Delegate Nomination Letter

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Dear Sir and Brother:

This will respond to your letter of September 22, 2011. In your letter, you requested dispensation from requirements of the Bylaws of the New York City District Council of Carpenters.

Specifically, you explained that, .. (t)be District Council Bylaws reqcire that each delegate from Local Unions to the District Council be elected for a three-year term. Elections for delegates will take place in October 2011. However, Section 31E of the UBC Constitution provides that, 'Nomination of officers and delegates of Local Unions shall take place in May and the election shall take place in June.' Thus, absent dispensation, in October, 2011 delegates will be elected for a three-year term and the next such election in three years will not be in accordance "With Section 31E of the UBC Constitution."

I have carefully reviewed and considered the request for dispensation. Pursuant to my authority under the UBC Constitution, dispensation is granted from the Bylaws of the District Council so that the term of delegates elected in October 2011 shall be for twenty months, and that the next nominations for Local Union delegates to the Council will be in May 2013 and elections in June 2013.

Fraternally yours,
Douglas J. McCarron
General President

How your Delegates Voted

By Marc Ballroom On September 14, Delegates to the District Council voted and approved a "Memorandum of Understanding" (MOU) with the Association of Wall-Ceiling and Carpentry Industries, by a vote of 35-28 and voted and approved a Cement League (MOU) by a vote of 45 to 18. This is my memory of the voting. Yes votes came from all the local 45 guys, local 20 led by Chris Wallace voted yes with the exception of one guy who abstained. Local 926 I am unsure of. I believe John Holt said no. I am not not sure about local 740. That new local all voted yes, Floor guys voted yes, Dockbuilders voted no. Joe Geiger said yes. Local 157 no votes came from Pat Nee, Kevin Corrigan, Steve Philbin,  John Gaffney, Tom Mcgonicle, Tom Weimer, John Carty, George La Montagne, I am unsure how Danny Demorta and Cory Kennedy voted. On the local 157 yes side were Paul Caperso, Tom Mckeon, Elli Spicer, Martin Lydon , Ibric Ramadan, Eddie Mc Williams voted yes to Cement League and no to Wall and Ceiling and finally Steve Mcginnis who could not attend but wrote a fine letter of support for our men from the international who work 24/7 on our behalf, at this point my eyes began to mist up, I am sure I was not the only one to experence this raw emotion. Well thats my recollection of the meeting, feel free to correct any mistakes in this post.

COURT HOUSE RALLY!!!

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Union Carpenters Stand Up For Your Rights!

Where: 500 PEARL STREET
When: 3pm Monday September 26, 2011
Why: Protest UBC Full Mobility

Sound permits are in place for a protest rally outside 500 Pearl Street (US Courthouse) to send a message to federal judge Richard Berman, that the rank and file are against full mobility.

Carpenters will be be gathering outside 500 Pearl Street starting at 7:30 am. There is a status conference scheduled at 9:00 am in courtroom 21B if you would like to attend and voice your concerns to judge Berman. The protest rally will begin at 3:00 pm.

For more information go to nyccrfo.blogspot.com

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Contractor, 2 developers accused of racketeering

In a highly unusual suit, New York unions accuse HRH Construction and two others of using dummy firms to cheat workers out of wages and benefits. Tip of the iceberg?
 

By Daniel Massey

New York City construction unions filed a racketeering suit Tuesday alleging that a trio of two developers and one contractor illegally conspired to cheat workers out of millions of dollars in wages and benefits on several projects in Manhattan and Brooklyn. 

In the suit, filed Tuesday morning in federal court in White Plains, N.Y., Metallic Lathers Union Local 46 and the Mason Tenders District Council contend that Long Island-based Lalezarian Developers and Manhattan-based JMH Development colluded with HRH Construction to bilk workers out of $7 million in wages and benefits from 2007 through 2011. HRH Construction, once one of the city's largest contractors, went bankrupt two years ago. The complaint seeks triple damages that would boost the total to $21 million.

The suit alleges that the developers diverted payments that should have been made to HRH Construction—a unionized general contractor—to a non-union dummy corporation created by the developers and HRH Construction to help skirt expensive union contracts. In the projects at the center of the legal action, workers were paid $12 an hour without benefits, instead of the going union rate of about $55 an hour with benefits.

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Independent Local #1 Speaks with IUPAT GP James Williams

Originally posted 9.16 video updated.

Contract Negotiations Update: Delegates Approve Tentative Agreement

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

No Wage Cuts: Carpenters pressured union leadership.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Michelle Obama whispers to Obama at 911 Event: All this just for the Flag and Shakes her head

This is must see video which has gone viral on the internet. First Lady Michelle Obama seems to be mouthing “all of this just for the flag” to her husband at the 9/11 memorial ceremony on Sunday.

President Obama and his wife are a national embarrassment! This couple has vacationed all over the world, shut down New York City so they can go on a date and she has the nerve to disrespect the loss of life on September 11th.

Please share this video with everyone.

Local 157 Meeting Notice Correction

Unemployment rises as city's recovery stalls

The city's jobless rate rose in August.

The jobless rate ticked up in August, according to data released Thursday by the state. The city's economy was recovering faster than the nation's, but now it's losing steam—and the nation's is catching up. 

By Daniel Massey

The city's unemployment rate in August ticked up to 8.7% from July's 8.6% as the local recovery continued to lose steam, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.

The one-month rise itself was not a significant increase, but after the city's jobless rate fell every month for nearly a year starting in spring 2010, there have now been six consecutive months without a noticeable decline. Most of the drop in the rate from its 10% peak has come not from job gains but from discouraged job seekers leaving the workforce.

“The month-to-month uptick isn't huge, but the unemployment rate has been treading water for six months now,” said James Brown, principal economist at the Department of Labor. “That's not what you want to see. In a recovery, you'd expect it to trend downward.”

New York state's unemployment rate remained unchanged in August, at 8%, while the nation's held steady at 9.1%.

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REVIEW OFFICER FORUM AUDIO FILE FROM WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

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Page Six

Labor Technical College Employment Opportunities

EDUCATIONAL COORDINATOR

The New York City District Council of Carpenters Labor Technical College is seeking a highly motivated individual to administer our existing college degree programs and develop training programs to benefit our membership.  The Educational Coordinator, reporting to the Director of Training, is responsible for identifying opportunities in higher education and technical education to expand employment opportunities and help members achieve their goals.

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Page Six

We hear...THAT District Council representative Thomas McKeon has formed a slate and will be running for Executive Secretary Treasurer in the upcoming council election. McKeon a former officer of dissolved local 608 will be running with local 45 Recording Secretary/Representative Paul Tyzner for President and local 740 Financial Secretary/Representative Mike Cavanough for Vice President.

102 MINUTES THAT CHANGED AMERICA

9/11, 10 years on: the day we can never forget

America on 9/11: firemen at the World Trade Center; the second tower under attack

On September 11, 2001,The New York City District Council of Carpenters lost eighteen of our union brothers who were working at the World Trade Center at the time of the terrorist attack. Local157.blogspot continues to remember and honor the memory of our fallen brothers.

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Downtown’s boom

Don’t let the critics kill growth

By Steve Cuozzo

As office towers like 1 WTC rise, they allow older buildings to be converted to apartments.

New Yorkers are justifiably celebrating the city’s recovery from 9/11, even as we mourn the loss of 2,752 lives. Downtown not only survived as the nation’s fourth-largest business district, but blossomed into the city’s fastest-growing residential neighborhood, full of new hotels, stores and parks.

But don’t expect the defeatists to give up. The years ahead will surely see renewed howling over a “glut” of office space Downtown and criticism of subsidies to promote reconstruction.

Make no mistake: The inventory is going to swell. A new report from real-estate brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle predicts that today’s 9.2 percent office-vacancy rate in Lower Manhattan will soon soar -- temporarily -- to more than 15 percent.

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Carpenters union nails down another deal

Deal reaches tentative agreement on contract with ceiling and carpentry contractors, which would boost wages by $10.65 an hour over five-year life of pact. One-year 5% wage cut dies. 

Carpenters reached a five-year deal.

By Daniel Massey

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

The contract includes a raise of $10.65 an hour over the life of the contract—about 12.5% to the base rate for an average carpenter, according to John DeLollis, executive director of the association. Workers will get no raise the first year, an increase of $2.60 in the second year, $2.65 in the third year and $2.70 in each of the fourth and fifth years.

The association thought it had a deal in place several weeks ago that would have actually cut wages by 5% in the first year, but it fell apart, Mr. DeLollis said, presumably after carpenters pressured union leadership to scuttle the agreement.

The contract also piggy backs on a provision in the deal reached last week between the carpenters and the Cement League that is intended to help union contractors regain market share lost to nonunion firms.

As part of the deal, contractors will get a 20% wage discount on residential and hotel projects of 20 stories or less in Manhattan and on all residential and hotel projects in the outer boroughs, regardless of size, Mr. DeLollis said.

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Announcement from Supervisor Frank Spencer

Josh Leicht appointed as Chief Compliance Officer

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Josh Leicht as Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) for the New York City District Council of Carpenters. Mr. Leicht brings a wealth of experience in pursuing anticorruption, both in the private and public sectors. His new role as CCO will be to assist our Council as we continue to work toward ending misconduct within our ranks and establish effective and comprehensive programs for monitoring our everyday operations.

Mr. Leicht is a licensed private investigator and a member of the New York State Bar, admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. Before joining the private sector he worked extensively as an investigator of corruption, including specific work relating to organized crime occurring in the New York construction industry. His experience includes eight years as a Task Force Attorney assigned to the New York State Organized Crime Task Force’s Construction Industry Strike Force.

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Contract Negotiations Update

From NYCDCC

We are happy to report that as of September 8, 2011 agreements in principle have been reached with the Wall & Ceiling and Floor Coverers Associations in addition to the previous agreement with the Cement League. The District Council continues to make positive movement to reach our overall goal of reaching agreements with all of our association partners. Progress this week also included meeting with The Building Contractors Association and the General Contractors Association. A fair offer has been made and is being considered by the associations and their members; we plan on returning to the bargaining table with the remaining associations beginning on Monday, September 12th.

Notice to Local 157 Members

Dear Member,

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There will be a Special Called Meeting to be held in conjunction with our regular meeting on Wednesday September 29, 2011 at 4:30p.m at Saint Cyrios 502 W 40th Street, New York, N.Y. 10018 (between 10th and 11th Avenues), for the purpose of nominating forty eight (48) Delegates and one (1) Executive Delegate to the NYC District Council of Carpenters.

Elections for these positions will be held at the New York City District Council of Carpenters Labor Technical College 395 Hudson Street New York, N.Y. 10014 (Clarkson Street Entrance) on Monday October 24, 2011 from 6:00a.m through 7:00p.m, regular scheduled meeting will follow.

Please note future meetings will be held at Saint Cyrios 502 West 40th Street New York, N.Y. 10018 (between 10th and 11th Avenues) on November 21, 2011 and December 19, 2011 at 4:30p.m.

Fraternally yours,
Patrick Nee
President

Levi Messinetti
Recording Secretary


(John's note: 100 Delegates to the District Council)

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