responsive to the will of their memberships.

Example of Exercising The Right of Free Speech

UBC carpenter, Kevin Price, has long challenged the decision by council of leadership to charter a local meant to challenge the dominance of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1 at area construction projects.

Local 57 "is anti-union, it's anti-labor and it destroys (labor) unity," Price said in a telephone interview from his home in Dongola, Ill., population 780. The town is 100 miles southeast of St. Louis.

"We didn't have a say-so (on Local 57) and we didn't have a vote," Price added. "Then they stifled our voices. And they always succeeded. Until now. I called them on it."

Terry Nelson, the executive secretary-treasurer of the Carpenters Council, supports Price's right to speak his mind.

But he questions whether the Constitution guarantees Price the freedom to exercise that right at a workplace guided by union rules.

"He publicly displayed the sticker on one of our job sites and we took exception to it," Nelson said.

"Sometimes, your freedom stops at the end of my nose. That's why we call this America."

Price drew the line after a council business representative ordered him to remove the anti-Local 57 sticker from his truck, parked outside a Carbondale work site on Aug. 9.

When Price returned to the site with sticker intact the next day, the representative followed up on a threat to bring Price up on "union charges."

A month later, after a review of the incident, the council executive committee ordered Price to answer allegations of dissent before an internal "trial committee."

Price responded by suing the council, alleging the demand that he remove the sticker violated his right to free speech.

"I know what the Constitution is," said Price, a Navy veteran. "My dad was in World War II, my uncle in Korea, my brother in Vietnam and my son has served two tours in Iraq. The U.S. Constitution, to me, (supersedes) all the other constitutions."

U.S. District Judge Michael J. Reagan concurred.

In his decision, Reagan wrote that Price may "vehemently disagree(s) with certain policies advocated by his current union leaders — policies he believes are antithetical to the best interests (of the council.) But he is not sponsored by (or sponsoring) a rival union. He has not joined a rival union and is not encouraging others to do so. His expression of anti-Local 57 views occurred squarely within the context of his desire to reform (the) union's policies from within..."

Citing an infringement of Price's "right of free speech," Reagan issued a preliminary injunction preventing the council from convening the trial committee to hear the charges against Price on Oct. 19.

Local 157 Meeting Notice

2012-01-19T16:40:00.000-05:00

ATTENTION DOCKBUILDERS!

2012-01-19T16:34:00.002-05:00

Click to enlarge.

Before you even think about joining another union to represent you READ THIS!

For more information visit the LU 1556 Home page. 10 Page Amalgamated

Employment Opportunity: Labor Technical College

2012-01-17T16:42:00.001-05:00

NEW YORK CITY DISTRICT COUNCIL LABOR TECHNICAL COLLEGE
COLLEGE AND MENTOR PROGRAM COORDINATOR

The New York City District Council Labor Technical College is seeking an individual for the newly created position of College and Mentor Program Coordinator.

This position will have a diverse set of responsibilities which will all come together to provide comprehensive coordination of training for our apprentices The coordination, growth and expansion of our college program will be a major responsibility of this position. In addition, the creation and maintenance of an apprenticeship wide mentoring program is a goal and responsibility that will be a priority. The Coordinator will be responsible for developing, planning and implementing a mentorship program for apprentices which will involve the journey level members as mentors. To aid in the consistency and thorough indoctrination of the apprentices, the Coordinator will also be primarily responsible for scheduling the approximately six week orientation process that all applicants must go through until the acceptance into the program is completed. This will include the scheduling of the names to be selected, sending letters of notification, scheduling of the orientation sessions, processing of the applications, scheduling interview appointments and tracking and scheduling the drug testing and math test. After the final acceptance of the apprentices, the Coordinator will be responsible for routing them to various locals and releasing the apprentices to the Job Referral List. In addition, the interviewing process will be developed by the Coordinator in conjunction with the Director to include employers from our signatory associations.

Requirements:

An Associate’s degree or higher.

Five to seven years of administrative experience preferably in an educational setting.

Must be familiar with college course systems.

Superior organizational skills.

Solid oral and written skills.

Good coordination skills and working with a diverse group of people as well as superior skills at working independently.

Must be able to effectively represent the college and the LTC Director when dealing with external organizations.

Proficiency with Microsoft Office and Outlook.

Experience working on a New York City construction project a plus.

The LTC is an affirmative action employer and encourage applications from all qualified candidates regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, or disability.

To apply, please e-mail your resume and a cover letter stating why you would be an ideal candidate for this position to resume@nyccarpenter.org

Related's new contractor shakes up construction industry

2012-01-16T18:00:00.001-05:00

Hiring an outsider to build up Hudson Yards increases competition, which drives down costs.

By Daniel Massey

Deeply dissatisfied with the two dozen agreements negotiated over the summer between unions and contractors, and desperate to bring down the costs of its massive Hudson Yards project, the Related Cos. has made a move certain to shake the foundation of the city's construction industry.

The powerhouse developer last week brought construction giant Tutor Perini Corp. in from California to be the contractor on its $4 billion, 15-year Hudson Yards undertaking, Crain's has learned.

The key to Related's decision: Tutor Perini owns various subcontractors and can do a wide array of construction work—including excavation, concrete forming and placement, steel erection, electrical and mechanical services and plumbing—on its own. By bringing a new player into a notoriously closed-off market, Related increases competition, which should lower prices.

The main construction managers in the New York market—Lend Lease, Plaza, Tishman Construction and Turner—lack the ability to self-perform work, and the subcontractors they hire often operate without transparency and competition.

Developers have grown frustrated by what they contend is a tightly controlled insiders' game that limits their ability to control prices. The Tutor Perini hiring is an attempt to change the rules.

“I think it's an aggressive move,” said Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York. “Bringing another significant company like this into the city is positive for competition.”

Work on Hudson Yards is scheduled to start later this year, beginning with the 1.7 million-square-foot Coach tower that is expected to be completed by 2015. The entire project will transform the far West Side with three office buildings, nine residential towers with 5,000 units, a 750,000-square-foot glass-encased mall, a school, a cultural center and 12 acres of open space.

Tutor Perini will also be the contractor on Related's residential tower at West 30th Street and 10th Avenue, on the outskirts of Hudson Yards. Construction on that project, being developed with Abington Properties, is also expected to commence this year.

The deal brings in a construction company whose work in the city has mostly been on infrastructure, including the widening of one of the nation's busiest runways at John F. Kennedy International Airport and the construction of the AirTrain's Jamaica Station terminal. Tutor Perini also has experience building gambling venues and was tapped by Genting Malaysia Berhad to build Resorts World Casino, the new development at Aqueduct Racetrack.

“It's time-honored that the companies that work here are the companies that work here, and that's the end of it,” said former New York City Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster, a professor of construction management at the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate. “For Related to change the paradigm is pretty striking.”

Related declined to comment. Tutor Perini did not return a call seeking comment.

Louis Coletti, president of the Building Trades Employers' Association, which represents the city's unionized contractors, declined to comment. Calls to several contractors were not returned.

Related and Tutor Perini became acquainted in 2008 when Deutsche Bank hired the developer to finish the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, a $3.9 billion hotel and casino whose owner had defaulted on a $760 million loan. The move to reunite at Hudson Yards is a blow to the city's major construction players, who no doubt had their hearts set on Hudson Yards. Tishman will play a role in the development, though a lesser one than if Tutor Perini were not involved.

Related officials have been single-minded about finding a way to reduce costs for several years now, especially with Hudson Yards looming. Their efforts intensified when Sam Zell's Chicago-based Equity Residential swooped in two years ago to construct a building in the heart of Manhattan using nonunion labor. They worry that other developers will follow Mr. Zell's example, tilting the field against union-only builders.

Related was outspoken during the summer contract talks, which developers felt only nibbled around the edges of needed work-rule changes. Company executives worked tirelessly to reduce costs on their 1.2 million-square-foot mixed-use project on West 42nd Street when the economy tanked.

Related had poured the foundation when the recession put the project on hold. During the lull, executives looked for ways to realign costs with the new fiscal reality, talking extensively with general contractors, but also interviewing all the subcontractors on the job in an effort to understand their costs. Segments of the project were bid out to streamline costs.

The Tutor Perini hiring is a nod to an argument made last summer by labor leaders that paying union workers less isn't the only way to reduce the city's spiraling construction costs. But it's just a piece of Related's effort to lower costs on the West Side.

The developer is in talks with unions on project-labor agreements for Hudson Yards, hoping for changes to work rules and discounts on salaries and benefits to help propel the project forward.

“We're working to address labor cost issues, but we can't do this alone,” said Paul Fernandes, chief of staff at the Building and Construction Trades Council. “Cost increases are not only on the labor side. In fact, if you look at the numbers, they're more heavily on the contractor side.”

Related seeks savings on both fronts and is turning Hudson Yards into a testing ground that could reverberate throughout the industry.

NYCDC - New Hire Information

2012-01-15T17:28:00.001-05:00

Bill Lebo

157 blogspot would like to welcome new "Assistant to the EST," Bill Lebo. Bill is a 26 year member of Local Union 45 and elected President of the District Council. Bill started in construction working for a roofer in 1977. From 1980 to 1985 he worked as a house framer on Long Island. In 1985 he joined the union and became an active member of Local 348. Bill has worked as a foreman for three companies, but prefers to work as a shop steward protecting work jurisdictions and the members.

Bill will report directly to the EST and among other things will be responsible for, "management and supervision of all field activities, supervise/coordinate representatives centers, restructure representatives system and training."

At last Wednesday's delegate meeting EST Mike Bilello made a motion and exercised his authority under Section 10 (N) of the NYCDC Bylaws and created the new full time council employee position.

New Council Officers Sworn In

2012-01-11T19:58:00.000-05:00

The new officers of the District Council were sworn in today at a ceremony at the District Council Labor Technical College. After 884 days, 19 hours, and 18 minutes the "emergency supervision" imposed over the New York City District Council Of Carpenters has finally ended.

Chairman John Ballantyne (left) administers the oath to new council leaders, (left to right) EST Mike Bilello, President Bill Lebo and Vice President Michael Cavanaugh

District Council Officers: Executive Secretary-Treasurer - Michael Bilello, President – Bill Lebo, Vice President – Michael Cavanaugh, Trustee – Joseph Nina, Turlough Noone, Sean Doonan, Warden – Phil Fiorentino, Conductor – Scott Belford.

Executive Committee Members: Local 20 – Christopher Wallace, Local 45 – Paul Tyznar, Local 157 – Vacant, Local 926 – Vacant, Local 1556 – Adam Harkin, Local 2287 – Ray Harvey ,Local 2790 – Robert Villalta.

Negotiating Advisory Committee Members: Local 20 – Christopher Wallace, Local 45 – Paul Tyznar, Local 157 – Vacant, Local 926 – Vacant, Local 1556 – Adam Harkin, Local 2287 – Ray Harvey , Local 2790 – Robert Villalta, Local 926 Sal Tagliaferro, Local 740 Dan Walcott, Local 157 Paul Capurso.

Union Benefit Fund Trustees: Michael Bilello, Bill Lebo, Michael Cavanaugh, Paul Tyznar, John sheehy, Paul Capurso.

In blow to contractors, gaffe stalls union vote

2012-01-10T18:19:00.003-05:00

Rank-and-file carpenters seeking to kill agreements negotiated by national union leaders benefited from a clerical error. The real losers may be contractors.

By Daniel Massey

Delegates being informed about the gaffe.

A clerical gaffe by leaders of the national carpenters union forced them to table a vote on several labor contracts that they had hoped to push through before a new braintrust is installed on Wednesday at the 25,000-member District Council of Carpenters.

The error casts doubt on the future of contracts negotiated between the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America and five contractor associations. It also raises the possibility that the agreements might have to be renegotiated once the District Council's new leaders come to power. Additionally, it rendered moot a lawsuit filed Friday by rank-and-file carpenters who sought to delay a vote on the deals until the new administration was installed.

The hitch came Tuesday as a result of a federal judge's ruling that the deals had to be posted online for union members to view two weeks before the vote. At a meeting Tuesday afternoon, the union's incoming executive secretary-treasurer, Michael Bilello, made a motion for the vote to be tabled because important provisions of two of the contracts were not posted. Details of a so-called market-recovery rate, which would give contractors a 20% discount on hotel and certain residential work, were not included on the website.

The motion was accepted by a representative of the carpenters' union. No date has been set for when the deals might be considered. Mr. Bilello did not return a call seeking comment. A spokesman for the United Brotherhood of Carpenters also did not respond to a call seeking comment.

Mr. Bilello and his slate of administrators will be inaugurated Wednesday at 3 p.m.

“I would assume that the contractor associations and their counsel will be calling Bilello to find out his views on what has already been negotiated with the UBC,” said Dennis Walsh, a monitor appointed by the federal government to oversee the operations of the scandal-plagued union.

The District Council of Carpenters has been run by its national parent, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, since its chief was jailed following a 2009 racketeering scandal. But new local leadership was elected late last year, and national leaders—in their final move before ceding power—were trying to push through contracts they negotiated over the last six months.

Mr. Bilello ran for executive secretary-treasurer, the union's highest post, on a platform opposing so-called full mobility, one of the most controversial provisions of the contracts.

Under the tentative agreements, employers would no longer be required to hire at least one-third of their workers via union referrals, and would instead be free to select any member of the union to work for them.

Contractors have argued that so-called full mobility will save them money by increasing productivity, but union members contend that it will kill important protections like seniority and could lead to discrimination. Union members also say that the national union has pressed for the change because it will help it avoid the deluge of National Labor Relations Board charges filed by workers who challenge the union's role in hiring decisions.

But now the future of full mobility, and indeed the contracts themselves, remain up in the air.

Carpenters sue to block contract vote

2012-01-09T20:06:00.003-05:00

Agreements negotiated by departing national leaders of the District Council of Carpenters are headed for a vote. In a blow to builders, who support the deals, a lawsuit filed Friday seeks to stop the process.

By Daniel Massey

Rank-and-file carpenters filed suit Friday to block a vote on collective bargaining agreements that the union's national bosses hope to get approved before new local leadership takes power Wednesday.

Union members are also expected to hold two days of rallies beginning Monday afternoon to voice their displeasure with the national leadership's effort to fast-track ratification of the new deals. Votes by delegates on contracts reached with about a half dozen contractor associations are scheduled for Tuesday.

As of mid-Tuesday afternoon, a hearing on the suit in federal court had yet to be scheduled.

“The rank and file haven't had an adequate opportunity to be informed about the content of these agreements,” said Demian Schroeder, one three carpenters who are plaintiffs in the suit.

The 25,000-member District Council of Carpenters has been run by its national parent, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, since its chief was jailed following a 2009 racketeering scandal. But new local leadership was elected late last year, and national leaders—in their final move before ceding power—are trying to push through contracts they negotiated over the last six months.

Michael Bilello, the union's incoming executive secretary-treasurer, did not respond to a call seeking comment. A spokesman for the United Brotherhood of Carpenters also did not reply to a request for comment.

Mr. Bilello and his leadership team oppose the most controversial element of the deals, a change in hiring practices. Under the tentative agreements, employers would no longer be required to hire at least one-third of their workers via union referrals, and would instead be free to select any member of the union to work for them.

Contractors have argued that so-called full mobility will save them money by increasing productivity, but union members contend that it will kill important protections like seniority and could lead to discrimination. Union members also say that the national union has pressed for the change because it will help it avoid the deluge of National Labor Relations Board charges filed by workers who challenge the union's role in hiring decisions.

John Musumeci, a union delegate who runs a blog, said the United Brotherhood of Carpenters had brought in a motivational speaker to encourage delegates to vote in favor of the contracts. He said he would make a motion at Tuesday's meeting to postpone the vote, and if it failed, he would vote against the contracts.

“It might pass, but it's not going to pass with my vote,” he said.

In the court papers filed Friday in federal court in Manhattan, three workers allege that their “rights to due process” under federal labor law and the union's constitution and bylaws would be violated if a vote is allowed to proceed this week. The workers contend ratification at this point would run counter to directives by the federal judge overseeing a two-decade-old racketeering case against the union to ensure a “democratic process” with regard to the contracts.

“A vote concerning these agreements should be restrained until such time as the members of the union are permitted adequate time to review these agreements,” the plaintiffs argue. They say the union should hold a town hall meeting to go over the contract details before any vote takes place.

MONDAY! COURT DATE AND RALLY

2012-01-09T05:40:00.002-05:00

DEMOCRACY IN ACTION: NYC RANK AND FILE CARPENTERS REQUEST FEDERAL JUDGE RESTRAIN OUTGOING UNION BOSSES FROM FORCING DELEGATE VOTE ON COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENTS, PROTEST OUTSIDE OF DISTRICT COUNCIL MEETING

Rally Permit

WE NEED YOUR HELP AGAIN: DISTRICT COUNCIL RALLY

WHEN: TODAY- MONDAY, JANUARY 9, 2012 4-8 PM,
WHERE: 395 HUDSON STREET

New York – Today rank and file union members have filed a Motion for a Restraining Order to prohibit a forced vote on binding Collective Bargaining Agreements. Federal Judge Richard M. Berman will hear an argument from attorneys representing these members concerning the attempt by union bosses to force this vote and thereby violate the due process rights of the rank and file members. Such due process rights are guaranteed under the National Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, United Brotherhood of Carpenters Constitution, and NYC District Council By-Laws. Simultaneously, hundreds of rank and file members will be rallying in support of their “last stand” against a corporate takeover of their union.

UBC Supervisor Frank Spencer has scheduled a rushed ratification vote on five-year collective bargaining agreements with three contractor associations for the District Council Delegate Body, on Tuesday Jan. 10, a day before a newly elected Executive Secretary Treasurer and other leaders are installed Jan. 11.

During a December 20 court conference, Federal Judge Richard Berman sought to ensure that there would be full opportunity for the membership to vet the Collective Bargaining Agreements prior to any ratification. Judge Berman strongly suggested that a “Town Hall” meeting be conducted wherein UBC representatives would field questions and provide answers concerning the Agreements. Despite further efforts of United States Attorney and federally appointed Review Officer, Dennis Walsh, to schedule this meeting, UBC representative Thomas Garrison refused to cooperate, and District Council Supervisor Frank Spencer declined invitation by Walsh for the UBC to participate in a Review Officer forum, nor schedule a UBC “Town Hall” meeting. Judge Berman recommended that the vote be delayed from January 5, 2012, to January 15-January 19. Lawyers for the UBC adamantly refused and have scheduled the vote for January 10.

Rank and file members main concern with the Collective Bargaining Agreements is that a clause incorporating complete employer preferential hiring (“Full Mobility”) will lead to a diminution of their labor rights and increased corruption. Preferential hiring completely removes the work referral system whereby the union establishes a list of members that are eligible for a particular project. Rank and file members, in struggling to protect their federally mandated rights, argue that removing such protections will lead to employer violations of health, safety and labor laws as well as age, ethnicity, and gender discrimination.

For more info contact: Demian Schroeder: 646-321-3274, email: rally524@yahoo.com, or visit: http://nyccrfo.blogspot.com/

UBC Complaint 1-6-12

Important Delegate Meeting

2012-01-04T23:54:00.000-05:00

To: LOCAL UNION PRESIDENTS AND DELEGATES

From: Matthew Walker, Director of Operations

Please be advised, all Delegates are requested to attend a meeting that will be held on January 9th and 10th at 7:00 a.m. on the 10th floor of the District Council. These meetings are being held to review and discuss the proposed posted Collective Bargaining Agreements. At the conclusion of the January 10th meeting a vote will be called for the ratification of each contract.

Please inform all Local Delegates.

This notice has been faxed to all Local Union offices as well as being posted on the District Council website.

White House announces recess appointments of three to fill Board vacancies

2012-01-04T23:51:00.000-05:00

President Obama today announced his intent to recess appoint the following three individuals to serve as Members of the National Labor Relations Board.

Sharon Block, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Congressional Affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor. Between 2006 and 2009, Ms. Block was Senior Labor and Employment Counsel for the Senate HELP Committee, where she worked for Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Ms. Block previously served at the National Labor Relations Board as senior attorney to Chairman Robert Battista from 2003 to 2006 and as an attorney in the appellate court branch from 1996 to 2003. From 1994 to 1996, she was Assistant General Counsel at the National Endowment for the Humanities, and from 1991 to 1993, she was an associate at Steptoe & Johnson. She received a B.A. in History from Columbia University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center where she received the John F. Kennedy Labor Law Award.

Terence F. Flynn, currently detailed to serve as Chief Counsel to NLRB Board Member Brian Hayes. Mr. Flynn was previously Chief Counsel to former NLRB Board Member Peter Schaumber, where he oversaw a variety of legal and policy issues in cases arising under the National Labor Relations Act. From 1996 to 2003, Mr. Flynn was Counsel in the Labor and Employment Group of Crowell & Moring, LLP, where he handled a wide range of labor and employment issues, including collective bargaining negotiations, litigation of unfair labor practices, defense of ERISA claims, and wage and hour disputes, among other matters. From 1992 to 1995, he was a litigation associate at the law firm David, Hager, Kuney & Krupin, where he counseled clients on federal, state, and local employment and wage hour laws, NLRB arbitrations, and other labor relations disputes. Mr. Flynn started his law career at the firm Reid & Priest, handling labor and immigration matters from 1990 to 1992. He holds a B.A. degree from University of Maryland, College Park and a J.D. from Washington & Lee University School of Law.

Richard Griffin, General Counsel for International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE). He also serves on the board of directors for the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee, a position he has held since 1994. Since 1983, he has held a number of leadership positions with IUOE from Assistant House Counsel to Associate General Counsel. From 1985 to 1994, Mr. Griffin served as a member of the board of trustees of the IUOE’s central pension fund. From 1981 to 1983, he served as a Counsel to NLRB Board Members. Mr. Griffin holds a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law.

The last day of Member Craig Becker’s service was Tuesday, Jan. 3. With the expiration of his appointment, the Board dropped to two members, Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce and Member Brian E. Hayes. The Board was last at its full five-member strength in August of 2010.

Source: NLRB

Seeking Counsel (Attorneys/Firms)

2012-01-04T18:31:00.002-05:00

The New York City District Council of Carpenters employs some 100 persons in office and field positions and represents over 20,000 members of eight affiliated local unions in multiple jurisdictions of the construction trade in the five boroughs of New York and beyond.

It seeks to retain counsel in each of the following areas: (i) general labor counsel; (ii) litigation and arbitration counsel; and (iii) employment counsel.

Interested attorneys and firms should send the Union a detailed proposal covering a specific area which details the experience and credentials of those who would provide the specific services, rates, and states the firm’s philosophy of representation. An attorney or firm may send a proposal for more than one area.

All proposals should be sent by January 16, 2012, to Matthew Walker, Director of Operations, New York City District Council of Carpenters, 395 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

For construction companies, business is looking down

2012-01-01T09:12:00.001-05:00

Firms seek union concessions as work dwindles.

By Geoffrey Decker

In a recent television appearance, the chief executive of one of New York City's oldest and most important construction and development companies was asked to assess his firm's prospects over the next few years. Dan Tishman was far from bullish.

“We can't compete in the marketplace,” the CEO of Tishman Construction Corp. told the hosts of CNBC's Squawk Box. “We've got to find a way to bring the unionized construction platform in New York back into some level of [nonunion] competitions.”

What made Mr. Tishman's comments so significant was that they came only weeks after developers, contractors and trade union leaders completed a highly anticipated round of negotiations for 23 contracts designed to address precisely the issues that Mr. Tishman raised. It is clear that despite some concessions, the unionized construction industry faces continued uncertainty as nonunion contractors erode its position.

The stakes for the city's economy could not be higher. Construction has declined by 12% from its 2007 peak of $31 billion, with the Building Congress estimating work at $27.7 billion for 2011. The drop would be more severe were it not for public infrastructure spending filling part of the gap of private work, which plunged to $2.2 billion in 2011 from $6.3 billion in 2008. In all, the number of construction jobs has declined by about 25,000 since then.

However, the Building Congress predicts a steeper decline as public capital budgets are cut and buildings are completed at the World Trade Center project. It estimates construction work will fall to $23 billion in 2013, and another 20,000 workers will lose their jobs, bringing employment down to as few as 91,000. If the predictions come true, the ranks of construction workers will have been pared by a third in just five years.

Against such a dismal backdrop, the real estate industry remains determined to seek concessions from the unions.

More showdowns expected

“The fundamental question is whether the costs for construction are at sustainable levels to encourage and promote new development,” said Michael Slattery, a vice president at the Real Estate Board of New York. “And I think the answer is they are not.”

Some union deals in the last round of talks yielded significant concessions, Mr. Slattery said. In particular, the operating-engineers' deal eliminated work rules that require developers to fill highly paid positions that weren't seen as productive. For instance, relief crane operators who make $82.15 per hour and oilers who make $66.50 are both required to accompany any engineer on a crane, but they rarely perform regular duties. In early 2011, REBNY estimated that there were 14 “unproductive workers” at the World Trade Center who were earning $400,000 or more in regular pay and overtime.

But new contracts with the carpenters' union and concrete workers increased wages and offered concessions only on buildings that were no higher than 20 stories.

If anything, the 23 new deals have set up more showdowns for this year, when 15 more contracts will expire, including those for the Operating Engineers and Allied Building Metal Industries, and the Mason Tenders District Council and Building Contractors Association.

Meanwhile, industry experts say the most significant development may be the decision of the Building Trades Employers' Association, a large general contracting group and chief negotiator, to opt out of a plan that required its contractors work exclusively with unions. This will allow for the use of both union and nonunion workers on the same site. “We haven't seen that in Manhattan,” said Hope Cohen, a director at the Regional Plan Association.

Worth the cost?

The share of nonunion construction jobs in New York City has quadrupled since the 1970s, but more than 60% of all projects— including the biggest sites—remain union-only. This is in part because union work sites are believed to maintain safer conditions, and union workers complete projects more quickly and with higher quality.

But developers say that nonunion work quality has improved and have begun questioning if the work premium is worth the costs, which are between 20% and 30% more. They say the shift is necessary in light of current economic woes.

“This is not the end of the story,” said Ms. Cohen. “There will be some drama next spring.”

Financial Accomplishments During Supervision

2011-12-29T16:46:00.002-05:00

From: Terrence R. Mooney CPA

To: Mr. Frank Spencer, Supervisor,

I would like to take this opportunity to represent the financial accomplishments made at the New York District Council during the period of August 2009 through November 2011. As noted in my finding report to the members and the International in October of 2009 there were accounting deficiencies that needed to be addressed by this council to ensure the safeguarding of the assets of its members. These following accomplishments are a tribute to the talented employees of this council and the dedication to perform their obligations to the members. Although this list is not all inclusive it will provide the members an overview of the financial steps taken under the supervision as they related to finance.
Accomplisment Letter 120611

NEW YORK LABOR LEADERS OFFER STRIKE SUPPORT FOR 32BJ

2011-12-29T16:29:00.001-05:00

Unions stand together to fight for a fair contract

by New York Real Estate Rama

New York, NY – December 29, 2011— Only two days remain before the contract covering 22,000 building service workers in New York City expires. If the clock runs out at midnight on Dec. 31, 2011 without a fair and equitable deal in place for hardworking 32BJ members, New York’s labor community is prepared to back them in a strike.

“The resources of the 2 ½ million member New York State AFL-CIO are at the full disposal of 32 BJ for as long as it takes to reach a contract agreement. With 3,000 local union affiliates across the state, we will stand side by side with our 32 BJ brothers and sisters throughout these negotiations. This is not just about what happens in the next few days. These negotiations are about the future of our city, and what kind of city we want to leave to the next generation,” says Mario Cilento, President of NY State AFL-CIO.

The top salary of a commercial cleaner in NYC is $22.65 an hour, or $47,000 a year but building owners still say workers are earning too much. The real estate industry wants to rollback salary and benefit packages, while it’s recorded billions in sales activity this year alone.

“Whether it’s for a private sector union like 32BJ, or a public sector or building trades union, the New York City Central Labor Council is always going to stand up for fair wages and contracts,” says Vincent Alvarez, President of the CLC. “The labor community is committed to working together to fight for fairness in the workplace and protecting the wages and benefits of the hardworking men and women of New York City.”

AUDIO: REVIEW OFFICER FORUM ON WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2011

2011-12-29T06:28:00.002-05:00

By Joseph

Download

Court Conference Transcripts of December 20, 2011

2011-12-28T19:00:00.001-05:00

THE COURT: So, this is one of our regularly scheduled status sessions. Here are the issues that I would like to hear about and then if there is time after that, if there is anything else that people want to talk about, but I would like to hear about the -- let me just list them: The elections. If there is anything new to stay about the bylaws. I would also like to hear about the status of the collective bargaining agreements and if there is also anything, no. four, about the restructuring. And then, Mr. Walsh, I want to hear about the,what you put in -- something that you included in your third interim report dated December 5, 2011 which you mentioned that your office was investigating -- this is a quote from that report, the suspected involvement of members of local unions affiliated with the district council with a new union. We will call that, for want of a better phrase, the amalgamated union, and anybody who wishes to be heard on that subject.
12.20.11 U.S. v. D.C. Status Conference

Attention Dockbuilders

2011-12-22T16:28:00.000-05:00

Click continue reading for important message.
Dock Builders

Carpenters union struggles with new contracts

2011-12-21T16:26:00.000-05:00

The parent union of the District Council of Carpenters is pushing for ratification of a deal that includes a key reform sought by contractors. But new leaders of the scandal-plagued New York union are resisting.

By Daniel Massey

Carpenters Rally Against Full Mobility.

The 25,000-member District Council of Carpenters, which has been run by its national parent since its chief was jailed following a 2009 racketeering scandal, has elected new leadership as it moves to regain its independence early next year.

But before a new executive secretary treasurer and other leaders are installed Jan. 11, the parent organization, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, is trying to push through the ratification of a half-dozen labor deals that it negotiated with contractor associations.

The new leadership opposes the most controversial element of the deals, a change in hiring practices coveted by contractors. Under the tentative agreements, employers would no longer be required to hire at least one-third of their workers via union referrals, and would instead be free to select any member of the union to work for them.

Contractors have argued that so-called full mobility will save them money by increasing productivity, but union members contend that it will kill important protections like seniority and could lead to discrimination.

“I am against full mobility because I don't believe the union should give up control of the job site,” the union's incoming chief, Michael Bilello, wrote in a questionnaire posted on the District Council website.

As per the stipulation of a federally appointed monitor, the change to full mobility would be accompanied by the formation of a joint labor-management corporation that would assist in contract enforcement and investigate and redress violations through arbitration, fines, and other means.

That monitor, Dennis Walsh, said that full mobility is the centerpiece of the contracts, but that it would only work if accompanied by vigorous enforcement that includes electronic scanning of union cards, video cameras and a team of investigators.

A ratification vote by the union's delegates is scheduled for Jan. 5, but the federal judge handling the case could delay the vote. Only three of the contracts are up on the District Council website, and rank-and-filers were promised at least 14 days to review the deals before any vote. Many union members want the vote delayed until after Mr. Bilello and the rest of his leadership team is inaugurated. Mr. Walsh said up to three more contracts could be posted by week's end and suggested a compromise of Jan. 10.

“The UBC is trying to get the contracts voted on before transition of power,” Mr. Walsh said, referring to the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. “There's tension between the newly elected regime and the UBC.”

A UBC spokesman said that the democratic process was playing out. “The members have voted who their representatives will be and now the delegate assembly has to make its decision up or down on the contracts,” the spokesman said. “We should let that run its course.”

One delegate, John Musumeci, who runs a blog on the union, said he would vote against ratification.

“I am going to vote how the membership wants me to and right now the membership is in favor of no full mobility,” he said.

A deal with the General Contractors Association remains far off, according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations.

Separately, a group of dock builders who want to be able to ratify their own contracts is trying to launch a breakaway carpenters union that would be affiliated with the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades.

Mr. Bilello, who will be sworn in as executive secretary treasurer—the union's top position—did not return several calls seeking comment. He beat out Dan Franco 2,932 to 1,739 in a contest that attracted only about a quarter of the union's approximately 20,000 eligible voters. Mr. Bilello has been a union carpenter since 1975. He worked for the union from 1997 to 1999 and was viewed as a reformer who fought against the corruption that has long plagued the organization.

In 1990, the federal government brought a racketeering suit against the union, beginning a two-decade period in which the organization has been under monitoring by U.S. officials. In 1994, the government entered into a consent decree with the union, and last year, a federal judge appointed Mr. Walsh to oversee the operations of the union and its benefit funds. Earlier this year, the union's previous leader, Michael Forde, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for accepting bribes from contractors.

Mr. Bilello has promised to root out corruption at a union that, according to Mr. Walsh, still has ties to organized crime, particularly the Genovese family.

“Corruption at the District Council can be ended once and for all,” Mr. Bilello said in a statement in a union election newsletter. “It starts at the top. The union has to be led by people who love the union, not people who love money. The organization wasn't created for people to make it to the top to enrich themselves and leave everyone else behind.”

A Message from General President McCarron: New Year Provides Opportunity to Strengthen Our Brotherhood

2011-12-21T16:16:00.000-05:00

Click to enlarge.

To All Locals and Councils:

On behalf of the officers of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, I would like to wish all membersand their families the best for the new year.

While 2012 will be another year of economic uncertainty and continued challenges, it also marks a yearof opportunity to strengthen our union. It is up to us to keep our skills sharp for the day when the economyturns around. It is also up to us to make our voices heard to ensure that day arrives as soon as possible.

While no one is happy with the pace of recovery, things would be far worse if we returned to thepolicies that created the mess in the first place. Unfortunately, too many politicians think it is possible tomove forward in reverse gear. We must resist this misguided thinking and mobilize the energy of ournearly half-million members on behalf of candidates and political efforts that favor working people.

In the United States, 2012 will see the most important election in decades. With so much at stake,including Davis-Bacon wage protections, members must go beyond voting and volunteer to assist thepolitical operations at their council or local.

While Canada avoided the excesses of Wall Street and is fortunate to have escaped the worst of thefallout, its new federal government is not worker friendly. I encourage our Canadian brothers and sistersto also become politically involved at the provincial and federal level.

We are not the first generation to face adversity, and, unfortunately, we will not be the last. However,persevering in difficult times makes things better for those who follow. As the world sank into theDepression in late 1931, Carpenter magazine sent out season’s greetings to UBC members. It read, inpart, that organized labor deserved credit for “arousing public sentiment against ever permitting arecurrence of such conditions of want and privation in this land of plenty.”

Less than a year after those words appeared, voters in the United States elected Franklin Rooseveltpresident and ushered in one of the greatest periods of social advancement in the nation’s history. Overthe next few years, Social Security, unemployment insurance, and the freedom to join a union wereenshrined in law.

While it would take several more years for the Depression to end, there was no return to the nakedcapitalism that sank the economy. Instead, we benefit today from the efforts of those who fought to makethe future brighter.

We must continue the battle and build on the legacy of those who came before us in order to improveour lives and the lives of those to come. Together, we will succeed.

Have a safe and happy holiday.

Douglas J. McCarron

REVIEW OFFICER FORUM ON WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2011

2011-12-21T16:15:00.000-05:00

All members of local unions affiliated with the District Council, as well as employees of the District Council, Benefit Funds and local unions, are invited to attend the next Review Officer Forum at 395 Hudson Street. I will speak as well as answer questions and hear from those in attendance who wish to share their thoughts on matters relating to the District Council, the Consent Decree and the Stipulation and Order. Members are encouraged to share their views on the collective bargaining agreements currently posted on the District Council web site.

The forum will be in the meeting space of the school on the second floor from 4:30 to 7:00 p.m. Please have your current union or employee identification cards ready for presentation at the door to gain admission.

Dennis M. Walsh
Review Officer

Non-U.S. citizens make up 39% of NYC's construction workforce

2011-12-21T16:00:00.000-05:00

Non-United States citizens accounted for 39 percent of the total New York City construction industry workforce and 45 percent of all construction trades workers in 2010, according to a New York Building Congress analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau's 2010 American Community Survey.

Of the 224,500 men and women in the construction industry surveyed, including both white-collar and blue-collar positions in private firms and on government payrolls, white, non-Hispanic men and women accounted for 40 percent, while Hispanics made up 36 percent. Asians made up 9 percent of the workforce, while 1 percent identified as multi-racial.

As for the 168,200 construction labor workers who lived in New York City in 2010, 63,600 were Queens residents. Another 53,700 lived in Brooklyn, followed by 24,200 from the Bronx, 14,400 from Staten Island, and 12,300 who dwelled in Manhattan.

The data, which is based on personal responses to the Census Bureau survey and incorporates both union and non-union labor, as well as management positions, architects, engineers and other service workers, also indicates that construction workers are increasingly going without health insurance. Forty-nine percent of all construction industry workers lacked health insurance in 2010, up from 45 percent in 2009. -- Katherine Clarke

NYCDC - New Hire Information

2011-12-21T15:30:00.000-05:00

The District Council would like to welcome a new representative, Brian McLaughlin, Local 1556, who came on board on Monday, December 12, 2011. Mr. McLaughlin will work out of the Business Representative Centers.

Cornell to build new science campus on Roosevelt Island

2011-12-20T16:32:00.002-05:00

Artists rendering of the two million square feet campus.

Cornell University and the Technion-Israel Institute are to build a new two million square feet applied science and engineering campus on Roosevelt Island.

At a press conference on Monday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Cornell president David J. Skorton, and Technion-Israel president Peretz Lavie announced the partnership between the two leading institutions had beat out competition from around the globe to win the rights to the venture.In addition to the Roosevelt Island site, the City will also provide $100 million in City capital to assist with site infrastructure, construction, and related costs.

This is the first selection announcement for the Applied Sciences NYC initiative. Discussions are ongoing with other respondents — Carnegie Mellon, Columbia and a New York University-led consortium — and the possibility of additional science and engineering partnerships in the City is still open, said the mayor.“Thanks to this outstanding partnership and groundbreaking proposal from Cornell and the Technion, New York City’s goal of becoming the global leader in technological innovation is now within sight,” said Mayor Bloomberg.

“By adding a new state-of-the-art institution to our landscape, we will educate tomorrow’s entrepreneurs and create the jobs of the future. This partnership has so much promise because we share the same goal: to make New York City home to the world’s most talented workforce.”

President Skorton said, “Starting today, we are going to put our plan to work, tapping into our extensive connections throughout the city and build a truly 21st Century campus to fuel the creation of new businesses and new industries throughout the city for decades to come.”Cornell received a $350 million gift from an anonymous donor, the largest contribution in the university’s history and one of the largest in the history of American higher education, which will support the NYCTech Campus project.

Cornell/Technion has laid out an aggressive plan for the project, which will ultimately culminate in the completion of a two million square foot build-out housing up to 2,500 students and nearly 280 faculty members by 2043.

Prior to commencement of construction on Roosevelt Island, Cornell/Technion plans to open in an off-site location in 2012, with the first phase of their permanent Roosevelt Island home expected to open by no later than 2017.

By 2027 the campus will have expanded to over 1.3 million square feet. Cornell/Technion has agreed to a 99-year lease for the Roosevelt Island site, with an option to purchase the land at the end of the term for $1.

Cornell will develop and own the campus itself, and will assume financial responsibility for its establishment and operations.According to an economic impact analysis, which was completed by the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the new campus will generate more than $7.5 billion (NPV) and more than $23 billion in overall economic activity over the course of the next three decades, as well as $1.4 billion in total tax revenue. The campus alone will help create up to 20,000 construction jobs and up to 8,000 permanent jobs.And, it is expected to generate nearly 600 spin-off companies over the projection period – projected to create up to an additional 30,000 permanent jobs.Academic uses will include classrooms, laboratories, libraries, teaming areas and lecture halls, as well as start-up incubator and accelerator space. The remainder of the space will be devoted to residential uses, a conference center, as well as ancillary uses, such as retail in support of the faculty, staff and students on the campus.

The campus is planned to include a solar array that will generate 1.8 megawatts at daily peak and a 400 well geothermal field, which uses the constant temperature of the earth to cool buildings in the summer and heat them in the winter. The well field and solar array would each be largest in New York City if built today.

The campus will not only employ some of the most sophisticated environmental technology in the world, it will also help develop them, serving as a living laboratory for the Built Environment hub.

“With Cornell and Technion as partners, New York City is set to embark on a truly exciting new project that will forever alter New York City’s physical and economic landscape,” said Gary LaBarbera, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York.

“Not only will this campus create thousands of good construction and permanent jobs for New Yorkers all across the five boroughs, it will also strengthen the City’s economy for decades to come. We applaud Mayor Bloomberg, Cornell and Technion, and all those who will work collaboratively over the next several years to turn what was once a dream into a thriving economic engine for New York City.”

The project is now scheduled to move into the environmental and land use review process, including the City’s Uniform Land Use Review Process, with all review expected to be completed by the fall of 2013.

Groundbreaking on the first phase of the Roosevelt Island campus is expected by the beginning of 2015.

Source: Real Estate Weekly

NLRB Approves Changes to Union Election Rules, 2 to 1

2011-12-20T05:48:00.000-05:00

by Seth Borden

On Wednesday, the NLRB voted 2-to-1 to approve a resolution to amend the rules and regulations related to its election process. Chairman Mark Pearce and Member Craig Becker voted in favor of the changes and Member Brian Hayes voted against them. The amendments that passed were trimmed from a more comprehensive set of proposed changes published in the Federal Register on June 22, 2011. The approved changes are intended to reduce litigation in election cases and will also significantly shorten the time between any pre-election hearing and the election date.

The approved changes will include:

a) giving hearing officers greater discretion to limit the evidence presented at pre-election hearings to evidence that is “relevant to a genuine issue of fact material to whether a question of representation exists”
b) giving hearing officers the discretion to deny requests by parties to submit post-hearing briefs
c) denying the parties the right to file requests for review with the Board challenging the viability of a regional director’s decision and direction of election until after the election
d) eliminating the 25 day period between the issuance of a decision and direction of election by a regional director and the holding of an election
e) clarifying the rules regarding a party’s ability to seek special permission to appeal a hearing officer ruling to the Board
f) giving the Board the discretion to refuse to review a regional director’s resolution of post-election disputes

The Board did not release the final rules that will amend or replace the existing language in the regulations. It also did not indicate when the new rules would become effective. Unless the language is already written and the date is already set, it is reasonable to believe both will be impacted when Member Becker’s recess appointment expires at the end of this month, leaving just two members on the Board.

At roughly the same time as the Board action, Congress passed a bill designed to undo parts of the proposed rule changes. John Kline's (R-MN) "Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act" (H.R. 3094) passed by a vote of 235-188. The bill would guarantee that no representation election is held within 35 days after the filing of a petition, provide for a two-week waiting period before a hearing could be held, and ensure certain preliminary appeal rights.

Obama Names Two New NLRB Nominees

2011-12-20T05:45:00.000-05:00

by Ilyse Schuman

President Obama has announced that he intends to nominate Sharon Block (D) and Richard Griffin (D) to fill two vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board. When Member Craig Becker’s recess appointment expires at the end of this year, the Board will be left with only two members, Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce (D) and Member Brian Hayes (R). As the Supreme Court decided in last year’s New Process Steel decision, the Board must operate with at least three members to exercise its full authority. In January of 2011, Obama nominated Terence Flynn (R) to fill one of the vacant slots on the five-member Board, but the Senate has not yet acted on his nomination. It is expected that the Senate will similarly take no action on the latest nominees. The possibility of the President seating Block and Griffin by recess appointment is also low, as the House will likely take steps to block his ability to do so.

According to information published by the White House, Block has worked as an attorney in both the private and public sectors. She currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Congressional Affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor. Her other positions have included Senior Labor and Employment Counsel for the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), where she worked for the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and senior attorney to former NLRB Chairman Robert Battista.

Griffin is a long-term attorney for the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE). He is currently the union’s General Counsel, and has served on the board of directors for the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee for the past 17 years. Griffin also has worked as a counsel to NLRB Board Members.

Review Officer Opposes Amalgamated Union

2011-12-17T14:35:00.001-05:00

Click to enlarge.

On December 13, 2011 Review Officer Dennis Walsh wrote to Judge Berman requesting the Court hold a hearing and also direct Mr. Bisceglie (Counsel to Amalgamated Carpenters and Joiners Union) to appear, to address the question of "whether the purpose and methods employed by the Amalgamated Union and its intended business interferes with the implementation of the Consent Decree and the Stipulation and Order."

Judge Berman requested Bisceglie to respond to Walsh's letter and has put the matter on the agenda for the scheduled December 20th conference with the Court.

The Dockbuilders are seeking to break away from the UBC and form a new carpenter union affiliate with the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) and has filed the necessary petitions with the NLRB to conduct a representation election.

In his response, Bisceglie among other things wrote, "the Court should not interfere in any way with the proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board, which is the body with jurisdiction to resolve representation proceedings."
RO Judge Berman Memo Endorsed Order Re Amalgamated Carpenters Bisceglie Berman Ltr 12-16-11 w Attach

Bilello Wins

2011-12-17T08:18:00.002-05:00

The following are the 2011 District Council Officers Election Results.

19711 Ballots mailed-out; 5133 received; 119 "set-aside"; 5014 eligible.

Votes for EST: Mike Bilello 2932, Franco 1739
Votes for President: Bill Lebo 1939, Paul Tyzner 1829, Greg Kelty 1126
Votes for Vice President: Michael Cavanaugh 2678, Byron Schuler 2186.

Delegate Vote For Officers.

Contract Update: CBA's Posted For Review By Members

2011-12-13T17:02:00.000-05:00

Updated December 29th.

The New York City District Council of Carpenters has negotiated four collective bargaining agreements which are posted below. All members are encouraged to review these agreements and provide feedback to the District Council and your elected delegates from your local union. Additional agreements will be posted when agreed upon by both the union and the associations.

(John's Note: I posted the Floor Coverers agreement because it contains the "Full Mobility" and the 80% "Market Recovery" language, the other agreements are incomplete.)

Countdown To Close of Voting

2011-12-13T06:31:00.001-05:00

Countdown To

Union big: Not guilty, just stoned

2011-12-12T16:27:00.004-05:00

MICHAEL FORDE Blames cocaine.

By BRUCE GOLDING

Maybe this crooked carpenter should have been cutting up pieces of lumber instead of lines of cocaine.

Fallen labor leader Michael Forde wants his 11-year prison term tossed due to his illegal drug habit.

In Manhattan federal court papers, the former head of the carpenters union claims his guilty plea to labor racketeering was “not voluntary” because he “was in an anxious and depressed state . . . contributed to by his history of substance abuse.”

“He was not able to fully comprehend the ramifications of his decision,” lawyer Joseph DiBlasi wrote.

But Forde — who tested positive for cocaine and pot after his arrest for racketeering in 2009 — doesn’t blame only the drugs.

He says Judge Victor Marrero should have recused himself from the case because he earlier presided over civil suits involving Forde and the union.

A court spokeswoman said Marrero wouldn’t comment.

Law firm may have double-billed carpenters union

2011-12-06T16:16:00.001-05:00

By BRUCE GOLDING

A law firm hired by the crooked ex-chief of the carpenters’ union may have double-billed for its services, according to a preliminary probe by the court-appointed monitor of the long-corrupt labor organization.

A report filed yesterday by review officer Dennis Walsh says the union paid the firm of O’Dwyer & Bernstein a retainer of up to $20,000 a month from at least January 2008 through the fall of last year, when former leader Michael Forde was sentenced to 11 years in the slammer.

But Walsh said it’s “unclear whether the retainer was used to offset fees accumulated by the District Council” of Carpenters, which Forde ran before his downfall for taking bribes to let contractors hire illegal aliens off the books.

According to Walsh’s Manhattan federal court filing, senior partner Brian O’Dwyer sent Forde a “bare bones engagement letter” dated Jan. 19, 2000, that said his firm would provide legal services at the rate of $250 an hour for lawyers and $100 an hour for paralegals.

A second letter, dated July 24, 2008, raised the “composite” rate for the lawyers to $300 an hour, “in addition to the regular retainer,” court papers say.

“No further detail is provided about this retainer, not the frequency, not the amount and not how it will be utilized,” Walsh wrote.

But Walsh said his staff found bills for a $20,000-a-month retainer between January 2008 and March of 2009 listed on “a separate invoice from the invoice with specific time entries for the work performed and the monthly total legal fees.”

“From March 2009 on, (O’Dwyer & Bernstein) invoiced the District Council for a $10,000 monthly retainer, also on a separate invoice from the general invoice,” he wrote.

Walsh noted that “the District Council is exploring why this retainer was initially paid and why it was reduced and I will further address this in my next report.”

O’Dwyer didn’t return a phone message and email seeking comment last night.

New York City District Council of Carpenters Benefit Funds Newsletter

2011-12-06T16:00:00.000-05:00

Message from the Executive Director

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Benefit Funds News. It is a privilege to take this opportunity to introduce myself as the new Executive Director of the Benefit Funds. I came on board on July 1, 2011, and I have spent the last few months getting familiar with all of the Funds’ operations and working with the Boards of Trustees and the Fund Office staff to institute various changes. Our goal is to improve all facets of the Funds’ operations so that the Fund Office can best serve you and your families.
Fall 2011 Funds Newsletter_01

Updated: The Third Interim Report of the Review Officer

2011-12-05T16:38:00.001-05:00

Excerpt from the report, The Organized Crime Threat

Organized crime, predominantly through the Genovese family (though other families continue to have interests and "turf") remains active in its efforts to corruptly influence the District Council and particularly some of its local unions. My office spends considerable time addressing this threat and I employ a broad range of investigative techniques. My staff and I have gathered significant evidence of criminal conduct engaged in by persons affiliated with the Genovese family, some of whom are members of the Union. I and members of my staff meet and confer regularly with law enforcement authorities in this regard. As the investigation is ongoing, I am constrained to say nothing further on the subject.

Please click to read Third Interim Report Exhibits 1 thru 45 (pages 1 to 217) (pages 218 to 419).3rd Interim Report

Union Transparency

2011-12-04T14:48:00.001-05:00

In an effort to better educate our members on union finances and provide much needed transparency, Local157.blogspot.com is providing you with one click, free access to the latest LM-2 Reports filed by the New York District Council of Carpenters. Under the law you have a right to this information.

What is a Form LM-2?
Unions covered by the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act are required to submit annual financial statements to the US Department of Labor. The LM-2 Form will tell you among other things, how many members the union has, the salaries of officers and staff, and other useful information.

Form LM-2 Information
Look up LM-2

Below is all LM-2 Reports filed for the District Council, click to view each year.

Date Received	Filing Type	Fiscal Year	Total Assets	Total Liabilities	Total Receipts	Total Disbursements	Total Membership
Nov 22, 2011	LM-2	2011 Report	$68,269,387	$6,782	$31,244,836	$31,178,250	21,798
Sep 29, 2010	LM-2	2010 Report	$62,443,926	$1,432,096	$32,276,584	$59,300,211	23,501
Oct 06, 2009	LM-2	2009 Report	$58,193,112	$1,700,013	$53,049,510	$41,665,341	24,816
Sep 24, 2008	LM-2	2008 Report	$47,586,471	$2,178,591	$58,028,935	$39,049,178	25,515
Sep 27, 2007	LM-2	2007 Report	$32,679,947	$1,713,102	$45,518,392	$43,247,257	24,857
Oct 05, 2006	LM-2	2006 Report	$23,028,874	$1,664,918	$44,130,236	$44,094,876	24,015
Sep 30, 2005	LM-2	2005 Report	$23,138,518	$3,953,753	$39,691,330	$38,817,299	22,107
Oct 04, 2004	LM-2	2004 Report	$22,887,757	$1,435,067	$37,928,272	$38,408,615	22,855
Sep 29, 2003	LM-2	2003 Report	$22,122,672	$1,210,280	$32,328,877	$30,633,503	23,127
Oct 10, 2002	LM-2	2002 Report	$22,985,856	$1,070,616	$32,961,853	$32,991,436	24,058
Oct 09, 2001	LM-2	2001 Report	$20,877,299	$1,144,920	$34,880,406	$34,613,324	24,027
Oct 03, 2000	LM-2	2000 Report	$14,746,914	$810,534	$17,671,440	$17,739,233	23,992

UBC Reinstates Carpenter who was expelled and fined $25k

2011-12-04T07:28:00.001-05:00

Informed sources say that former UBC member Brian Brennan has settled his lawsuit (see below) with the New York City District Council of Carpenters and will be reinstated back into the UBC.

Brennan a 26-year veteran carpenter was ordered expelled and fined $25,000 by the trial committee on March 25, 2010 "for causing dissension among the members of the Brotherhood and violating the Obligation."

Brennan's trouble started back on May 14, 2009 when he participated in a small demonstration outside the District Council's Hudson Street offices against union leadership over a plan to withhold quarterly benefits checks from members who refuse to sign the "Blue Card" and grant the trustees of their welfare fund a new power to levy fines against them.

About 1,000 of the union’s 18,000 or so working members did not signed the "Blue Card."

Carpenters being a vocal lot staged the demonstration and Brennan, one of the few who sticks his neck out brought a sack of flour as a heavy-handed prop as a sign of Mike Fordes cocaine habit.

"We called it 'Mike's coke.' Everyone knew he had a big habit."

A fracas broke out when Brennan tried to go inside to confront benefit-fund officials. He was arrested, accused of hitting a security guard. "I didn't hit anybody," he said. "I'm the one got hit." The district attorney declined criminal charges, but Forde's lieutenants (Pete Thomassen, Lawrence D'Errico, Charles Harkin and Dennis Sheil) filed charges against him.

Disgraced former Carpenter head Michael Forde, pleaded guilty in 2010 to federal racketeering and bribery charges, and was sentenced to 11 years in a federal lockup.

Brennan's attorney, Robert Felix, filed a lawsuit on March 16, 2011 against the Council requesting a jury trial seeking reinstatement and recover back pay.

At a court conference last month, Review Officer Dennis Walsh stated, "I've always been very sympathetic to Mr. Brennan's plight, and I have told the UBC that I thought it was a situation that they should revisit.....[I] also let my opinion be known to the UBC that I think that is a lawsuit that should be settled rather than district council moneys being expended going forward."

The settlement has not been made public, "we don’t know exactly how much the settlement is, but they did settle and Brain Brennan will be reinstated," the source said.
Carpenters Brian Brennan Suit Usdc 03242011 - Copy
(John's note: This is a video I made back in 2008.)

Unions Display Strength and Unity along Broadway

2011-12-03T16:47:00.001-05:00

By Marc Bussanich

President Alvarez with UBC brother Bill Walsh

High unemployment, stagnant wages, bipartisan bickering blocking more stimulus dollars for job creation and the very wealthy earning more and paying less are just some of the issues that galvanized the City’s unions to march along Broadway from Herald Square to Union Square on December 1.

Members from multiple unions, such as SEIU 32BJ, DC 37, Teamster Locals 282 and 814, IBEW, Carpenters and UFT, as well as students and community- and faith-based organizations, made up the diverse assembly.

According to Vinny Alvarez, President of the New York Central Labor Council, the council called for the march not just for the labor movement, but for everybody frustrated by the staggering rise in income inequality.

“The economic policies of the past 30 years have caused the current situation where we have 20 percent of the population owning 85 percent of the country’s wealth,” said Alvarez.

While President Obama’s American Jobs Act by itself will probably not help to narrow the income inequality gap, Alvarez said that passing the act is one economic policy that “will go a long way in creating jobs in transportation, education and rebuilding new infrastructure.”

Alvarez also said the march and its message are directed to both the business community and the halls of Congress. “We need solutions to fix our economic problems.” He hopes that, if businesses invest and Congress can somehow agree on an economic agenda, that funding and investments will be “applied fairly and proportionately to ensure a broad-based economic expansion.”

UFT’s President, Michael Mulgrew, said the labor movement, however, can’t wait for Congress to act. “Labor has to roll up its sleeves to figure things out.” He’s spoken with Governor Andrew Cuomo on how the state’s different stakeholders can work together because help from Washington is not visible on the horizon.

“It’s tough stuff, trying to get unions, business leaders and elected officials to work together, but we can’t afford another year of cuts because we’re already cut to the bone.” As a result of the cuts, the average class size for first graders is 30, “the highest average since 1978,” noted Mulgrew.

Bob Masters, CWA District 1 Legislative and Political Director, said Cuomo is a brilliant leader of the popular move because, in response to Occupy Wall Street and city unions demanding the wealthy cough up, he recently announced a possible tax on the very wealthy.

For Masters, the march signifies a particular outcome. “We face a stark choice of tax cuts for the 1 percent or jobs for the 99 percent.”

John Samuelsen, TWU Local 100’s President, said the march’s broad union participation is the result of the mobilizations of the past few months. “We’re starting to see the birth pangs of a new movement to advocate and fight for working families. The powers that be are starting to understand the power of this movement.”

Marching for jobs.

Henry Garrido, DC 37’s Associate Director, said the march is a very important action to take for jobs and for the City’s unions to demonstrate a unified front. While organizing one of the biggest union marches in a long time, outside of Labor Day, is a challenge, the bigger challenge yet may be how the city’s diverse unions maintain their unified front.

“Different unions have different ideas on how to create jobs. Some want infrastructure spending, while others want spending elsewhere. But the City’s unions need to maintain a strong and unified message on one item: No more depleting our pensions and benefits,” said Garrido.

Mike Fishman, President of SEIU 32BJ, said the march is the type of action required to fix the economy, and also to mobilize his members as they face the possibility of entering the New Year without a new contract. With about 6,000 members participating, one of the biggest contingents in the march, Fishman said 5,000 members walked 20 blocks from the Sheraton Hotel after granting 32BJ’s bargaining committee the authorization to call for a strike as their employer, the Realty Advisory Board (RAB), submitted “aggressive proposals our members didn’t like.”

“Things are heating up,” said Kwame Patterson, 32BJ’s senior coordinator.

NY1 video click here.

Civil Service Carpenters loose NYCDC prescription plan unless they pay $1,500 a yr out of pocket

2011-11-27T14:26:00.001-05:00

By Donny Arana

I'm a NYC Civil Service Carpenter for 3 years now and last week I received this in the mail. This is from the same union (157) I pay my dues, do my picket duty and get assessed like everybody else. We just lost our prescription coverage, I'd like to personally thank the trustees that are on the top left hand corner of the letter below. And also, I'd like to thank the two Business Reps for the Civil Service Carpenters - Bill Lacey & Martin Lydon. This will also be happening to all NYCDCC Carpenters as well in the new year coming. They just wont announce it or deliver the bad news to the membership until after the District Council elections. If they did this will lessen the chances of the incumbents getting re-elected and loosing control of the District Council. Make sure you take a look at the names of the trustees at the top left hand corner of the page. THAT SAYS IT ALL!!
Prescription Drug

Denis Hamill tells why there is so much union pride in building Barclays Center in Brooklyn

2011-11-27T07:56:00.001-05:00

Construction boss Bob Sanna is behind the Nets new basketball arena

Bob Sanna, a Brooklyn native, is in charge of construction for the new Barclays Center for the Nets in Downtown Brooklyn. Also various photos of construction.

By Denis Hamill

The billion-dollar arena is 60% finished.

After all the political debates, protests, lawsuits and economic setbacks since 2003, Barclays Center is real now, rising from Brooklyn where Atlantic Ave. meets Flatbush Ave.

At long last a professional sports venue nears completion in my native Brooklyn, where there hasn’t been one — except for the minor-league Cyclones stadium in Coney Island — since the Dodgers cakewalked in 1957.

Expect the first Brooklyn Nets’ tip-off by fall, 2012.

As a sports-crazed kid who grew up 11/2 miles from here, I know this new arena will have a profound effect on Brooklyn kids, their parents and new immigrants who will unite behind a true home team, the way the Brooklyn Dodgers made my immigrant father more of a true American than his citizenship papers did.

My old man was a factory worker unionized by Local 3 of the IBEW, allowing me to work as a college helper on construction sites. Working two summers with Local 3, I formed a lasting respect for the skilled tradesmen who build this city.

Politics behind us, I want to meet the guy in charge of building Barclays Center.

I enter the loud, bustling construction site off Dean St., don a hard hat, and greet Bob Sanna, head of construction, a Park Slope native, also the son of a Local 3 worker. “I was always a tinkerer,” Sanna says, as cranes swing and power tools roar. “I liked building things. So I got a degree from CCNY in architecture.”

He signed with Forest City Ratner 22 years ago, building Metro Tech, Atlantic Terminal, 80 DeKalb Ave. and more.

“There’s a sense of pride in helping to transform Downtown Brooklyn where I’m from,” he says, leading me into the venue.

What was the first thing he had to do to erect this 18,000 seat arena?

“Demolish 52 buildings,” he says. “We did that in sections, starting at Atlantic Ave, as politics played out and tenants vacated. Then we start carving away at the land.”

Bruce Ratner, the builder, wanted Barclays Center different from Madison Square Garden where you have to scale endless escalators.

“He wants fans to enter at grade, or street level,” says Sanna. “Meaning the event level will be 25 feet below grade. This means a 25-foot-deep hole about 120-by-200 feet in dimension. But the trick is what to do with the dirt so the hole doesn’t collapse in on you.”

In March 2010, enter Dockbuilders Local 1456, drilling 25-foot deep holes every five feet, fitting in steel beams, shored by wooden planks.

“Then comes a parade of 40 trades,” Sanna says. “Local 20 guys pour concrete on the 250 steel footings, held together with metal straps, making foundation walls, forming a big fat concrete pontoon if you will, that keeps our main foundation from penetrating into the ground. The whole arena sits on this structure.”

Ironworkers of Local 580 came next.

“They started setting the structural steel columns on Atlantic and Sixth and built down the street, making a left, and circling the outside of a donut hole,” Sanna says, pointing up where crawler cranes set a steel massive roof frame. “The roof is following the same circular pattern. When the steel is finished, the ironworkers lay a corrugated metal deck.”

Then Local 46 lathers bind the iron mesh and rebar before Local 20 guys pour concrete. “There are four levels above ground, two below,” Sanna says. “With one clear span dome cap.”

Under which will perform an urban symphony of plumbers, steamfitters, painters, carpenters, electricians and all the rest of the 40 trades that Brooklyn-born Bob Sanna oversees in the construction of the first major professional sports venue in Brooklyn in 55 years.

“Office and residential buildings where people live and work are exciting,” says Sanna. “But there’s a special feeling in having a hand in building a sports and entertainment arena where memories are made and history happens in my native Brooklyn.”

Latest Poll Puts Franco in First-place

2011-11-26T07:59:00.001-05:00

Click to enlarge.

New York City— With less than nineteen days to fill out your mail in ballot and elect new leaders to the New York City District Council of Carpenters, Dan Franco has seized a slight lead in thelatest 157 blog poll.

Last week we conducted a poll and surveyed one hundred membersasking: "Who do you plan on voting for as the Executive SecretaryTreasurer (EST) of the New York City District Council of Carpenters?"

According to the results of the poll, Dan Franco is in a slight lead over Mike Bilello.

Twenty-seven percent (27) ofmembers polled said they are backing Franco, twenty-five percent (25) saidthey are backing Bilello, and forty-eight percent (48) said they were undecided.

Members have until December 15, 2011 toreturn the mail in ballot by mail to the American ArbitrationAssociation (AAA) in order for their vote to be counted.

Message From the Rank and File Team

2011-11-26T06:57:00.001-05:00

Brothers and sisters you have an opportunity with these elections to shape the future of your Union. Now is the time to send a clear message that you will no longer stand for being cheated out of your money, your jobs, your benefits, your democratic rights, and your dignity.
For 157 Blog Spot

A Message From Dan Franco & Greg Kelty

2011-11-25T08:37:00.001-05:00

Click to enlarge.

I sincerely hope that everyone reading this will exercise the right to vote. Some of us may have our minds made up, while others are still undecided. Some people may know exactly what issues matter to them, while others may still be unsure of where the candidates stand.

The important thing is to fill out your mail ballot and Vote!

This is a very important election, the issues andchallenges we face today are real and crucial toboth your future, your families future and the future of this union.

The officers you elect to the New York City District Council of Carpenters will have an enormous responsibility to address the issues and find solutions to theproblems of rising health care cost, underfunded pensions, overassessed membership, making sure our contracts are fair and being enforced,hold cheating contractors accountable, improve communications and transparency and findways to increase man-hours and better job opportunities for all our members.

We've got seriousproblems, and we need serious people to solve them. We are counting onmembers and friends like you to give us your all outsupport and Vote!

The mail in ballots from American Arbitration Association (AAA) will arrive this week, when you receive your ballot, immediately check off Daniel J. Franco for Executive Secretary Treasurer and Greg Kelty President and your choice for Vice President, put the ballot into the addressed envelope and send it back in the mail. All ballots must be returned by mail to the AAA by 5:00 p.m. on December 15, 2011.

God bless you and God blessour Union.

In solidarity,
Dan Franco
Greg Kelty

A Messsage From Dan Franco

2011-11-25T08:29:00.001-05:00

Dan Franco for EST.

Dear fellow union members:

My name is Dan Franco. I am running for Executive Secretary-Treasurer (EST) to the DistrictCouncil of NYC and Vicinity (NYCDCC), United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners ofAmerica (UBCJA).

I joined Local Union 257 in October of 1989 at the age of 19. I enrolled in the NYCDCC LaborTechnical College (LTC) as a first-year apprentice and subsequently completed my four-yearapprenticeship.

I would not be running for EST if I did not assuredly know that I could perform the duties of the position competently, honestly, openly, and fairly. Iam the EST candidate free of corrupt influence and willing to call-out anyone who I have witnessed or have evidence of subverting our union'slaws, rules and principles. My over-all goal is to inform, educate, and train all the membership so that we can all be empowered to work collectivelyand independently to achieve our organization's goals and to live by the principles of organized labor; to renew and reaffirm our solidarity and thatlabor conquers all.

Our union has many past and present issues that need to be addressed and addressed as soon as possible: corruption and the ignoring andcircumvention of democratic processes; not holding all contractors or union officials accountable for willful violations; resistance or refusal todisclose non-confidential/private information; irregular, incomplete, and or incorrect contract enforcement; refusal to accept and mishandling ofgrievances and arbitration's; the forecasted shortages of the NYCDCC benefit funds; not having a comprehensive organizing plan to organize allfacets of the carpentry trade and in all markets; the Out-of-Work-List system; the listing of skills on the OWL's; the dispatching of non-NYC localunion members before NYC local union members; the supposed number of incompetent members dispatched via the OWL; 'Full Mobility';stewards not being backed-up on legitimate issues; lackluster training standards; pre-apprenticeship/helper/ scrapper; skills assessment for newmembers; and much more.

My two principle issues are organizing and transparency. I view all of our other issues as interrelated and largely addressed by initially addressingthese two. We must continuously work at the retention of current and the seeking of new honest and competent signatories and carpenters and theeradication of unscrupulous, fly-by-night contractors and criminal members that undermine our labor principles, area standards, and union. Therelationship between our union and the contractors is that of a partnership. Both sides must be able to symbiotically and legitimately support oneanother. In order to sustain prosperity one or both sides cannot be parasitic. Moreover, in order to achieve any of our lasting prosperity we must firsthave transparency and disclosure of all our collective information, knowledge and actions to the entirety of the membership. (Of course, this doesnot include the release of private and/or confidential information.) Without transparency and disclosure we will never be informed, educated,trained or coordinated enough to achieve and sustain a productive and prosperous union.

I am the EST candidate that is willing and able to address all the aforementioned issues and all other legitimate concerns of the membership. I amthe candidate that can and will achieve a sustainable more prosperous future for us all. We have a great union now, but lets make it better!

For further information and additional issues which I seek to remedy, please visit http://franco4est.blogspot.com/. If you have any questions orcomments please feel free to contact me at any time. You can contact me via email at danieljfranco1@gmail.com and by mobile phone or text at(917) 226-3447.

In solidarity,
Daniel J. Franco

Happy Thanksgiving Brothers and Sisters

2011-11-24T05:40:00.001-05:00

The first Thanksgiving in the New World was celebrated in mid-October 1621, nearly a year after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Much later, George Washington was the first of many US presidents to formally proclaim a day of thanks. The following prayer was offered in 1789, in appreciation of the hard-earned independence of the United States of America:

Almighty God, we make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in thy holy protection; that Thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government, and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United States at large.

And, finally that Thou wilt graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation. Amen.

City Council Debates Revised 'Living Wage' Bill

2011-11-23T16:18:00.001-05:00

By Jill Colvin

CITY HALL — The City Council faced off on controversial legislation Tuesday that would force developers who receive big city grants to pay their workers a so-called "living wage.”

The proposed law, which has been significantly watered down in recent months, has deep support across the largely Democratic Council. But it has been slammed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who panned it as a job killer that would drive developers out of New York.

That debate has put all eyes on City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who has yet to take a public stand on the bill, which has deeply divided many of those she will have to court in her presumptive run for mayor.

Under the proposed legislation, developers who received more than $1 million in city subsidies would be forced to pay workers at least $10 an hour, plus benefits, or $11.50 without — significantly higher than current minimum wage.

The bill has less bite than an earlier version that set the cap at $100,000 in city funds. The proposed measure also excludes affordable housing projects, manufacturing businesses and small businesses making less than $5 million a year.

The chief sponsor of the legislation, Bronx Councilman Oliver Koppell, said every year the city spends millions of tax dollars subsidizing developers, while paying their workers “poverty-level” wages that make it nearly impossible to make ends meet.

“These jobs are not giving New Yorkers the adequate resources needed to provide for their families,” he said, arguing that the bill specifically targets “jobs that can be living-wage jobs without impairing economic development.”

Other supporters framed the push as a moral issue, citing the fact that the gap between the rich and the poor continues to grow.

“I don’t understand the opposition to this. I don’t understand why we are trying to scare people,” said Brooklyn Councilwoman Letitia James, who said that since the downturn, job growth has been limited to the lowest-wage jobs.

“We should be ashamed if anyone has any reservations concerning this bill,” she added.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. argued that despite the billions of dollars in economic investment that have flowed to areas like his borough, poverty has only grown worse.

“We cannot continue to be married to one economic model,” he said.

Supporters also pointed to other cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Portland, where living-wage legislation is already in place.

But opponents pointed a bleaker picture and blasted the plan as ill-conceived, warning that it will hit those trying to invest in the city while they’re already down.

“I think you’ve got a legal nightmare,” said Jack Kittle, political director of District Council 9 of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, who said the bill would become just another barrier to development in the city, and would hinder job creation.

Rob Bookman, the lawyer of the New York Nightlife Association, also warned the bill would create thousands of landlord-tenant disputes, as tenants — like stores and restaurants — are forced to pay their employees higher wages, even though it is developers who benefit from city subsidy perks.

He described the bill as “The Landlord-Tenant Lawyers Full Employment Act.”

Quinn, In a carefully worded statement read to open the hearing, revealed little about her stance.

On one side, she pointed to the growing gulf between the rich and poor, and stagnant wages for middle and lower-income earners. She argued that “too many fear that no amount of hard work can guarantee that you will be able to provide a better life for your children.”

Nonetheless, she acknowledged that raising some wages could come with a price.

“It is my hope that we can find a way to reach that goal without doing anything that would make New York City a less desirable place to start or relocate a business, or hurt our job creation efforts in any way,” she said.

“Whether such a balance is achievable is what we’re going to explore and try to answer in today’s hearing."

Among the measure's others supporters are Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.

Among those opposed are Steve McInnis, Political Director of the New York City District Council of Carpenters, and Pat Brodhagen, from the Food Industry Alliance, which represents grocery stores across New York.

The Independent Budget Office estimated Tuesday that, had the law been in place, approximately 42 projects built in the city from 2002 to 2008 would have been subject to the wage regulations, including those associated with names like the American Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, Ernst & Young, Bank of America, the New York Post, and buildings like 7 World Trade Center, Yankee Stadium and Metrotech in Brooklyn.

2011 District Council Election Costs

2011-11-22T18:32:00.001-05:00

The following is a breakdown of approximate costs for the Election Forum at the Jacob Javits Center on November 16, 2011 and the election mailings consisting of campaign literature for each candidate and the Special Edition of the Carpenter Magazine.

The Javits Center was prepared to seat 3,000 members. The contract required security which was provided by the District Council. The video of the Election Forum is available for viewing on the District Council website.

The Election Rules required the forum and mailings, the special edition of The Carpenter magazine and campaign literature mailing provided by each candidate. The specific costs are as follows:

Election Forum at Jacob Javits Center - $14,500
Election Forum required security as per Javits contract - $5,137.50
Video of Election Forum - $21,500.00 (posted on the DC website)
Special Election Edition of The Carpenter – printing - $9,850.00
Special Election Edition of The Carpenter - postage - $13,905.00
Campaign Literature Special Mailing - printing - $13,380.00
Campaign Literature Special Mailing - postage - $16,632.00

Total - $94,904.50

Source NYCDC

157 Blog Announces Endorsement of Daniel J. Franco for EST

2011-11-21T08:00:00.000-05:00

This week the rank and file will be receiving their mail in ballots from the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and will vote for new leaders of the New York City District Council of Carpenters and finally end the UBC's 833 day supervision.

In the race for Executive Secretary Treasurer, (the top spot that pays $220000 a year) we have the unprecedented choice between two inexperienced rank and filers, Daniel J. Franco and Michael Bilello (see video).

In evaluating both men, it all comes down to the issues of character, integrity and loyalty.

Remember back in March 2011, when newly nominated Local 157 President pro tem Bilello, refused to accept a motion for a copy of the meeting minutes saying, “I am done with this issue, it's been beaten to death.”

Because Bilello disagrees with a motion is not justification for blocking the members from voting on it. In the seconds it took him to make that statement, Bilello defined who he really is.

Then in April, Bilello again gave us a glimpse into his character by not supporting his appointment of Gerry Gausman as Vice President pro tem.

Under the UBC Constitution Gausman was obligated to "fill the office of President," after Review Office Dennis Walsh, vetoed President Lawrence D'Errico's, employment and his services as President on April 12.

But Gausman did not become president and Bilello did not support him. Instead Bilello conspired with Gausman and encouraged him not to preside and open the April meeting, in-order for him to be unconstitutionally nominated and elected President pro tem again.

Upon taking his position on the dais, Bilello departed from appointing a Vice President pro tem as he did in March, and conducted the most bizarre and unconstitutional meeting in the history of the UBC. He strangely called for nominations for both a Vice President pro tem and Recording Secretary pro tem for the "meeting only," thus violating the UBC Constitution.

Dan Franco for EST.

After the debacle, Bilello was questioned on the constitutionally of the April 2011 meeting. Bilello arrogantly and incorrectly stated there is "a lot of gray area in the UBC Constitution" (see McCarron letter for clarification of the constitution).

At the end of the day after all the nonsense, members walked away from this bizarre, painfully long, unproductive and unconstitutional meeting learning one thing from Bilello: NO ONE IS IN CHARGE OF THE LOCAL!

In June, Bilello shocked everyone by choosing to run against Gausman, the man he selected as the best qualified person to lead Local 157.

Bilello has repeatedly, falsely stated that he is solely "responsible for the District Council Elections" and ending the UBC supervision and he has secretly sought the involvement of fired and former Local 608 President Joe Firth, to discuss who should be on his slate to run for Local 157 and District Council Office (Walsh has disqualified several candidates due to involvement with Joe Firth and, it was Walsh who called for elections in his first report—prior to Bilello filing his motion).

Bilello has displayed signs of arrogance, dictatorship, disloyalty, untruthfulness, poor judgment and has conducted himself and has acted in ways that should inspire a significant no confidence vote against him in a time when there should be no question about the qualifications of our elected officials.

With that said, and on all the fundamental issues that affect the lives and well-being of our members, the choice in this election is clear, and today local157 blogspot endorses Daniel J. Franco for Executive Secretary Treasurer -- in the hope, if not necessarily the full expectation, that he will be the strong, reform-driven leader our union desperately needs.

Let's be clear: Franco understands the underlying issues as well as the immense challenges he'll be facing. He is the man we need to lead our union, he’s straightforward, likable, an independent comprehensive thinker, diligent, conscientious, decisive, trustworthy, persistent, tireless, incorruptible and clearly he’s a guy who thinks outside the box.

It is time that our union takes the necessary steps and change direction and address the serious problems that affect all working men and women and we believe that Franco is up to the challenge and recognizes the necessity for fundamental change in our union's policies.

This union needs sensible, compassionate, honest, and strong leadership. Dan Franco has all of those qualities and the determination, sound judgment and vision to blaze a path to reform.

Whether he has the staying power -- the sheer will -- necessary to achieve it remains very much to be seen.

And we intend fully to monitor his progress, and to offer advice when appropriate.

In the meanwhile, local 157 blogspot is calling all of my friends to support and vote for Daniel J. Franco for Executive Secretary Treasurer the New York City District Council of Carpenters.

The mail in ballots from AAA will arrive this week, when you receive your ballot, immediately check off Daniel J. Franco for Executive Secretary Treasurer and your choices for President and Vice President, put the ballot into the addressed envelope and send it back in the mail. All ballots must be returned by mail to the AAA by 5:00 p.m. on December 15, 2011.

John Musumeci is an elected delegate to the district council and creator/editor to local157.blogspot.com.

Trade unions say living wage bill will kill jobs

2011-11-21T07:30:00.000-05:00

City Council to review legislation on Tuesday

Mayor Bloomberg says a hike in minimum wage would cripple small businesses

BY Reuven Blau

Three city trade unions are bucking their labor colleagues and trying to crush a bill that would bump the minimum wage at some companies to $10 an hour.

The unions representing private-sector carpenters, painters and masons are urging lawmakers to reject the controversial measure that they say will kill jobs.

“This legislation is short-sighted and will make it more difficult for New York City to attract new businesses and jobs,” said Jack Kittle, political director of District Council No. 9 of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades.

The politically charged, so-called “living-wage” proposal would obligate companies that get city tax breaks to pay employees $10 an hour, plus benefits — up from the current $7.25 minimum hourly wage.

The city’s largest unions have strenuously backed the legislation.

The bill’s supporters include the powerful 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Worker union and the Working Families Party.

“The reality is that the vast majority of New Yorkers support the living wage bill and want the City Council to pass it,” said Dan Morris, a spokesman for the Living Wage NYC Coalition.

Mayor Bloomberg contends the boosted minimum wage would cripple small businesses.

“The last time people tried to set rates, basically, was in the Soviet Union. And that didn’t work out very well,” he said last month.

Still, the bill’s backers point to other big cities that have adopted similar measures, including Los Angeles, Philadelphia and San Jose. A rally in support of the higher wage is set for Monday night at Riverside Church.

Council Speaker Christine Quinn has ducked taking a position on the contentious issue for weeks.

A Council hearing set to review the bill is set for Tuesday.

That hearing may be as far the legislation goes: Quinn nixed a similarly controversial measure requiring paid sick leave after first allowing it to be debated at a hearing.

NYCDC Election Update: Franco vs Bilello

2011-11-19T16:36:00.001-05:00

Candidates speak to an empty room at Javits center.

On Wednesday November 16, the New York City District Council of Carpenters held an election forum at the Javits Center which was moderated by Review Officer Dennis Walsh.

Only about 100 members were in attendance, (most were paid staff) in a room that could accommodate 5000.

There is not a lot of excitement within the rank and file for the two candidates for EST, especially after Walsh disqualified 16 of the 34 candidates at the nomination meeting on Wednesday October 12.

I put together the opening and closing statements of Daniel J. Franco and Michael Bilello, candidates for Executive Secretary Treasurer.

The American Arbitration Association will mail ballots on November 21, 2011, to all eligible members to vote for District Council Executive Secretary-Treasurer, President and Vice President. All ballots must be returned by mail to the AAA by 5:00 p.m. on December 15, 2011.

To view more video of the forum including candidates for President, Vice President, Conductor, Warden and Trustee click here.

iPhone and iPad users click here to view video.

EST Debate from John Musumeci on Vimeo.

Important Contract Negotiations Update

2011-11-19T10:13:00.001-05:00

Below is the Association of Wall-Ceiling and Carpentry Industries response to the letter to Judge Berman dated November 10, regarding the collective bargaining agreements.
Rosen Letter 11.16.11

Low-cost construction set for 15 Atlantic Yards towers

2011-11-17T16:40:00.001-05:00

Developer Bruce Ratner will use prefabricated steel to build the residential properties, one of which will be 32-stories—the tallest structure ever using that method of construction.

Developer Bruce Ratner plans to use prefabricated steel to build the 15 residential buildings he plans to construct at Atlantic Yards, according to a report in The New York Times.

The first apartment house, a 32-story, 350-unit residential building at the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Dean Street will be the world's tallest prefabricated steel structure. Construction is slated to begin next year. Construction of the tower, however, has been delayed along with many other elements of the contested $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project. Meanwhile, construction work on the centerpiece of the project, the Barclays Center arena that will be home to the Nets basketball team, is well under way, with an opening set for next September.

Mr. Ratner told The Times that using prefabricated or modular construction can cut time and costs by as much as 25%.

More Like a Bank Than a Union

2011-11-17T16:36:00.001-05:00

Douglass McCarron: Union Boss or Ponzi Schemer?

by DAVID CORREIA

In the aftermath of the police blitzkrieg that returned Zucotti Park to the bankers and brokers it may be useful to consider the alliances forged and enemies revealed during the short occupation of Liberty Park. If Occupy Wall Street has done anything in its relentless critique of the human costs of the financialization of capital, it has been to force the mainstream left to declare which side it is on. In mid-October more than a dozen locals of various unions marched in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street protestors to condemn a financial system that has drained worker’s pensions while filling the pockets of Wall Street bankers. AFSCME, Communication Workers of American, SEIU, the United Auto Workers, United Federation of Teachers, National Nurses United, and the Professional Staff Congress of CUNY among other unions showed support and marched in solidarity with the protestors.

But one notable absence from the Occupy/organized labor alliance, the Carpenters Union, offers another reminder that some leaders in the labor movement are on the side of the bankers against working people. While many rank and file carpenters have shown support, the union, particularly Carpenter’s President Douglass McCarron has been silent.

There are a number of possible reasons for the silence. The Carpenters union under McCarron’s leadership is without question among the most conservative unions in today’s labor movement. Over the last decade McCarron has dragged the Carpenters union into an malevolent alliance with conservative Democrats and Republican politicians, demonstrated most clearly by McCarron’s sycophantic courtship of George W. Bush during both of Bush’s terms in office.

Even more, the anti-authoritarian, non-hierarchical structure of the Occupy movement contrasts starkly with the consolidated leadership structure of the Carpenters, a structure defined by McCarron’s dictatorship over every facet of union life and administration.

But perhaps more importantly, the Occupy movement’s laser-like focus on the social and economic costs of financialization on the lives of working people has revealed McCarron for what he is: a fugitive Wall Street ponzi schemer disguised as a labor leader. McCarron, it turns out, has more in common with Bernie Maddoff than he does with the rank and file members in his union.

The history is clear. For the past five years, members of New York Local 370 have sustained a relentless campaign to oust its corrupt regional union leadership. McCarron has long ignored their demands. It got worse in recent years when it was revealed in January of 2009, that three northern New York trade unions were among the legion of investors that lost money in Bernard Maddoff’s massive $50 billion fraud by Bernard Maddoff. McCarron, however, did nothing, despite the fact that locals of the United Union of Roofers Waterproofers & Allied Workers, Plumbers & Steamfitters, and the Empire State Carpenters Fringe Benefit Funds lost money in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

By March of 2010, however, McCarron could no longer ignore the fallout from the Maddoff scandal. He placed the District Council in trusteeship and acknowledged union leadership cost rank and file members an estimated $160,000,000, a blow that has meant diminished pension, annuity and health funds for unionized workers.

Far from resolving the leadership problems in New York, the consolidation merely robbed local unions of meager resources. One carpenter noted that McCarron’s restructuring “took $850,000 of our local’s assets, they returned $50,000 of it, but all we could use it for was a clambake,” he said. “In other words, they were going to control everything.”

While various media outlets have covered McCarron’s decision to declare trusteeship, none have asked why it took so long . An answer to this question may explain why McCarron has kept the union at arm’s length from the Occupy Movement.

Under McCarron, the carpenters have been transformed into an institution that operates more like a bank than a union. After his election as UBCJ President, Douglass McCarron became an influential member of the Union Labor Life Insurance Company (Ullico). Beginning in the late 90s, McCarron helped develop an investment strategy for Ullico designed to enrich board members and Wall Street insiders at the expense of its union subscribers.In one scheme, Ullico officers and directors purchased 33 million preferentially priced shares in Global Crossing, a telecommunications company. The purchase, based on insider information offered by Global Crossing’s CEO, turned the board members into millionaires (the 1%). When Global Crossing went public and the stock soared to more than $60 a share in 1999, board members enjoyed a $1 billion windfall.

The scheme was merely a means to drive up the value of Global Crossing. In an exit scheme of Ullico CEO Robert Georgine’s design, board members dumped Global Crossing before the price tanked and shifted money into Ullico in an even more ridiculously advantageous purchase plan. Less than a year later, Ullico’s board established a new price for Ullico stock nearly $100/share higher than the price they paid in the exclusive purchase plan, making the board members even more money, $13 million according to one report. When the board later dropped the price, the company started posting astounding losses: more than $20 million in 2001 and nearly $75 million in 2002. The unions and their members paid the price of the collapse in Ullico.

McCarron jumped ship in March of 2003 and avoided the backlash that hit many of Ullico’s board members. His presence on the board, however, proved to be pivotal. The corporate-connected and Republican-friendly McCarron had become an important political ally of the “bankocracy.” Despite pressure from rank and file union members to fully investigate Ullico and the scandal, The GOP-controlled Congress refused. As Roll Call reported “party leaders didn’t want to embarrass Bush or United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners President Douglas McCarron, one of Bush’s best friends in organized labor.”

And so as Occupy Wall Street marched with union allies through October condemning the disaster of finance capital, McCarron kept his mouth shut and his union out of the streets. His interests are with the bankers and he no doubt smiles at the thought of a possible end to Occupy Wall Street lest its focus turns to frauds like McCarron and other enemies of working people.

David Correia is an Assistant Professor of American Studies at the University of New Mexico. He can be reached at dcorreia(at)unm.edu

Local 157 Notice of Meeting

2011-11-17T04:41:00.001-05:00

The Carpenter- Special Election Edition

2011-11-16T06:28:00.001-05:00

Please click continue reading to view the Special Election Edition of the Carpenter, for 2011 District Council Election of Officers.
Election Newsletter Nov 15 Posted

Important Contract Negotiations Update

2011-11-14T05:00:00.000-05:00

Request to call special meeting before delegate vote.

Under Section 33(B) of the UBC Constitution, the Local President has the power to order the Recording Secretary to "call special meetingswhen requested in writing by five members in good standing."

After several contract extensions, the New York City District Council of Carpenters has reached collective bargaining agreements with all contractor associations.

It is expected that final changes to the agreements will be made by the close of business TODAY, and the agreements will be posted on the District Councils website for review by the membership by Friday, November 18, 2011.

UBC supervisor Frank Spencer, is expected to call for a vote on the agreements by the newly elected delegates to the District Council sometime during the week of December 5th.

Time is of the essence, if you care about your future, and want to have your voice heard, we urge ALL members to write, email and call their respective local union presidents TODAY and request a "special meeting" on or before December 2nd, in order for the membership to review, discuss and comment on these agreements before the delegates vote.

You can email Local 157 at localunion157@gmail.com , subject: "Special Meeting" and write, Dear President Pat Nee: I respectfully request you call a "special meeting" on or before December 2nd, for the purpose of discussing the collective bargaining agreements before a delegate vote is taken (include your name and UBC number). Do not wait, DO IT NOW!

Letter To Review Officer Dennis Walsh

2011-11-13T08:21:00.000-05:00

Click to enlarge.

Updated: Originally posted July 6, 2011.

Excerpt from the Court Transcript, dated November 7, 2011

THE COURT: Mr. Walsh, could you comment on that blue card? I'm not sure I understand that issue.

REVIEW OFFICER WALSH: It's been a long-running issue with many of the members. It was a program instituted by the Forde regime which at least in theory sought to compel one to do one's picket duty and that if you did your picket duty, some $500 that was withheld would then be paid to you. There was a demonstration a couple years ago, which was well-attended, which did get out of hand and led to the arrest of one of the members who did jump up on the security desk. He was brought up on charges and, in essence, turned into a poster boy for the authority of the Forde regime. He was convicted, he was heavily fined, and he was expelled from the union. I've always been very sympathetic to Mr. Brennan's plight, and I have told the UBC that I thought it was a situation that they should revisit, perhaps in the general president's office. Mr. Brennan has since filed a lawsuit, which I believe is active here in the Southern District under the LMRDA, and I also let my opinion be known to the UBC that I think that is a lawsuit that should be settled rather than district council moneys being expended going forward. But the program is very controversial. It is very unpopular amongst a significant percentage of the membership.

To learn more, see BLUE CARD BOY LIVES topic in the forum.

******************************************************************************

This letter is on behalf of the 23,000 NYCDCC rank & file Union Carpenters, who for the past 10-years, have been forced to pay a $250/$500 Fine to the District Council as an exaction/extortion upon their wages on a yearly basis, should they choose to refrain from the UBCJA International and/or the NYCDCC mandatory leaflet, banner or picket duty activities put forth by the Organizing Department. Exhibit 1.

07.06.11 Nycdcc $250-$500 Exaction for Picket Duty

Engineer in charge of condo construction slams contractors in fatal Brooklyn building collapse

2011-11-13T07:16:00.001-05:00

Cheap steel, nails and clamps caused collapse: engineer

Engineer Steve Schneider blames contractor’s actions for Brooklyn building collapse.

BY Brian Kates

The engineer overseeing construction of a Brooklyn condo that collapsed in a deadly heap last week says the contractor on the job was using procedures that “were not even vaguely correct.”

Engineer Steve Schneider, who was responsible for certifying the safety of concrete work at the doomed site, told the Daily News he was not on-site to inspect the setup when the concrete was poured.

City officials believe the contractor’s decision to pour concrete from the top floors down may have caused the half-built condo to collapse, killing one worker and injuring four others.

Schneider said the contractor, SP&K Construction, didn’t notify him that the concrete pour was about to begin.

“I didn’t have any idea what stage they were at,” Schneider said. “The last time I was there was when they poured the foundation about 3 ½ weeks before.

“I would not have approved it,” Schneider said of Tuesday’s job at Brighton Fifth St. in Brighton Beach.

Schneider said the contractors “used materials that did not conform to approved plans” and bumbled through procedures that “were not even vaguely correct.”

Floor decking was made of a lighter gauge steel than called for and may not have been strong enough to support the concrete, Schneider said.

Also, joists supporting the decking were loosely attached with nails and clamps instead of being welded or fastened with special screws, he said.

“The plans were approved by the Buildings Department,” Schneider said. “If they had followed the plans, followed the directions, there wouldn’t have been a problem.”

Several sources familiar with ongoing investigations into the cause of the collapse said another safety issue involved the pump used to pour the concrete.

Because it shakes violently during the pour, workers lashed the pump to the building to stabilize it. That caused disastrous vibrations that may have helped trigger the tragedy, they said.

The condo’s steel skeleton collapsed with a roar, sending firefighters racing to the scene. The Bravest freed the trapped hardhats using blowtorches and pry bars.

One worker, Ukrainian immigrant Ivan Lendel, 54, went into cardiac arrest and died later that day.

After the collapse, city Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri said investigators believed it happened because workers pouring fresh concrete “started from the top and worked their way down.”

Standard industry practice is to pour concrete on lower floors first and allow it to dry for at least four days to ensure stability before moving up to the next floor, experts said.

Construction experts said that the contractor may have been trying to save time and money by working from the top down because starting from the bottom requires more time for the concrete to set.

Contract Negotiations Update: Agreements Reached

2011-11-12T13:43:00.001-05:00

Letter to judge Berman, click to enlar

After several contract extensions, the New York City District Council of Carpenters has reached tentative collective bargaining agreements with all contractor associations.

In response to a question posed by federal judge Richard M. Berman at the status conference on November 7, (see transcript below) Review Officer, Dennis Walsh and counsel to the District Council, Brian Quinn submitted a letter on November 10 to judge Berman (see right) outlining the schedule for finalization of collective bargaining agreements, including publication of draft agreements to the membership.

The District Council circulated the agreements to relevant contractors associations last week and the Council has ask contractors' associations to respond in writing by the close of business Monday, November 14, regarding any changes to the agreements.

It is expected that final changes to the agreements will be made the week of November 14, allowing for the agreements to be posted on the District Councils website for review by the membership by Friday, November 18, 2011.

A vote by the newly elected delegates to the District Council is expected to be scheduled for no shorter than two weeks later, or not before December 2, to facilitate review of the agreements by the membership as well as any comments the membership wishes to make to the delegates.

Under this schedule, it is expected that the final vote on the agreements will take place the first full week of December.

The UBC has been unable to hammer out new deals with the contractor associations. The carpenters' contracts expired June 30th and deadlines have been extended several times.

On September 14, delegates to the council voted and approved a Cement League "Memorandum of Understanding" (MOU) by a vote of 45 to 18 and voted and approvea Wall-Ceiling MOU by a vote of 35-28.

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.

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

As usual the council has not updated their website with detailed information about the contract agreements. The last update was made on September 9th, and 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.
U.S. v. District Council 90 Civ. 5722 11.07.11 Conference

Carpenters Help Bring Vietnam Wall Replica to New York for Veterans Day

2011-11-12T13:00:00.000-05:00

Click to view more photos.

From NYCDC

In honor of Veterans Day, our members helped to build a memorial to the soldiers whose lives were lost during the Vietnam War. Leading this effort and donating their time and skills, the carpenter team played a key role in erecting the Vietnam Wall replica at the Intrepid Museum.

The travelling memorial, a replica of the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C., arrived at Manhattan’s Intrepid Museum on November 7th and is now open and free to the public. The three-quarter-scale replica stands 8-feet tall, 240-feet long and has the names of more than 58,000 Americans who died during the war or are listed as missing.

Members of the Carpenters Union, many of them Vietnam Veterans and apprentices who joined through the Helmets to Hardhats program, devoted two days to put together the wall, which will be on display at the Intrepid until November 20.

Thanks to all of our members who volunteered their time and skill in memory of those who served.

Court Conference Transcripts of November 7, 2011

2011-11-12T10:00:00.000-05:00

THE COURT: So this I think is the date we scheduled the last time for an update as to where things stand. The issues that are typically on the table are elections, delegate and district council, perhaps we can hear about that; bylaws, I don't know if there's much to say about that; the CBA negotiations, probably something to say about that; restructuring perhaps and funds perhaps. But I guess the elections probably we'd start with and see where things are standing with that.
U.S. v. District Council 90 Civ. 5722 11.07.11 Conference

Local 157 President Faces Possible Veto

2011-11-12T09:32:00.001-05:00

Nee faces possible veto.

On November 9, Review Office Dennis Walsh (RO) issued a "Notice of Possible Action" to Local 157 President Pat Nee and is considering vetoing his service as president of the local.

The facts and circumstances under review by the RO DOES NOT involve organized crime associations, violations of the District Council’s Job Referral Rules, giving false answer to questions posed by the RO or lavish and/or improper spending of union members money.

The suspected violation under review involves violations of procedure to Paragraph 5.b of the Stipulation and Order; to wit: President Nee "knowingly and willfully failed to provide notice" to the RO of routine "stipends paid to local union officers" (for executive board meetings) and stipends paid to "election committee members" (for committee duties) and failing to "seek required approval from the membership of Local 157, as well as expenditures for election notices mailed to the membership on September 9th and 14th."

Pursuant to procedures promulgated by the RO, Nee has until November 21, to respond to the notice and suspected violations. Nee was elected president of local 157 on June 22, 2011.

Engineers signal construction rise is coming

2011-11-12T09:24:00.001-05:00

More than 60% of the 93 engineering firms in New York that responded to The American Council of Engineering Cos. survey said are optimistic or somewhat optimistic about prospects for 2012.

Twenty out of the Top 25 New York area engineering firms say they've added staff in the last year, and 15 of them have picked up new contracts, in a harbinger of happier times for building industry.

By Rebecca Olles

Things may be looking up soon for the construction industry. Engineering firms, widely seen as the bellwethers of the building industry, are showing gains in employment and in the number of their projects. The numbers posted by these outfits, which land contracts on new projects and begin the design work long before the construction industry breaks ground, are surprisingly good.

Out of the Top 25 firms on Crain's list of the New York area's largest engineering firms, no less than 20 reported increases in employment here from 2010 to 2011, and 15 reported an increase in the number of their projects here.

“I think engineering will see some uptick next year and this will translate into more construction projects much later in the year,” said Cyrus Izzo, co-president of No. 23-ranked Syska Hennessy Group Inc.

AECOM tops the list in terms of headcount, with 387 licensed engineers in the New York area, 32 more than it had in 2010. The company added 240 projects this year, bringing its total to 1,240. Each of the Top 3 companies on Crain's list, including Parsons Brinckerhoff and Arup, saw increases in revenue, projects and employees.

Arup, No. 3 on the list, added 35 licensed engineers from 2010 to 2011. Many of them were hired to work on projects for private developers in the Middle East and Asia.

“The main reason we have an increase in workload is a combination of private- and public-agency work,” said Craig Covil, principal at the firm. “Some of the private work we're doing for overseas clients is done by New York-based architects and engineers.”

AECOM's largest New York project is the Second Avenue Subway. A number of the other firms who made the list are also working on designs for big tunnel and bridge projects. That includes Weidlinger Associates Inc., which is hard at work on the Tappan Zee Bridge project.

Such public-sector projects have dominated the workload of local engineering firms in recent years, but in another sign of an industry turnaround, the balance may be shifting a bit. In 2009, most private-sector projects came to a grinding halt and the public sector was able to pick up the slack. But in 2011, several firms reported a pickup in demand for private-sector projects. Syska Hennessy, for example, noted that 80% of its projects are now in the private sector.

Overall, engineering firms have a positive outlook for the coming year. More than 60% of the 93 firms in New York that responded to The American Council of Engineering Cos. survey said are optimistic or somewhat optimistic about prospects for 2012. Syska Hennessy recently completed its five-year strategic plan and expects to build on its New York market share in the commercial sector.

One area of concern, however, is the level of funding from the hard-pressed state of New York. The Council of Engineering Cos. survey found that 62% of New York firms had concerns about the level of state funding.

“All of the indicators have been that our infrastructure is in dire condition and more money needs to be invested,” said Hannah O'Grady, vice president of ACEC New York. “It will impact people's lives if they can't get to work on time because bridges and roads are no longer serviceable.”

Labor Technical College Employment Opportunities

2011-11-10T16:57:00.001-05:00

DIRECTOR OF THE LABOR TECHNICAL COLLEGE NEW YORK CITY DISTRICT COUNCIL OF CARPENTERS LABOR TECHNICAL COLLEGE

The Director of the Labor Technical College, reporting to the Executive Director of the New York District Council of Carpenters Benefits Funds is responsible for overseeing the operation of the Labor Technical College. He or she is responsible for ensuring that the school meets the requirements for training as established by the National Joint Carpenters Apprenticeship & Training Committee, the United States Department of Labor, the New York State Department of Labor Bureau of Apprenticeship, the New York City Department of Buildings, the New York State Department of Transportation and all other government agencies. The Director is also responsible for the oversight of the Grants Department to secure and administer funds received to be used to further the training of pre-apprentices, apprentices and journeymen.
Responsibilities:

Manage the College staff which includes instructors and support personnel.
Oversee the development of the school syllabus to ensure that a wide range of training and educational classes, such as Health and Safety is available to the apprentices and journeymen.
Oversee the implementation and continued certification of the College program.
Work with other Union apprenticeship programs to explore and develop opportunities to enhance the training curriculum.
Prepare and administer an annual budget for the Technical College.
Review and approve all expenses relating to the operation of the school and Grants Department..
Work with various community organizations to develop and enhance community relationships.
Solicit grant money from various Federal, State, Municipal agencies and private foundation resources that support the training programs.
Represent the Technical College at various conferences, events, boards, related industry associations and in the media.
Remain current on various Federal, State or Local laws that may impact workplace health, safety, training or educational issues that might impact the College.

Qualifications:

Have a general knowledge of the construction trade and a general understanding of the Union’s rules and operating procedures.
Must have a minimum of five (5) years of training experience in an educational or industrial environment. A Bachelor of Arts degree or higher is preferred.
Must be well organized, experienced in managing staff and be able to work independently.
Must have good communication skills both orally and written.
Must have the ability to work with the various departments of the District Council representing the interests of the apprentices and contractors.

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF TRAINING

The New York City District Council of Carpenters Labor Technical College is seeking a motivated craftsperson for the position of Assistant Director of Training. The Assistant Director, reporting to the Director of Training, is responsible for assisting and coordinating the day-to-day apprentice and journey level training operations of the Labor Technical College. The Assistant Director of Training must be able to behave in a professional manner with both apprentices and journey members, be able to communicate, write, reason, solve problems and make decisions with a high level of competency.
Responsibilities include:

Supervision of apprentice and journey level class scheduling and daily operations.
Coordination of apprentice curriculum scheduling.
Creating and coordinating apprentice and journey person skills refresher notification training mailings.
Developing lesson plans and outlines for new journey level and apprenticeship courses.
Overseeing equipment and materials ordering for skills courses.
Conducting interviews with applicants for apprenticeship and potential instructors.
Preparation of skills and certification written tests.
Transporting tools, equipment and students for off-site training and events as needed.
Scheduling Millwright apprentices for Steam/Gas Turbine training at the Carpenters International training Center in Las Vegas.
Ordering text books for apprentices and journey level classes.
Coordinating construction requests from the building and other offices as necessary.
Co-supervision of the Labor Technical College’s full-time and per-diem instructional staff.

Qualifications:

15+ years of documented trade experience.
Valid driver’s license
Member in good standing of a United Brotherhood of Carpenters Local Union.
Good interpersonal skills, especially patience, flexibility and the ability to listen.
Exceptional organizational and prioritization skills with the ability to multi-task.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office, especially Word and Excel.
- Ability to attend UBC instructor certification qualification training at the UBC International Training Center.
- Flexibility with work hours to train members in the evenings and on Saturdays as necessary.
- Ability to become skilled in TRAIN, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters training management software.

Candidates must be authorized to work in the U.S.A. and pass a criminal background check and substance abuse screening test.

The Funds are an affirmative action employer and encourage applications from all qualified candidates regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, or disability.

To apply, please e-mail your resume, references, salary requirements and a cover letter stating why you would be an ideal candidate for this position to resume(at)nyccarpenter.com.

Occupy Movement Inspires Unions to Embrace Bold Tactics

2011-11-09T01:15:00.003-05:00

A recent demonstration outside Sotheby's auction house in Manhattan.

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

Organized labor’s early flirtation with Occupy Wall Street is starting to get serious.

Union leaders, who were initially cautious in embracing the Occupy movement, have in recent weeks showered the protesters with help — tents, air mattresses, propane heaters and tons of food. The protesters, for their part, have joined in union marches and picket lines across the nation. About 100 protesters from Occupy Wall Street are expected to join a Teamsters picket line at the Sotheby’s auction house in Manhattan on Wednesday night to back the union in a bitter contract fight.

Labor unions, marveling at how the protesters have fired up the public on traditional labor issues like income inequality, are also starting to embrace some of the bold tactics and social media skills of the Occupy movement.

Last Wednesday, a union transit worker and a retired Teamster were arrested for civil disobedience inside Sotheby’s after sneaking through the entrance to harangue those attending an auction — echoing the lunchtime ruckus that Occupy Wall Street protesters caused weeks earlier at two well-known Manhattan restaurants owned by Danny Meyer, a Sotheby’s board member.

Organized labor’s public relations staff is also using Twitter, Tumblr and other social media much more aggressively after seeing how the Occupy protesters have used those services to mobilize support by immediately transmitting photos and videos of marches, tear-gassing and arrests. The Teamsters, for example, have beefed up their daily blog and posted many more photos of their battles with BMW, US Foods and Sotheby’s on Facebook and Twitter.

“The Occupy movement has changed unions,” said Stuart Appelbaum, the president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. “You’re seeing a lot more unions wanting to be aggressive in their messaging and their activity. You’ll see more unions on the street, wanting to tap into the energy of Occupy Wall Street.”

Unions have long stuck to traditional tactics like picketing. But inspired by the Occupy protests, labor leaders are talking increasingly of mobilizing the rank and file and trying to flex their muscles through large, boisterous marches, including nationwide marches planned for Nov. 17.

Organized labor is also seizing on the simplicity of the Occupy movement’s message, which criticizes the great wealth of the top 1 percent of Americans compared with the economic struggles of much of the bottom 99 percent.

A memo that the A.F.L.-C.I.O. sent out last week recommended that unions use the Occupy message about inequality and the 99 percent far more in their communications with members, employers and voters.

Indeed, as part of its contract battle with Verizon, the communications workers’ union has began asserting in its picket signs that Verizon and its highly paid chief executive are part of the 1 percent, while the Verizon workers who face demands for concessions are part of the 99 percent. A dozen Verizon workers plan to begin walking from Albany to Manhattan on Thursday in a “March for the 99 percent.”

“We think the Occupy movement has given voice to something very basic about what’s going on in our country right now,” said Damon Silvers, the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s policy director. “The fact that they’ve figured out certain concepts and language for doing that, we think is really important and positive.”

Over the last month, unions have provided extensive support to Occupy protesters around the country, from rain ponchos to cash donations. National Nurses United is providing staff members for first-aid tables at many encampments, while the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s headquarters two blocks from the White House is providing shower facilities for the protesters occupying McPherson Square, 300 yards to the east.

Unions have also intervened with politicians on behalf of the protesters. In Los Angeles, labor leaders have repeatedly lobbied Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa not to evict the protesters. When New York City officials were threatening to evict the Occupy Wall Street protesters from Zuccotti Park, hundreds of union members showed up before daybreak to discourage any eviction, and the city backed down.

Like any relationship, however, the one between the Occupy movement and labor is complicated.

Dozens of Occupy protesters have joined union members to picket the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles and Verizon offices in Washington, Buffalo and Boston. (A Verizon spokesman said the Occupy protesters “do not have the benefit of any information about the Verizon issues except what they’ve been told by the union, which is obviously one-sided and most likely inaccurate.”)

In New York, the Occupy protesters have joined the Teamsters in their attacks on Sotheby’s. The art auction house locked out 43 Teamster art handlers on July 29, after the union balked at its demands for sizable concessions.

In addition to the lunchtime protest at the Danny Meyer restaurants, Occupy protesters also joined recent picketing against Sotheby’s outside the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Diana Phillips, a Sotheby’s spokeswoman, said the company had offered a fair contract and “is unwilling to accept demands that virtually double the cost of their contract.”

Arthur Brown, a mental health worker who is one of the founders of Occupy Buffalo, where 50 people camp out each night, said the Occupy movement badly needed labor’s backing if it is to change the nation’s policies and politics.

“Young people started this movement, but they can’t finish it,” Mr. Brown said. “They don’t have the capacity or the experience to finish it. We really need the working class and union folks, the older folks, the activists from the ’60s. ’70s and ’80s, to help make this a full-fledged movement that will change the political landscape of America.”

But some Occupy protesters worry that organized labor might seek to co-opt them.

Jake Lowry, a 21-year-old college student and an Occupy participant, said: “We’re glad to have unions endorse us, but we can’t formally endorse them. We’re an autonomous group and it’s important to keep our autonomy.”

George Gresham, president of 1199 S.E.I.U., a union that represents more than 300,000 health care workers in the Northeast, said his union wanted to help the Occupy movement amplify its voice.

“This is a dream come true for us to have these young people speaking out about what’s been happening to working people,” Mr. Gresham said. His union has offered to provide 500 flu shots and a week’s worth of meals for the Occupy Wall Street protesters.

María Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, said it remained to be seen whether the unions and the protesters could, by working together, achieve concrete change.

“Workers are with the Occupy movement on the broader issues; they’re with them on the issue of inequality,” she said. “The question is, can the labor movement or the Occupy movement move that message down to the workplace, where workers confront low wages, low benefits and little power? Can we use it to organize workers where it really matters, in the workplace, to help their everyday life?”

Five Workers Injured in Brighton Beach Building Collapse

2011-11-08T16:56:00.001-05:00

By ANDY NEWMAN and TIM STELLOH

Five construction workers were rescued from a five-story apartment building under construction in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, that collapsed on Tuesday afternoon, trapping them beneath debris.

One worker was in critical condition and two were in serious condition, the Fire Department said.
There were no workers missing.

The building, at 2929 Brighton Fifth Street, near Neptune Avenue, fell just before 2:30 p.m.
A concrete worker on the site, Robert Approbato, 53, said the collapse happened immediately after concrete from his truck was pumped up onto the second and third floors of the building.

“Before you know it, it just collapsed,” said Mr. Approbato, whose truck read “Stillwell Ready Mix.” “It sounded like the second floor collapsed and the third floor followed.”

Dozens of firefighters swarmed the scene, digging frantically at the rubble. One man pulled from the debris on a stretcher around 3:10 p.m. was conscious and moving.

The critically injured man was taken to Lutheran Medical Center.

An employee of the Brooklyn-based architect of the building, Bricolage Designs, said the firm could not yet comment on the collapse, but that a structural engineer who designed the building was at the site with Department of Buildings representatives.

There are eight open building permits on the site. On Saturday, someone complained to the Buildings Department that work was being done illegally after-hours.

Firefighters said the framework of the building had been erected, but not much else. Removing the men from the rubble was a delicate and difficult process because of the risk of further collapse. Even after the men were removed, a large piece of corrugated metal hung in front of the building.

Dennis Lenbresitkiy, 18, who lives nearby, said he could hear pieces of the structure falling from several blocks away. “It was like two metal pieces breaking, then a crash,” he said. “It was like a car accident.”

Another neighbor, Candace Echeavarria, 27, watched firefighters carry out a stretcher with one of the workers on it.

“He wasn’t dead, thank God,” she said. “He lifted his head up.”

Winning West Side story

2011-11-08T16:53:00.000-05:00

Nearly a full square block on the far West Side of Manhattan is being transformed into 1,200 units of housing that will be the largest new construction project in the borough under the city’s affordable-housing program, Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday.

The $555 million project includes 682 apartments reserved for families earning between $32,720 and $134,970, as well as a new PS 51, replacing a smaller existing public school on the property.

Completion of the residential portion, including a 31-story tower, is scheduled for 2014. The project will create 2,900 desperately needed construction jobs.City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said the four-acre property at 45th Street between 10th and 11th avenues had been condemned in 1975 and, luckily, was rezoned for residential use in 2005 after plans for a sound stage and studio complex were scrapped.

The Gotham Organization, the developer, is bracing for 5,000 to 10,000 applications once they become available next year. (visit source article)

Subcontractor accused of underpaying union workers during job at Staten Island's New York Container Terminal

2011-11-07T17:42:00.002-05:00

By Eddie DAnna

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The subcontractor providing asbestos abatement services on a project to demolish buildings at New York Container Terminal in Mariners Harbor is accused of swindling union workers out of approximately $120,000 in benefits.

Richard Efferen, 53, a Bronx resident and the owner and operator of Atlas Engineering & Maintenance Co., was arrested this afternoon, after an investigation revealed he falsified payroll records and failed to pay the legally-required prevailing wages for 25 union workers, authorities say.

From January to July 2009, Efferen reported he was paying the wage to the workers.
While he did pay them their hourly rate, he pocketed approximately $120,000 that was supposed to be sent to the Mason Tenders District Council for benefits, authorities allege.

The prevalent wage consists of two components -- the hourly salary, which his paid directly to workers, and the component for fringe benefits to be remitted to the Mason Tenders.

The investigation was conducted by the Port Authority Inspector General, in conjunction with the office of District Attorney Daniel Donovan.

Efferen has been charged with second-degree grand larceny, and six counts of making a punishable false written statement.

He is expected to be arraigned in Stapleton Criminal Court this afternoon.

Infractions against Prevailing Wages Endure

2011-11-07T05:57:00.001-05:00

by Marc Bussanich

Assemblyman Keith Wright, who represents District 70 in Harlem, told the audience of building trade union leaders and employers gathered for a meeting of the Prevailing Wage Council that “we have to make sure that the building trades is truly reflective of New York’s diversity.” He noted that when he walks the streets of his district, “where the unemployment of black men in low-income areas can be as high as 50 percent,” people walk up to him and tell him they need work. But the majority of faces listening to him from their seats were white.

Wright said the Prevailing Wage Council is the only forum that exists in the state for pay equity. New York is one of 32 states, according to the Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc., which feature a prevailing wage law for publicly-financed projects. The law, according to the city’s Comptroller’s Office, “requires that any company or organization that has a contract with a New York City government agency cannot pay less than the rate of pay set by the New York City Comptroller’s Office.”

For construction workers, the state’s Building and Construction Trades Council notes that “prevailing wage laws help to ensure a decent standard of living for union and non-union workers alike.”

Despite the established wage law, which owes its genesis to the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931, there are detractors. Wright said that currently in Albany “people want to weaken the prevailing wage.” He noted that Industrial Development Authorities (IDA) throughout the state attempt to circumvent prevailing wage law. IDAs are public authorities that have to comply with the wage law when any construction work is done for the IDA itself. But, according to the state’s Department of Labor (DOL), the wage requirements do not apply to private construction projects which are financed by IDAs through the issuance of tax-exempt industrial revenue bonds.

During his tenure as Assemblyman, Wright has introduced a number of bills to strengthen prevailing wages. One bill enacted earlier this year compels utility companies or their contractors to pay workers prevailing wages when they are conducting roadway excavations.

But where there are laws, there are lawbreakers. John Liu, the city’s Comptroller, noted that so far this year $3.87 million in back pay have been paid by shifty contractors to workers, $224,000 worth of penalties have been assessed against contractors and six contractors have been debarred from doing business with the city again.

Jeffrey Elmer, Assistant Comptroller for the Bureau of Labor Law, cited the efforts of his office in exposing the shenanigans of employers who creatively try to avoid prevailing wage law. In one instance, a business agent from the Ironworkers Local 580 tipped off Elmer’s office that Spanish-speaking workers at a job site, after being interviewed, were being paid $500 per week, “far less than the prevailing wage,” noted Elmer.

The union presidents and business agents applauded the efforts of Liu and the Bureau of Labor Law for penalizing contractors. But they still voiced their concerns about ongoing infractions committed by contractors. Bill Nagle, Business Agent for the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Union, told Liu and the panel that hundreds of bricklayers are out of work while non-union workers are working on different Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) projects.

Nagle asked of Liu and the panel, “What’s in the works?” for making sure that contractors are pre-qualified to work on HPD projects. Liu responded that he and the law bureau are “watching the HPD investigation very closely” [HPD’s assistant commissioner was just indicted on racketeering and other crimes], but that his team can’t conduct audits while there is an ongoing investigation.

Elmer told the union heads that the best way to launch an investigation of violations against prevailing wages is for the workers at the job site to file a notarized complaint. “Some workers on the sites, after talking with union business agents, have come forward.” And the Comptroller’s General Counsel, Ricardo Morales, implored the unions that the best enforcement mechanism is “to reach out and educate the workforce.”

Liu and Wright both said they are committed to enforcing the wage law as the new legislative season begins because the law represents access to the American dream for hard-working union members and ensures that the city doesn’t lose significant payroll tax revenue.

The Office of Management and Budget is seeking cuts from each agency for next year and the year after, but Liu said he has no intention of relaxing prevailing wage enforcement mechanisms. “In a tough economy, we should be directing more resources towards enforcement."

NYC District Council Election Update

2011-11-06T07:56:00.000-05:00

Updated 11.07.11

Per the Election Rules, prepared and promulgated by Review Officer Dennis Walsh (RO), the New York City District Council of Carpenters will be holding an election forum at the Javits Center on Wednesday November 16, 2011 at 5:00 pm.

The Forum will start at 5 pm and is being professionally videotaped for viewing on the District Councils web site within 48 hours of the event. DVDs may also be made available.

The RO will be the moderator and will be posing questions. Candidates will be allowed opening and closing statements and also be able to pose questions to each other. The RO will likely take written questions from the audience.

On November 21, 2011, the American Arbitration Association will mail ballots to all eligible members of local unions affiliated with the District Council to vote for District Council Executive Secretary-Treasurer, President and Vice President. All ballots must be returned by mail to the AAA by 5:00 p.m. on December 15, 2011.

District Council delegates will vote for District Council Warden, Conductor and three Trustees by secret ballot at a meeting to be held at the District Council on December 15, 2011 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.

The AAA will tabulate the votes by December 17, 2011 and provide the results to the Review Officer for announcement and certification.

Candidates for Executive Secretary Treasurer are: Michael Bilello and Daniel J. Franco.

Candidates for President are: Greg Kelty, Paul Tyznar and Bill Lebo.

Candidates for Vice President are: Byron Schuler and Michael Cavanaugh.

A Message from Bill Lebo

2011-11-06T07:32:00.000-05:00

I am a 26 year rank and file member who has a long history of fighting for membership rights!Brothers and sisters now is the time for all members to decide on change!

You have a voice, this is your union, be sure to use that voice when you get your ballot in the mail. Your ballots will be sent to you by the American Arbitration Association on November 21st so you should be receiving them shortly thereafter. Please use you’re your voice, when you get your ballot, be sure to fill it out properly and send it in right away, the ballots must be received by the Council by 5pm December 15th,so don’t let them sit around the house or they will get lost or forgotten and your voice will fall silent.

There is a lot of work to be done in order to repair the damage that has been done to our Council and to our Union by decades of corrupt Union officials. Our organizing department has to be looked into and changes made. This must be done, we need to work harder to regain our market share in order to put our members to work so that they can properly support their families, and this will also increase the hours going into our ailing funds. Our health benefits are in trouble and need to be repaired without loss of benefits to our members, our pension plan, while not in as poor a condition as the welfare plan needs to be stabilized. The out of work list needs to be changed to a modified shape hall system that is fair to all members and to the contractors. Our apprentice school needs to be revamped and rules for on the job training for apprentices need to be set and enforced. Stewards, representatives, as well as apprentices must be trained in our trade jurisdictions, our contracts, and contract enforcement. Given the chance by you, I along with the rest of our team vow that we will work tirelessly to bring our Union back to a state that we can all be proud of; we need a Union that is fair to all members, not just the chosen few. I promise to listen to the will of the membership, and I promise to guide the delegate body to do the same. I promise to take the welfare of all Local Unions into consideration, no matter how large or how small. I vow to fight for our jurisdictions, unionized labor, and democracy. I believe the membership must have the right to vote on their contracts, dues and assessments by secret ballot. I promise to make sure there is transparency in all council dealings at all levels. As President I will make sure that the delegates come back to the members with matters of importance before they vote, so that the members can debate the issues, and direct their delegates. As President I will call for a roll call vote on those issues so that you will know how your delegates voted. I ask you for your vote not just for myself but for my whole team because I firmly believe we can and will get our Union back on track to being the best Labor Organization in the world and that’s what our members deserve. For years I along with other members of our union stood up and fought for the democratic rights of our membership against the tyrannical rule of our General President Douglas J. McCarron. I was the Vice President of the Carpenters for Democracy years ago, we endeavored to educate and inform the membership of their rights, and some of us took the battle to Federal Court. I myself went to Washington DC and testified before Congress on the Impediments to Union Democracy. My beliefs and determination have not changed since those days. Now is the time for you to make a difference, now is the time for you to take back your union and as a candidate of the RANK AND FILE TEAM I am asking foryour vote to help us, help you do just that, take back your Union.