July meeting report for Carpenters Local 247

Carpenters panel formed

The AFL-CIO Executive Council and its Building and Construction Trades Department formed a high-level task force to examine the Carpenters’ recent disaffiliation from the federation. UBC President Doug McCarron has agreed to participate. 

Joint statement by AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney and Building and Construction Trades Dept. President Edward Sullivan on Carpenters affiliation discussions, May 2, 2001:

A month ago, when the Carpenters Union executive board moved to disaffiliate from the AFL-CIO, we expressed our desire to have further discussions to explore the issues raised by the disaffiliation. 

The tremendous challenges facing union members and all of America’s working families call for a strong and united labor movement. That is our goal and our commitment. As a result of discussions between the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Dept. and the AFL-CIO, BCTD President Ed Sullivan will be convening a high-level task force to meet as necessary between now and the AFL-CIO convention in December. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney will be part of the task force, and Carpenters President Doug McCarron has agreed to participate. The ultimate purpose of this effort is to achieve the reaffiliation of the Carpenters. The disaffiliation remains in effect during this period, and under the constitution of the AFL-CIO, it applies at every level of the labor movement. Current working agreements, including PLAs, will, however, remain in place. Also during this period, the Carpenters may participate in Building Trades Councils as well as AFL-CIO state federations and central labor councils on an ex officio basis, and all bodies will be encouraged to work informally and cooperatively with Carpenters local unions. No per capita payments may be accepted by any bodies from Carpenters as long as the disaffiliation is effective. As we have stated throughout the past month, we would like nothing better than for the Carpenters to rejoin the Federation at every level. 

For information, call Deborah Dion, AFL-CIO 202-637-5036 Bob Ozinga, BCTD, 202-347-1461

Ryan Middleton receives his journeyman certificate from President Bruce Dennis. Ryan will get a 247 Carhartt jacket for attending the meeting to receive his certificate.

247 Picnic
August 19, 2001
10 a.m. — 4 p.m.
Blue Lake Park
Be sure and send us your RSVP for the picnic so we can make accurate estimates for food, kids’ prizes, pins, special needs and more. This year’s picnic looks to be our best ever. Your picnic committee and office staff have put more energy and planning into this year’s picnic than ever before.

BE THERE!!!

Scholarship essay

Emily Crum, daughter of Mick Crum was chosen as the winner of the Local 47 scholarship. She is entitled to a $750 annual award as she progresses through four years of college. Emily also won a Regional Council scholarship earlier this year. Congratulations, Emily! Her winning essay is included in this issue of the newsletter.

Carpenters cope with changing economic times

By Emily Crum

“American carpenters had always had organization of one kind or another — benevolent societies, protective associations, and so forth — that were weak or strong, depending on such things as locale, economic, and numbers of carpenters in the vicinity” (Wollner 6).

Installing the finish package on the job, the journeyman carpenter fits the inside molded corner by coping out one side of the joint and butting it against the other. This provides a good fit that does not open up when nailed into place (Wagner 380). The Carpenters Union has likewise needed to cope with times of success and of hardship. 

Portland carpenters were forced to deal with economic hard times in the 1880s, the Great Depression and the 1980s. The union men lost employment and benefits, but learning to cope with changing times as a resilient group, negotiating adjustments as needed remains a good fit for members. 

Portland Carpenters Local No. 50, chartered in 1883, faced in 1884 an attendance drop at union meetings with more than half of their membership out of work. They had to postpone their prior goals of wages set at $3.50 to $4 per day and the desired strike for a nine-hour day focusing on the bigger problem of unemployment. Some members even violated union principles, one caught stealing while another used a non-union contractor. They were expelled. “The secretary commented, ‘The Union is determined to make an example of such members preferring to have a few good men than a crowd that do not pay any attention to their obligations” (Wollner 10). These “few good men” are an example of a group who learned how to cope with hard times. In July 1884 wages began to fall. The economic struggles and the difficulties in delegating the “working card” method of union dues payments kept membership growth stagnant throughout the mid 1880s. But the Portland carpenters regrouped, and during 1890 they began to increase their fight for their share of the labor movement. Carpenters began to prosper, winning their fight for higher wages and the eight-hour day. The construction of the city provided work for many, and men joined the carpenters union at a fast pace.

The stock market crash in 1929 and the Depression in the 1930s hit the United States unexpectedly. Carpenters, who had come from all over the United States, struggled as the construction growth in Portland declined, leaving many out of work and reducing union enrollment. The economic struggle hit even before Black Tuesday with the decline in construction leading to lack of timber sales. There was no way to pay workers and many Americans lost hope. Again the Portland Carpenters Union coped, organizing activities to help those in need and working for recovery. “In December 1929, with their own resources restricted, the members of No. 226 [one of the locals to later merge with No. 247] donated $15 toward Christmas presents for needy children” (Wollner 79).

For the first time in the history of the United States the federal government took direct action to save the economy by finding ways to put men to work with the Works Project Administration (WPA). Public works projects, such as the restoration to the City Hall Building, construction of the Front Street Market, and Timberline Lodge initiated by Franklin Roosevelt put carpenters back to work. World War II opened up the possibility of new jobs making needed war material, the building Trades Council and the Labor Press protested against the WPA federally-funded construction of war materials. They claimed the WPA jobs were, “cheap, unorganized, and unfairly competitive with union craftsman” (Wollner 90). But the truth is they created jobs for many Americans pulling the United States out of economic trouble, providing new projects for union carpenters.

By the 1940s the United States economy continued to rebound. The Carpenters Union again prospered with membership growth along with a gradual rise in wages and newly created benefits. One of the most recent periods of hardship for the carpenters and labor union was during the early 1980s. “Organized labor lost more than 3 million members over the course of the decade. By 1990, unions represented but 16 percent of the nation’s 101 million workers, less then half the percentage in their heyday right after World War II” (Brier 650). Building the east side light-rail caused many unemployed union members to turn to Hatch and other non-union contractors for work. One good thing did happen in this bust time, I was born in 1982. Because of the lack of work for union carpenters my dad rocked me to sleep for most of my first six months. Just like the core group of the carpenters learned to cope with hard times, my family unit pulled together to deal with my dad’s unemployment.

In the early 1980s, modifying to fit new pressures in the overall labor movement some aspects of the union improved. Along with the struggle for employment women began to emerge into the construction “work force in greater numbers than ever before and to break down most of the stereotypes about their occupational capabilities” (Wollner 112). The local unions were not so accepting at first, but Kate Barrett became the first woman in Oregon to go through the apprenticeship program and turn out as a journeyman carpenter. By 1982 there were about 25 women in different locals in the city of Portland showing how the union coped to place women in the work force.

There have always been those who think the white-collar worker is more important than the blue-collar workers. When the unions were getting started there are stories of how the meetings were kept secretive (so they wouldn’t get into trouble): messages were written and hidden in the toilet paper dispensers in buildings. Carpenters have had to fight in the good times and the bad to have their voice heard. There will always be those economic highs with the work force booms, like a period our country has been savoring since the economic recovery began in 1983. But a bust will come again, some will continue as carpenters, coping as they always have and some will turn their back on the Carpenters Union moving on the something different. The questions everyone should ask himself or herself is how will they react. Cope with the union or cut out.

Works Cited:
Brier, Stephan, Editor. Vol. 2 American Social History Project: Who Built America? New York: Pantheon Books, 1992.
Wollner, Craig. The City Builders: One Hundred Years of Union Carpentry in Portland, Oregon 1883-1983. Oregon: The Oregon Historical Society P, 1990.
Wagner, Willis H. Modern Carpentry. South Holland, IL: The Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc., 1979.