After two years absorbing shots from other labor organizations over its organization of an alternative unit representing electrical workers, the Carpenters District Council of Greater St. Louis has now been dealt a blow from within the ranks of its own membership.
The details of the internal dispute emerged in a legal tussle that last week prompted a U.S. district judge in Southern Illinois to issue a preliminary injunction blocking the council's bid to sanction a union carpenter who expressed his dissent by placing a sticker opposing Local 57 on his personal vehicle.
The 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.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Carpenter tops his own union in free speech case
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
KC worries about St. Louis union dispute
By RANDOLPH HEASTER
The Kansas City Star
With the St. Louis carpenters union’s expansion into Kansas City, local labor leaders will be sure to monitor the effect on the area’s union electrical work.
That’s because a battle over jurisdiction and work issues has erupted between the Carpenters’ District Council of St. Louis and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1 in St. Louis, the AFL-CIO’s longtime electricians union.
Earlier this year, electricians union officials in Kansas City voiced concerns over the St. Louis carpenters union forming its own electricians union in direct competition with IBEW Local 1. Those worries probably heightened when the Carpenters’ District Council of Kansas City was dissolved last week.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Carpenters District Council of KC dissolves
By RANDOLPH HEASTER The Kansas City Star
The Carpenters District Council of Kansas City, a longtime fixture in local political matters and union issues, has dissolved, leaving most of its 14,000 members under the jurisdiction of the St. Louis Carpenters union.
The action occurred suddenly Tuesday under orders of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters in Washington, D.C., which oversees the carpenter district councils around the country.
The only reasons provided for dissolving the Kansas City district were to consolidate resources and provide more mobility for members and contractors to work in other parts of Missouri and Illinois.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Labor Pains: Terry Nelson vs. Everybody Else
St. Louis Business Journal - by Evan Binns
Nelson, executive secretary of Carpenters’ District Council (CDC) of Greater St. Louis, began organizing Associated Electrical Contractors Local 57 about a year ago, recruiting independent electricians to his union’s ranks by offering lower rates to garner more business, according to International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1, the nation’s oldest chartered local union.
Nelson alleged in a radio interview May 21 that the cost of construction in St. Louis was 28 percent higher than larger markets, such as Chicago, due to unproductive practices on the part of local unions. That charge, he said, was the impetus to form Local 57.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
A Message To All Building Trades
These flier's are being handed out on NYC job-sites by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 3.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is launching a sweeping campaign to convince St. Louis Carpenters Local 57 to stop performing electrical work that undercuts union standards of quality, safety and wages. Billboards have been mounted in several locations, and the message can be seen and heard in radio and print ads this week.
A unity rally June 15 drew more than 1,000 members from several craft unions to hear national leaders of the IBEW and other trades.
One Union Pickets Another
"It's union-busting," said Jack Tueth, business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 649. "They're wrapping a union flag around it."
He said the Carpenters' District Council based in St. Louis has formed a competing electrical workers' union, Local 57, which threatens to take work away from his members.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Massive Rally Pits Two Local Unions On Opposite Sides
ST. LOUIS, MO A huge union rally Tuesday in Forest Park is the latest salvo in what's shaping up as a nasty civil war between rival labor unions in St. Louis and it could mean trouble for organized labor. Several thousand workers from various St. Louis unions were joined by union workers from throughout the Midwest and by union leaders from Washington D.C. They're angry because the St. Louis carpenters union has formed a brand-new local, specifically for electrical workers.
Friday, May 21, 2010
St. Louis Union Construction Workers Too Lazy and Costly, Says Head of Union
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| Terry Nelso |
The head of the St. Louis Carpenters' District Council of Greater St. Louis is making waves for comments he recently made in the press, blaming his members for being unproductive and contributing to ever-growing construction costs in the region.
Speaking to the Illinois Business Journal this month, Terry Nelson, executive secretary-treasurer of the union, said that it costs 28 percent more to build in St. Louis compared to Chicago.
"The guy in Chicago, believe it or not, he worked 7 ½ hours today while the guy in St. Louis only worked 4 ½," Nelson tells IBJ.
"Where did that other 3 ½ hours go?" adds Nelson. "When my carpenters walk on the job, their cost to the contractor is $1.03 a minute. That's their wages, their benefits, the workmen's compensation and yada, yada, yada and all the stuff that goes with that. You just think for a minute, if you've got 10 guys on the job, that's $10 a minute. They all leave 10 minutes early, there went $100 out the door."
Nelson told the paper that the "arrogance and attitude" of union members has led more and more contractors away from hiring organized labor. Today only 11 percent of all construction being performed in the nation is done by the hands of union members, says Nelson.
"The thing that kills unions is our arrogance and our attitude," continues Nelson. "Like we are God's gift to everybody. Like without us the world comes to and end. Whoever believes that BS is nuts. But we buy into that stuff. I haven't bought into it. I'm on the other side of the street. But again, I'm not the most loved guy in a labor meeting; that's just the way it is."
Gee, ya think?
