Cleveland has an interesting union history. Long before Bill Presser helped wrest control of the Teamsters Union from the Irish, he was involved with the glass workers union, helping maintain the members’ employment by heaving bricks through the windows of area retailers.
Labor issues can be almost as wacky today. One of the more unusual
twists on union demonstrations has been taking place in downtown
Cleveland and on West 25th and Lorain. The carpenters union (United
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, Local 212) claims to be involved
in a labor dispute, though no one has been able to explain why, other
than vague tales of bad workmanship, non-union workers, illegal aliens
and/or Amish working secretly in the middle of the night and the like.
But neither the men on the line nor those answering the phones at union
headquarters can provide any specifics.
Even more interesting is who the demonstrators are. I had assumed
that the men and occasional women who hold the banner are carpenters
out of work at the height of the construction season. My heart went out
to them, knowing they are being paid minimum wage as demonstrators,
approximately a third of what they would get on a job site. (I have
always been a union member whenever possible. In the past, I have
belonged to the Newspaper Guild and the Retail Clerks Union. Currently,
I am in the Authors Guild and Writers Guild of America.)
Then I noticed something unusual about the lines: Almost everyone
was black. “Where are the white guys?” I asked, concerned that I was
seeing a return of the union racism that was part of Cleveland’s
post-World War II history. In the 1950s, white carpenters were
dispatched to job sites first. Only after every available white man was
employed would black carpenters get work.
So I wondered if white carpenters had been sent to higher-paying job
sites. “Where are the white guys? Are they on the job sites making real
money?” I asked.
The demonstrators seemed bemused by my righteous outrage. Finally
one admitted, “We’re not carpenters.”
This made no sense. Unions do two types of picketing. The first is
the strike line. The second is informational. The latter takes place
when an effort is being made to unionize the employees of a business.
The demonstrators walk as close to the business as allowed by law,
usually on the sidewalk near but not blocking the entrance. Their signs
and their flyers explain in detail why they are seeking to unionize the
employees. The pickets are trained to explain the problem, hoping the
public will put pressure on management to allow the workers to
organize.
The carpenters union claims it is not picketing, but rather
“bannering.” This is semantics: Bannering is essentially informational
picketing. But in this case, no one demonstrating is able to explain
why they are there. And the reason? The men and women with the banners
are not union!
This is where the madness of what is taking place becomes evident.
The carpenters union apparently has all its members happily employed at
good union wages, with good union benefits. But it seems as if
leadership has decided to create a non-issue to demonstrate over and
used members’ dues to hire scabs. The people holding the banners and
passing out flyers were hired off the streets. Many live or have lived
in homeless shelters. One man commented that if he wasn’t passing out
the flyers, he’d have to turn to crime and couldn’t feed his family
from jail.
They’re being paid, but they are not receiving benefits —
which is ironic, considering that the flyers they’re handing out
criticize contractors for not providing benefits to contractors.
And so, in this latest chapter of Cleveland labor history, we have
carpenters union leadership paying for a long-term demonstration by
people who are not members of the union and not even in the building
trades. The union is using member dues — if there is another
source of money paying for this, no one has revealed it — to hire
people off the street at minimum wage with no benefits. If true, this
means that a union has hired scabs — a first in Cleveland
labor-union history.
This article appears in Aug 19-25, 2009.
You are to dumb to be in a union if you don’t understand that local area wage standards and working conditions are being under cut by illegal 1099 workers being exploited by scab construction companies. The members dues are well spent on these protests as the Carpenters union is an advocate for living wages and healthy working conditions for all carpenters, not just dues paying members. The honorable thing for you to do now is tear up your union cards because you are probably a true scab a heart anyway, and are such an intelligent and articulate writer that you can make it on your own, right scab?
Bannering is not picketing. The rules and regulations of Picketing are addressed in the National Labor Relations Act. Bannering comes under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
It is illegal for a Union to picket an employer to force them to sign a labor agreement
It is illegal for a Union to coerce non members to join a Union.
Because of this the Carpenters Union follows federal guidelines that allow for bannering. These regulations prohibit those engaged in the action from talking to the public. It only allows for the display of the banner and the distribution of handbills.
The real scoop here is the fact that the Carpenters Union is not part of the Building Trades. They are an autonomous organization that is viewed as predatory by other Union. The membership of the Carpenters does not elect their Business Representatives, vote on contracts, or elect their top leadership.
Because many of their members do not support their organization the Carpenters Union has decided to hire people for approximately 25% to 40% of what a Union worker receives. There is usually a Union staff member at any job action and that is who questions should be directed to.
The “professional demonstrators” have tried to organize in the past for healthcare and better wages and in every instance the Carpenters Union has terminated these individuals. The Carpenters Union does not pay employer taxes, social security, or workmen’s compensation nor do they comply with the LMRA or I-9 procedures required by other employers on these employees. The Carpenters Union does not report these workers on the federally mandated report forms, (LM2), either.
The General President of the Carpenters Union withdrew the Carpenters Union from the AFL-CIO and the National Building Trades without the approval or with consulting of their own membership. The Carpenters General President was a well known supporter of George W. Bush and engaged in private meetings with the former President of the United States on several occasions. Most recently the Carpenters endorsed and financed former Minnesota Senator Coleman’s race against Al Franken.
It was recently reported in the news that Union officials in New York have been indicted for assisting in the exploitation of minority workers for monetary gain. When the National Carpenters Union intervened they removed the former Business Manager and replaced him with another Union official that had been found guilty of racketeering less than ten years ago.
The Point here is the current leadership of the Carpenters Union has destroyed the UBC and created a situation where the Carpenters Union is no longer a real Union and should not be viewed as such. The Carpenters Union is nothing more than a bunch of labor pimps demanding that employers pay them 4.7% of the workers’ wages.