The history of the Carpenters Union is a story of a group of workers coming together against tremendous odds to create one of the most powerful trade unions America has seen. This story is about resilience, resistance, action, and struggle. Ultimately it is about demanding a better future and fighting for it against all odds.

The history of the Carpenters Union does not exist in a vacuum, but is part of a general history of working class struggle. Carpenters have been one of the most skillful and critical components of every society. More importantly, however, the carpenter has led the fight for fairness, equality and justice for all workers. It is up to each and every one of us to discover our shared past and spread it in our workplaces and dinner tables. For all that divides us as individuals, this history unites us as brothers and sisters.

1. Carpenters of the Ancient World

   It is impossible to separate the history of the Carpenters union and the skill its members have mastered. Carpentry was born together with ingenuity and the workers of the trade have contributed to every society.
   
   Much like the farmer used the earth to feed the world, the carpenter used it to advance society. Early woodworkers used natural resources to build homes, ships, furniture, and monuments for worship. The Pharaohs of ancient Egypt ordered skilled carpenters to build shelter and furniture fit for Gods. Carpenters were a vital part of early Greece as well as the early conquests of the Roman Empire. Skilled woodwork was prevalent in other civilizations such as the Incas, Aztecs and many African societies. Reaching new lands, expanding culture and stimulating fair trade was impossible without the ship carpenter and this contribution alone helped write world history.
   
   Early carpenters were certainly regarded as skilled labor and were in high demand, but that did not guarantee them a life of dignity. Although some Roman carpenters were craftsmen and were able to sell their labor, many more were part of the slave class and owned by wealthier Romans. The same is true in many of the early civilizations that we read about in our history texts. Therefore, although some skilled carpenters were able to live with some dignity in the ancient world, many more were bound to slavery and forced to work.

2. Carpenters in North America

   Naturally carpenters existed in North America far before Columbus sailed west in 1492. Native American tribes had master carpenters who created tools, homes, canoes, monuments, and many other necessities out of wood, hide, and bone. Many of their contributions in our trade can be seen today in museums and art exhibits.
   
   The Haida, a North American tribe, even speak of the myth of Master-Carpenter. Master-Carpenter was a supernatural being who grew tired of the brutal South East wind that howled and often created havoc for its tribe. He decided to challenge South East but first had to build a wooden canoe that would survive the journey. After many attempts and failures, Master-Carpenter built his canoe and sailed off to war. According to legend, Master-Carpenter put up a good fight but was overcome by different enemies that protected South East. This, the Haida say, is why the wind coming from the South East in the Northwestern territories of North America is especially fierce today.
   
   The British Empire established its first colony in America in 1607 with the settlement of Jamestown in Virginia. With this settlement came a different economic and social system that would change the trade of carpentry, and its workers, in North America.

3. The Emergence of Guild Systems in Europe

   Guild systems started to take form in Europe around the 12th century as a response to a new money economy and urbanization. Craft workers came together to protect each other from the pitfalls of the economy and enhance their trade. Ultimately the principle purpose of a guild was to control the market and curb competition between workers. Although we can see that the guild system began to take shape in the 12th century, they only started to gain prominence in Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries.
   
   In 1333 in London, England carpenters came together to form such a guild. They named it the Carpenters Guild of London. Over 100 years later it received a charter from the King and it was officially renamed “The Master Wardens and Commonality of the Mystery of Freemen of the Carpentry of the City of London.” It was one of the earliest skilled craft guilds in England.

4. Carpenters in Early Colonial America

   Labor was in great need as colonists started to manifest throughout North America, especially skilled carpenters. Wood was the cornerstone of colonial American structures. The mansion on a southern plantation, the schoolhouse in rural New England and the White House on the outskirts of Virginia were all built by skilled carpenters. It is fair to say that carpenters were a critical part of early American culture and society.
   
   

   The Slave Carpenter

   - The first slave ship sailed off the Western African coast in 1505 and started an atrocious legacy of owned labor in the new world. It is estimated that from 1505 to 1870 over 20 million slaves were forcibly brought to the Western Hemisphere, over 1 million of them to North America. Among this tremendous number of workers were many skilled and trained carpenters who built homes, roads and schoolhouses in colonial America. Some of the earliest capital projects were almost entirely built by slaves who were masters in one craft or another. Thomas Jefferson used over 100 slaves a year on the first two major construction projects in the Capitol.
   
   These carpenters never entered into any labor agreement, but rather were imprisoned in one. Slavery was a highly profitable business enterprise that treated labor as an owned commodity, much like the material used in construction. The slave carpenter, although highly skilled and valuable to his master, could not count on his mastery of the craft to escape daily beatings and inhumane living conditions.
   
   Colonial governments were instrumental in enslaving labor and colonial courts were instrumental in punishing slaves that tried to revolt or run away. In the mid-17th century lawmakers in some American colonies passed laws that bonded the slave and his/her children for life to an employer or a master. The earliest laws in the American colonies were not friendly to any workers, rather legislated them as parts of production without rights in the workplace.
   
   

   The Indentured Servant Carpenter

   – It is estimated that by the mid-1700’s, about 70% percent of all Europeans in North America were indentured servants, many of whom were skilled craft workers. Most of these indentured servants were poor Europeans who were forced West because their native country’s economic system, among other reasons, had put them into a state of desperation and poverty.
   
   Indentured servants contracted their labor to employers usually for a period of three to five years. The indentured servant would labor for free in exchange for a trip to North America and a promise that once the contract was expired, she or he would be given freedom and land. Many of them were indeed given their freedom and land at the end of their contract. Only then did they become some of the first “free” workers and craft workers in America. Others, however, were continually repressed by their employers and never given their promised freedom.
   
   Although the slave and the indentured servant were different in many important ways, their everyday lives were similar. Indentured servants are commonly referred to as “white slaves” because they too were considered “un-free labor.” It was not uncommon, in fact, to have seen slave carpenters and indentured servant carpenters working side by side on construction projects.
   
   Not only did these two groups of workers labor side by side, but they revolted side by side as well. A slave named Charles escaped from his master in 1740 and the Pennsylvania Gazette reported that two white servants, an “Englishman” and a “Scotch man” escaped with him. During the famous Bacon’s Rebellion of 1676, slaves and indentured servants joined together to fight the government of Virginia. It is important to note that although there were great differences, including race, between these two groups of workers, nothing divided them when fighting the exploitation they shared in common.
   
   

   Free Carpenters

   
   
   Although the vast majority of carpentry in colonial America was performed by un-free labor, there were some free carpenters in the North that became wage earners. Their numbers steadily increased as former skilled servants became free workers. Although free carpenters did have legal rights and were not bonded to an employer, most did not live enviable lives. The work was backbreaking and brutal in extreme seasons and the compensation was minimal. The fact is that any free carpenter was in competition with the un-free carpenter. That competition always kept wages and working conditions very low.

5. Philadelphia Freedom

   It was these free carpenters who started to build organizations to protect themselves and their trade. The first worker organization in the building trades in America was the Philadelphia House Carpenters in 1724. The Philadelphia House of Carpenters consisted of master carpenters and journeymen. A five-member committee, made up of organized carpenters, set the rules for the trade. The organization set prices, settled disputes and regulated all forms of new work for their members.
   
   The most important aspect of this organization was that it developed a “book of prices” for its trade. This book was the basis for “costing” jobs and preventing unfair competition in its jurisdiction. The book was kept secret by master carpenters so that journeymen, who were paid daily, would not know how much the master was profiting.
   
   The Carpenters Company of Philadelphia, as it was called, played an important role in American democracy as well. The first congress of colonial representatives assembled in Philadelphia in 1774 and was banned from using the state capitol. Instead a young George Washington and others walked to the Carpenters Hall not far away and met there. The constitutional assembly also met at Carpenters Hall in Philadelphia in 1788 where they drafted the Constitution of the United States of America. It is interesting to understand that a group of rebels, intent on revolting against unfair British rule and oppression for freedom, met at the Carpenters Hall to establish democracy.

6. Revolution

   It is said that the idea of throwing tea into the ocean at Boston Harbor, the event known as the 1773 Boston Tea Party, was first conceived at a meeting of ship carpenters and caulkers intent on protesting British oppression. This would not be the first, or last, contribution that carpenters would make for freedom and democracy.
   
   The Revolutionary War was fought and won by labor, both un-free and free. There is little doubt that among these fighters were skilled carpenters willing to risk their lives to be freed from oppression.
   
   The contribution of women during the Revolutionary War is frequently put aside in our textbooks. The fact is that when men were away at war, the colonies did not stop building infrastructure and women served critical roles as carpenters, shipbuilders and blacksmiths as well as other crucial roles.
   
   The Revolutionary War ended in 1783 and independence was won for the American colonies. Among the different freedoms that would now govern America were the freedom of speech and the freedom to assemble. These two freedoms built the labor movement years later. Democracy was established as the political ideology of the land. It promised representation for every American in their government and in their lives. It is important to note that although the framers of the new constitution promised the people a democracy, only white men with property were given full democratic rights. In fact most workers, regardless of gender or race, were denied the right to participate in the new democratic government, sadly, for many years to come.
   
   Although America was now freed from British dominance, slavery grew in the colonies and workers suffered through more decades of exploitation and abuse. Workers did not have any representation with their employers as the new factory system abused thousands of Americans in the workplace. The spirit of the revolution and the desire for freedom would not leave the working class of America. Unions soon became the voice and the representation of wage earners and craft workers.

7. A Carpenters Union

   For the most part, the Carpenters Company of Philadelphia benefited master carpenters (employers) more than it did journeymen carpenters and apprentices. The fact that master carpenters kept the book of prices secret leads us to believe that they were fearful their journeymen would revolt if they knew how much profit they enjoyed. Certainly the Carpenters Company was good for the trade as it set uniform prices and created some stability for the Carpentry industry, but the majority of carpenters were journeymen and it is difficult to say they were protected from their master carpenter.
   
   It was not until 1791 that we see a union of journeymen carpenters in America. The Union Society of Carpenters was created in Philadelphia to combat the master carpenter’s control of their trade. The journeymen demanded a uniform 12-hour workday, from 6AM to 6PM, and an end to piecework in the wintertime. When the masters refused to grant the journeymen their demands, the Union Society of Carpenters went on strike. In order to apply more pressure on the master-carpenters, the Union went directly to owners and offered to work for 25 % below the masters prices while promising quality work. Although the strike failed, this group of journeymen carpenters took an invaluable step toward building unions made up of workers in the carpentry trade.
   
   Carpenters of America Uniting in the 19th Century
   Unionism, in its current form, entered American society and the economy in the early 1800’s primarily in port cities like Boston, Philadelphia and New York City. The economy was young, brutal and very unstable so workers joined together to try and curb the competition that was driving down wages and working conditions to bottomless scales. Workers in the North weren’t the only ones organizing. There were free workers in the South, both black and white, and many of them were skilled craftsmen. The southern economy, however, was largely based on un-free labor, especially slave labor, and organizing into unions, at least traditional ones, was nearly impossible.
   
   A northern carpenter’s life in the 1800’s was less than respectable, even if his/her trade was invaluable. The workweek was seven days long and the workday was sun up to sun down. A Carpenters union in Philadelphia even struck for a 10-hour day with one carpenter justifying his demand by saying,
   
   a man of common constitution is unable to perform more than ten hours faithful labor in one day, and that men in the habit of laboring from sun rise until dark, are generally subject to nervous and other complaints arising from continued hard labor and they believe that all men have a just right, derived from the Creator, to have sufficient time in each day for the cultivation of their mind and for self improvement.
   
   Wages were pitiful, even for the day’s standards. Yet another strike in Philadelphia was organized to establish wages of $1.50 / day during the summer and $1.25 / day during the winter. The employers called these striking workers, “The mother of countless evils and the source of no good.”
   
   Early carpenter unions usually failed because of frequent depressions and employer tactics. When the economy was strong and work was plentiful, carpenters quickly formed unions to try and protect themselves from exploitation and brutal working conditions. When the economy fell into a depression, however, unions disbanded because workers were desperate and competition between them placed everybody at the employer’s mercy. Employers would destroy early unions even in good economic times by importing un-free and non-union workers to drive down area wages and thus create an economic panic.

8. Unions Work

   Even amidst these dissolving unions, failed strikes, and harsh economic times, carpenter unions proved to be the only way that workers in this craft could guarantee themselves some dignity. The Journeymen House Carpenters of New York gained the ten hour day by 1830 and struck for $1.50 a day shortly after. After a month of withholding their labor, these union carpenters won their strike and wages were increased from $1.37 ½ a day to their demanded $1.50. Although there were some great victories for carpenter unions in selected cities, the lack of a national organization and the inability to control competition on a larger scale meant that employers had more power than any individual union could muster up. It would be another fifty years from the New York union’s victory before we see a powerhouse emerge for working carpenters in America.
   
   A Working Carpenter Makes His Case
   In 1851 a group of militant carpenters in Philadelphia went on strike for better wages. One of them wrote the following editorial in a newspaper and made his case to the public:
   
   "The Carpenters of our city are upon a strike for an advance of $.25 a day; this will make $10.50 a week…Take a workingman at from 30 to 40 years of age, with his wife and three children…To take away all opportunities of dissatisfaction, I will average the family at five. Now what will it take to maintain a family of the last mentioned number weekly?...A barrel of flour, $5, will last 8 weeks-this will leave flour $.62.50 per week; sugar, 4 lbs. at $.08 per lb., $.32 per week; butter, 2 lbs. at $.31.25 per lb., $.62.50; milk, $.02 per day, $.14 per week; butchers meat, 2 lbs. of $.14 per week; fuel, 3 tons coal, $15 per annum; charcoal, chips, matches, et cetera, $5 year. This makes $.40 per week for fuel. Salt, pepper, vinegar, starch, soap, soda, yeast, now and then some cheese, eggs, &c., $.40 a week more, for all these sundries; wear and tear and breakage of household articles such as cups, saucers, plates, dishes, pans, knives, forks, &c., $.25 per week; rent $3.00 per week; bed clothes and bedding $.20; wearing apparel $2.00 per week; newspapers $.12.
   
   Total…..$10.37
   
   ...I ask, have I made the working man's comforts too high? Where is the money to pay for amusements! For ice creams, his puddings, trips on Sunday up or down the river, in order to get some fresh air; to pay the doctor or apothecary, to pay for pew rent in the church, to purchase books, musical instruments:….?
   
   It is not known if these carpenters won their strike, but this editorial shows us that their fight was not for riches, but rather for dignity in society.

9. The Story of Denmark Vesey

   Carpenters and workers in general fought in the North for living wages and freedom in many respects. The economy, as stated above, was brutal and although most were "free workers" they were economically chained to abusive exploiters in an abusive economic system. Many workers in the South, however, found themselves fighting for freedom in every respect.
   
   Denmark Vesey was born in West Africa around 1767. As a young boy he was captured and sold at a slave auction. In 1781 he was purchased by Captain Vesey of Charleston, South Carolina and proved to be a "faithful servant" for almost 20 years.
   
   Denmark Vesey found himself working on sugar plantations and he endured some of the most exhaustive work of the time. One day, however, he fell to the ground in an epileptic shock. This is significant because slaves with epilepsy were seen to be "damaged goods." Denmark was sold back to Captain Vesey shortly after the incident. It was decided that he would be a personal servant.
   
   In 1800 everything changed for Denmark as he won a lottery of $1500. He decided that he would buy his freedom, a possibility for some servants but almost impossible to achieve, from Captain Vesey. His freedom cost him $600 and with the rest of the money he opened a carpentry shop in South Carolina. Denmark proved to be a highly skilled carpenter and his shop, along with some property, made him a fairly successful man. In 1816 he, and a few other free blacks, established a black Methodist Church in Charleston. The church grew to over 3,000 members in a short time. By 1820 Denmark Vesey lived in a comfortable house on Bull Street, had a successful carpentry shop, a growing church, and a big family. But the former slave hated the slavery that he endured and that punished his people. In 1804 the slave class of Haiti revolted against the French and Denmark was fascinated by their victory. This revolution was the first time a slave nation overthrew its conquerors and he believed that it was possible in South Carolina as well. Denmark Vesey, a carpenter, would fight.
   
   Filled with fire and determination Denmark started to organize slaves and free blacks in 1822. He chose four lieutenants to organize with him; among them was Peter Poyas, a ship carpenter. His leadership created a list of over 9,000 slaves and free blacks who planned to revolt and take over Charleston on Sunday, July 14th. Denmark had organized an elaborate plan to revolt that included a timeline, horsemen, securing all roads, and blocking all bridges. It is presumed that a house slave was the one that alerted their master to the plan and within two days Denmark was captured. The colonial police searched for his list of co-conspirators, but Denmark had burned it just prior to his capture.
   
   Vesey and 35 others were condemned to death and he was hanged on July 2nd, 1822. The revolt stands as one of the largest ever organized. At the day of the hanging federal troops were called in because of massive demonstrations in Denmark's defense. The demonstrators were beaten and arrested, but they demonstrated nonetheless.

10. Civil War

    South Carolina seceded from the “Union” (the federal government) in December of 1860 and the Confederacy was born in the early months of 1861. War broke out shortly afterwards and before it ended in 1865, over 600,000 Americans died at battle or due to war related illness.
    
    A northern labor convention held shortly before the war made a case for working people to fight against southern dominance, "In another section of our country exists a practical aristocracy owning Labor, and made thereby independent of us. With them Labor is servitude and Freedom is compatible only with mastership…These aristocrats desire to extend this system over all the Territories of the nation. To extend it over the Territories is to give them supreme power of the government, and then they will extend it to us."
    
    The vast majority of soldiers for the Union army were small farmers and wage earners. Wealthy Americans, in fact, could avoid the draft by paying $300 or hiring someone to fight in their place. It is estimated that between 500,000 and 750,000 workers left their jobs to fight for the Union Army. In some cases entire local unions signed up as a group to fight.
    
    Carpenters played an integral role in the Civil War. Not putting aside the fact that certainly many carpenters were on the front lines, carpenters were also critical in defending Washington D.C. Washington was surrounded by Confederate states and was under constant attack. Carpenters were called to help build defenses for the Capitol and keep it protected. This included building forts, platforms, walls and clearing trees in order to expose confederate troops. Their hard work paid off as Washington remained largely in one piece and in the hands of the Union Army.
    
    For Carpenters the Civil War was a time to form unions. The wartime economy was growing and because hundreds of thousands of workers were at war, jobs were plentiful. Employers knew they could not find the manpower to crush emerging unions, so they gave in to most demands. Carpenter wages, for example, rose an estimated 60% during the Civil War period.
    
    In 1863 carpenters from five cities in New York State came together in an attempt to create the New York State Federation of Carpenters. They said, "fired with the zeal that imitated our fathers of the revolution when they declared for freedom…We are willing to give our time, our money and our talent, to protect the rights of the mechanic, of not only the State of New York, but all through the length and breadth of the land." Their struggle for unionism throughout America was not simply an issue of wages or working conditions, it was about freedom.

11. Peter J. McGuire

    Although local carpenters were forming unions as early as 1791 and some Locals were forming state federations as early as 1863, carpenter unions were not able to survive economic panics and employer tactics often enough to build real power. The lack of a national organization and strong central leadership meant that employers were always able to import workers and use competition to break early unions. Quite frankly, there were not enough union carpenters to control the industry for workers and without an increase in union memberships; carpenters would always struggle to protect minimal gains.
    
    Peter J. McGuire (PJ) was born in New York City in 1852 to poor Catholic Irish parents. His father, a porter and a staunch Catholic, signed up to fight the Confederacy in 1862. PJ was forced to quit school at eleven years old to help the family survive.
    
    Although PJ was immersed in work and general struggle trying to keep the family fed, he made an effort to enroll at Cooper Union in New York City and take classes. It was there that he met a young Samuel Gompers. Their relationship blossomed over the next years and together these two idealists would give hope to millions of workers.
    
    In 1873 McGuire was only 21 years old, but he was already a fiery agitator for workers issues and an equal society. That year New York City found itself in yet another depression and many New Yorkers were quickly in poverty. McGuire felt the government should protect the unemployed from starvation. He led a committee of like-minded students to ask the City for a permit to demonstrate for the cause. When the City ultimately refused the grant the protest, McGuire led a sit in at police headquarters. Legend has it that McGuire’s father told the police captain his son was a socialist and should be arrested, an event that traumatized a young McGuire, but the sit in continued. The day of the rally, January 13^th, close to 10,000 people assembled at Tompkins Square in New York. The police came too and they broke up the assembly with violence and mass arrests. Sam Gompers wrote of the Tompkins Square protest that police brought "an orgy of brutality" and "a reign of terror."
    
    McGuire's education, both read and lived, made him a young and radical socialist. He was active in socialist circles throughout New York City and in 1874 he helped form the Socialist Labor Party. He traveled America starting branches of his new political party and although it grew, it never gained national power. When McGuire confronted the issue of constant economic depressions in the American economy he said, "It is the natural outgrowth of the system of competition and cheapness perpetuated by the capitalists. And as long as that system lasts it will be the parent of haphazard production, badly regulated distribution and extravagant speculation. Under it the workman will always suffer, and the Kings of Industry will have it in their power to turn the screws and produce a panic…The only remedy for us is to organize industry on the basis of cooperative labor with State credit and social guarantees, with equal opportunities and steady employment for all, reduce hours of labor, and each worker to receive the full result of his toil. Think of it."
    
    McGuire traveled the country working as a cabinetmaker and agitating workers into action. In 1877 he moved to Saint Louis, Missouri. It was here in Saint Louis that McGuire found the obsession that would lead carpenters to countless marches and fights—the eight-hour day. In 1879 he helped organize Saint Louis workers in an eight-hour day parade. In that same year McGuire spoke in front of 20,000 workers at yet another rally for a shorter workday. He became active in a newly formed carpenter local and led them on a successful strike for an increase in wages. His quick rise as a labor leader in Missouri led him to the highest labor seat in the state when he was elected secretary of the Saint Louis Trades Assembly. His ability to organize workers into unions and lead them to win their demands convinced McGuire he could build a national Carpenters union.
    
    In April of 1881, Peter J. McGuire called for a national carpenters union in this editorial that appeared in The Carpenter magazine's first issue:
    
    "In the present age there is no hope for workingmen outside of organization. Without a trades union, the workman meets the employer at a great disadvantage. The capitalist has the advantage of past accumulations; the laborer, un-assisted by combination, has not. Knowing this, the capitalist can wait, while his men, without funds, have no alternative but to submit. But with organization, the case is altered…Then the workman is able to meet the employer on equal terms. No longer helpless and without resources, he has not only his union treasury, but the moneys of sister unions to support him in his demands…Carpenters, you have spent years to learn your trade; you have to furnish many tools; you lose a great deal of working time; you are continually subject to perils of life and limb, and to the exposures of climate. Is your severe labor worth no more than a bare existence? Should you have naught but a beggarly pittance? It is a shame to think that carpenters in some cities have to work for $1.75 or $2.00 a day…
    
    A national union will bring an understanding between the various cities, and will lead to uniform and higher wages generally. This spring, some cities with good organizations have the courage to demand higher wages than others. But there is danger that the high wages will tempt carpenters to come from the cheaper cities. Hence, every city should be organized, and the wages of all advanced to a uniform standard…Men will not then rush readily from one city to another to fill the places of their brothers on a strike. The state of trade in each city will be thoroughly known and the occurrence of a strike will be announced instantly. We can then maintain a monthly journal devoted to our organization; but, best of all, strikes will be less in number, for employers will then fear to oppose us."

12. The United Brotherhood of Carpenters

    The scene was Chicago, an emerging union city in its own right, where thirty six delegates from eleven cities, representing around 2,042 carpenters, came together to form the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. Ten resolutions followed the first convention and they give us insight into the issues most important for working carpenters in the United States of the day:

    1. Shorter hours of work, in order that labor saving machinery may not be so extensively employed in reducing the compensation due to skilled labor.
    2. No distinction should be made between winter and summer work. Physical danger increased in winter, so there was no warrant for reducing the daily wage because of the shorter working hours.
    3. That we abandon affiliation with either of the political parties, and pledge ourselves to support for public office only such men whom we are assured will best represent the laboring classes.
    4. Eliminate laws that give monopolies the power to oppress the weak and defenseless.
    5. Secure the passage of uniform lien laws to give first preference to wages.
    6. We recommend such action as may be necessary to consolidate all unions in various building trades.
    7. Establish employment offices in different cities to facilitate the finding of jobs.
    8. Abolish the use of convict labor to produce competitive goods.
    9. Stamp out subcontract and piecework.
    10. Open correspondence with European unions in countries which were sending labor to the United States.

    McGuire and the 36 delegates that followed his call made sure that democracy was a cornerstone of their new union. Offices were set up for the UBC and elections were held immediately. There could be no Carpenters union without a democracy that supported it.
    
    The Chicago convention passed, but not before these delegates succeeded in creating the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, now the official trade union of working carpenters wherever they may be. It was truly a remarkable convention for all working people in America.

13. Labor Day

    PJ McGuire became a national labor leader because he was an expert agitator, but agitation without action does nothing. McGuire was a firm believer in protest and taking action to win demands. Nothing exemplifies this better than his call for Labor Day, one that has been honored for since 1882 and will live forever as the idea of PJ McGuire. In 1882 McGuire wrote in The Carpenter,
    
    "It is now suggested that the first Tuesday in September shall become the labor holiday of New York and be celebrated every year by a parade and picnic. It is also proposed that this day should be likewise observed throughout the country, that labor by its own will should establish its own universal holiday…the ruling classes have their own decoration days and Thanksgiving; why should not labor declare its own holiday?"
    
    The Labor Day march in early September has taken place since 1882. Workers marched in their streets for better wages, better working conditions and most of all respect from their employers. In 1894 the U.S Congress voted to make Labor Day, a day for workers, an official holiday.

14. The American Federation of Labor

    The period after the Civil War (1878-1890) is frequently called the Gilded Age in American history. It can be defined as a time period of great wealth for owners and great poverty for workers. In 1890, for example, the wealthiest 1% of Americans earned more than the bottom 50%. By any standard this was a time of incredible inequality.
    
    Monopolists and industry owners were busy accumulating wealth and destroying workers unions. Many felt their wealth was what God wanted. Andrew Carnegie, a steel tycoon who bought police to kill striking workers in Homestead, Pennsylvania, wrote “Individualism, Private Property, the Law of Accumulation of Wealth, and the Law of Compensation were the highest result of human experience.” John D. Rockefeller, an energy tycoon who’s company, Colorado Fuel and Iron, brought in the National Guard to kill 66 striking miners in 1913 told Sunday School students, “The growth of a large business is merely a survival of the fittest…This is not an evil tendency in business…merely the working-out of a law of nature and a law of God.” The attitude of monopoly employers could best be summarized by a quote from a wealthy Frederick Townsend Martin. He said,
    
    "It matters not one iota what political party is in power or what President holds the reins of office. We are not politicians or public thinkers; we are the rich; we own America; we got it; God knows how, but we intend to keep it if we can by throwing all the tremendous weight of our support, our influence, our money, our political connections, our purchased senators, our hungry congressmen, our public-speaking demagogues into the scale against any legislature, any political platform, any presidential campaign that threatens the integrity of our estate…The class I represent cares nothing for politics."
    
    The UBC, although struggling through even more depressions and a wicked corporate environment, was growing. The Carpenters started with a little more than 2,000 members in 1881 and by 1890 that number jumped to more than 50,000. Wages for all members had increased and although it is true that great inequality between the rich and the working class was spreading, carpenters were fighting to get their fair share.
    
    In December of 1886 the American Federation of Labor was formed under the leadership of PJ McGuire and his Cooper Union classmate, Samuel Gompers, (a Cigar Maker). Workers were forming unions in every trade and every industry throughout the 1800’s. History is rich with stories of women striking in factories in Massachusetts, miners hanged in Pennsylvania for forming unions, and workers in the South forming unions and political parties of their own. Much like the carpenters, these unions needed a national body to bring them together and make them stronger. For the skilled craft workers, the AFL was the answer.
    
    Without the support of the Carpenters union and the leadership of PJ McGuire, it is doubtful that the AFL would have gained the prominence it did in America. PJ McGuire was offered a chairmanship in the federation, and when he declined because he said he was too busy, they essentially forced him to take it. The Carpenters in the 1880’s were the strongest labor union in America and without their participation and leadership, the young AFL probably would have floundered quickly. PJ McGuire, the UBC’s leader and its greatest organizer for many years, also served as the Federation’s Vice-President for the rest of his career as a trade unionist.
    
    It is important to note that other Labor organizations were forming at this time. The Knights of Labor, for example, was similar to the AF of L, but advocated organizing industrial workers as well as craft workers. For many factory workers and workers that were labeled to be unskilled, the Knights of Labor was the only hope for unionization and a brighter future.

15. The Eight Hour Fight

    PJ McGuire’s obsession with the eight hour day, at the time it was not unusual for wage earners to work up to twelve hours a day, grew stronger throughout the early years of the Brotherhood. The labor movement as a whole, which at the time was dominated by the AFL and the Knights of Labor, adopted this idea as a major goal for all working people. Needless to say, employers across the country were adamantly opposed to giving their workers a shorter day and fought it with everything they had.
    
    The labor movement organized one of the greatest simultaneous strikes the nation had seen to date on May 1st, 1886. It is estimated that over 350,000 Americans struck their employers on May Day. One of the larger strikes took place in Chicago where over 65,000 workers took to the streets.
    
    A few thousand workers and protesters met at Haymarket Square in Chicago on May 4th, three days after the citywide strike for an eight-hour day. At around 10:00 PM the crowd was already dispersing when a bomb went off that killed a police officer and wounded thirty-six others, seven of which later died from their wounds. To this day no one knows who set off the bomb.
    
    The bombing of Haymarket Square quickly turned into the “crime of the century” and although evidence was lacking, Chicago authorities were looking at labor as the culprit. For the next three weeks after the bombing, union meetings and labor leaders were constantly harassed and all were considered suspects. Finally, on May 27th, Chicago indicted eight labor leaders and organizers of the eight-hour strike earlier in the month.
    
    The jury was full of Chicago industry leaders and it is little wonder that all eight defendants were found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder. Seven of the eight were condemned to death.
    
    One of them, August Spies, knowing he would face the gallows, addressed the judge:
    
    "If you think by hanging us you can stamp out the labor movement…the movement from which the down-trodden millions, the millions who toil in want and misery, expect salvation – if this is your opinion, then hang us! Here you will tread upon spark, but there and there, behind you and in front of you, and everywhere, flames blaze up. It is a subterranean fire. You cannot put it out… "
    
    Supporters protested their conviction and condemnation from as far away as Eastern Europe, but nothing could stop the corporate government from killing these leaders. They paid the ultimate price for leading a struggle for justice. On November 11th, 1887, four of these leaders faced the gallows and were hanged. It is estimated that 25,000 people marched at their funeral.
    
    By 1890 very few workers enjoyed an eight-hour day as employers, with government on their side, rolled back any early victories. The Haymarket Square example was meant to scare labor and its leaders from further agitation, but no one retreated from the fight.
    
    In 1890 Sam Gompers, President of the AFL, asked the Carpenters to once again lead the struggle for an eight-hour day. The Carpenters, under McGuire’s leadership, accepted the challenge. On March 1st Carpenter locals everywhere went on strike. By May there were approximately 141 strikes, involving 208 locals and 53,000 members. McGuire addressed his membership later that year and reported that the eight-hour day was won in thirty-six cities. In 234 cities the hours of labor were reduced to nine. This tremendous victory changed the lives of thousands of carpenters and set precedent for all workers. Although there would be some employer fight back campaigns, the normal hours for many working carpenters and many wage earners remained at eight after those strikes.
    
    The penalty of leading the working class movement was severe and often included imprisonment or even death during the Gilded Age. Industry power holders were not willing to let workers decide their fates and did unconscionable things to stop the labor movement. Still, early leaders including McGuire were not afraid. They fought against tremendous odds and although some paid with their lives, they persisted. Ultimately workers won some critical struggles that sent a message to everyone in the nation, labor is on the march and it can win.

16. Racism and Labor

    Slavery as an economic system imprisoned all workers, regardless of race. A union of carpenters could never hold real bargaining power if another group of carpenters were enslaved in another part of the country. In the bigger picture the institution of slavery, and the wealth it created for the powerful few, damned labor in America by eternally linking wealth with the dehumanizing of workers. Even today many budding business owners equate their success with downward labor costs and working conditions.
    
    The legacies of slavery had damaging effects on the labor movement even after all labor was “freed” with the end of the Civil War. Racism was prevalent everywhere in America and many workers themselves divided the workplace by refusing to work with, or give union membership to, black Americans. Division in the workplace is an employer’s best tool to break unions; unfortunately many unions assisted their employers.
    
    The issue of racism and the question of color in the labor movement was something that every union dealt with. Some unions were adamant about keeping black workers out of their Locals and yet others understood the ramifications of a divided workforce and pushed to include black workers into their unions.
    
    The early Carpenters union made it clear to every carpenter that the issue of color would not divide their jobsites nor would they allow it to decrease their bargaining power with employers.
    
    At the 4th Annual Carpenters Convention held in Cincinnati in 1884, the Carpenters union had to confront the issue of race. One evening a group of delegates entered the “Peoples Restaurant” for coffee. Brother Rames, a black delegate from South Carolina, was with them and the headwaiter of the establishment refused to serve him because of the color of his skin. McGuire addressed the convention the next day with the following remarks:
    
    "Whereas, - several of our delegates in company with Brother Rames of Charleston, S.C., last evening entered a coffee house in the city, at 77 West Smith Street, known as the "People's Restaurant" and were told by the head waiter that he could not serve Brother Rames on account of color, therefore be it Resolved – that in this indignity offered to Brother Rames, one of our delegates, we recognize a gross and ignorant insult to our body worthy of the severest rebuke at our hands, and we call upon the citizens and working people of this city to do all in their power to withdraw all patronage from the "Peoples Restaurant" and hold it up to public execration."
    
    The United Brotherhood of Carpenters would address the issue of race again in 1902. When the Brotherhood was confronted with organizing black workers in the South, then General Secretary Frank Duffy, who replaced PJ McGuire, addressed the union when he said:
    ,br /> "We are banded together in our grand brotherhood for the purpose of elevating the condition of our entire craft, regardless of color, nationality, race or creed. Prejudice on these lines has no standing in the labor movement…"
    
    Racism, much like a cancer, poisoned everything in American society. It would be irresponsible to say that the Carpenters Union did not struggle through racism. There is evidence that in some areas, particularly in the South, union locals were segregated and remained that way for well into the 20th century. Almost every union in the building trades as whole has traditionally been a father-son union, meaning that membership in the unions was granted, first, to family members. As a consequence many unions in the building trades looked the same, racially, for many generations. Indeed the Carpenters Union did not officially ban the practice of segregated locals until 1963.
    
    Today the United Brotherhood of Carpenters is more diverse than ever before and aggressive about organizing immigrants, minorities and indeed any non-union carpenter regardless of superficial factors. There is no question that racism challenged every union throughout their history and many unions failed to meet that challenge on a consistent basis. Although the Carpenters Union did in fact struggle at times to meet the challenge of the race question, it still stands as one of the earliest unions to strongly advocate for the organization of all workers. Robert Connolly, a Vice President of the UBC in 1903, said it best when he said “A carpenter is a carpenter.”

17. 20th Century Carpenters

    The Carpenters union started its campaign for justice in 1881 with a little more than 2,000 members. At the turn of the century, 1900, that number had risen to a little over 68,000 members. Just a decade later, 1910, the UBC had a membership of over 200,000 carpenters and growing. The UBC’s growth and power can be attributed to both its aggressive organizing approach and its dominance in the labor movement.
    
    For the Carpenters union, and the labor movement in general, the 20th century introduced one crisis after another for workers. The UBC would have to endure two world wars, numerous others as well, a Great Depression that shook the very foundation of the economy, judicial attacks on unions, full blown government attacks on labor, Congressional legislation meant to handcuff unions, military intervention during strikes, employer associations dedicated to crushing unions and countless other factors that could have weakened the UBC in a changing world. In order to survive the UBC had to change with society at times and yet at others, fight off change itself. It was not easy, but the UBC ended the twentieth century with over half a million members and leading wages, benefits and working conditions for carpenters in America.

18. Judicial Interference

    Historically the American judicial system has been used as a tool to impede the progress of the labor movement. In 1806 a court in Philadelphia ruled that a union of shoe makers (cordwainers), and their actions to organize into a union, constituted a “criminal conspiracy.” Although another ruling less than forty years later reversed the idea that unions were criminal conspiracies, the courts continued to rule on behalf of corporations.
    
    The examples of judicial rulings against workers unions seem to be endless and are all well documented. We have addressed the Haymarket trials in Chicago and the hangings of labor leaders although evidence was lacking in their case. Unfortunately this is just one case in a list of many. Many labor leaders have been brought into courts all over America on trumped up charges that were nothing short of imagined. Many of these leaders were unjustly found guilty. Trials were not the only tactic used to slow down labor. Arguably the greatest example of such unfair interference by courts in the 20th century that of the injunction.
    
    The injunction emerged as a powerful tool against labor in the early 1900’s when unions were growing and taking actions on a daily basis. The sheer power of the strike, or labor action, could easily paralyze an employer. Labor unions were also actively boycotting employers who would not acknowledge them. Employers needed a way to stop the strike and the boycott, so they turned to the courts and the injunction.
    
    An injunction is a quick ruling by a judge that makes a specific action illegal. Once a judge placed an injunction against a strike, for example, any further action by the union would be illegal. Injunctions were accompanied with severe economic penalties and even imprisonment if they were violated. Because injunctions did not require hearings, or juries, judges had limitless power in criminalizing unions.
    
    Like the rest of the labor movement, the Carpenters union was buried with injunctions throughout the early part of the 20th century. Brother Huber, once General President of the UBC, told the Carpenters convention in 1908,
    
    "The injunctive writ is most beneficial, but by judicial usurpation it has become dangerous not only to the bulwarks of our American citizens (wage workers) but a menace to the proper respect, esteem, and confidence which we, as citizens, should and must have in the judiciary if we expect our republican form of government to maintain and endure…all the protections seem to be for the man with the corrugated forehead, and none for the man with the calloused hands."
    
    The injunction forced the Carpenters union to spend much of its treasury and, more importantly its time, in defending itself. Employer organizations would fight off the Carpenters union by attempting to bankrupt it with expensive fines and legal fees. The UBC continued to organize and strike employers throughout the injunction, often winning their demands. Fighting the powerful courts was never easy and many leaders shied away from confronting judges, but the Carpenters were never about their treasury or even afraid of imprisonment. They simply continued to organize and win.
    
    As the 20th century dragged on the injunction was slowly retired as a weapon to break unions. New laws were ultimately passed to limit its powers and make it more democratic. But as the injunction left the landscape of judicial powers, new ones emerged with greater consequences. As the UBC learned how to fight them off, employers would lobby for new ways to stop union growth.
    
    It may be puzzling to some why courts maintained such an anti-union bias in history, and some would argue in the present as well. There is no easy answer or even one answer. There is ample evidence of judges simply paid off by gigantic corporations, juries full of stockholders in the company involved in the case or just judges who looked at unions as a threat to American society. Whatever the reasons, the Carpenters were forced to organize and elevate the living conditions of its members while not only struggling against employers, but also struggling against anti-labor courts. Many labor leaders found themselves in prisons for leading a group of workers in their demands for fairness and respect. More often than not, these leaders would leave their cells and continue to organize.

19. Open Shop vs. Closed Shop

    As union recognition grew in the 20th century, amidst fierce opposition, it became clear that unions were not going to disappear. The Carpenters were growing with more and more members in more jurisdictions. Instead of trying to wipe unions away, employers chose a policy meant to compromise union’s bargaining power and weaken them. Employers pushed for the open shop.
    
    All unions, especially the Carpenters union, would demand a closed shop in union workplaces and force employers to agree to it. The closed shop means that only union carpenters, for example, can be employed in a given workplace. Power in the workplace depends on organization and the elimination of wage competition. If one hundred carpenters are employed in a workplace and all belong to a union, their collective power is strong. They are not in competition against each other and can take effective action in the workplace to ensure safety and good working conditions. If, however, fifty of these carpenters do not belong to a union and their wages are in competition with union wages, collective bargaining power for the union is weakened and working conditions are deteriorated. Since the very structure of the economy guarantees that there will always, maybe with the exception of wartime, exist an oversupply of labor, the closed shop is the only way to guarantee that unions maintain collective bargaining power and conditions in the workplace are decent.
    
    Throughout the 20th century employers tried to force an open shop structure on construction sites. Although union carpenters would exist at the site, employers tried to ensure that non-union carpenters would work side by side with them. This sort of workplace dynamic would eventually weaken the union to the point of powerlessness and give employers the ability to introduce competition, thus lowering standards.
    
    Open shop campaigns popped up almost everywhere in America. Employer associations would purchase the support of community groups, politicians, religious groups and others in an effort to disguise their campaign for control as a campaign for America. These campaigns frequently adopted patriotic names like the “American Plan” in Chicago. Employers argued that the open shop is about giving workers their constitutionally guaranteed choice if they wanted to join a union. They would tell the press and the community that unions forced all workers to belong to a union if they wanted to work in a specific location and that this was un-American.
    
    Employers in Chicago were determined to force the open shop in construction, and they developed a great plan to do so. In the early 1920’s they formed the “American Plan” of employment that demanded the open shop. Employers also helped establish the “Citizens Committee,” which was nothing more than pro-business community groups that pressured unions to accept the open shop. The plan would go into affect in the early months of 1921.
    
    Employers that year strategically demanded a drastic wage-cut, although all were profitable because of the post WWI boom. Every union rejected the cut. Employers proceeded to lock out workers for several months. In an effort to find peace and end the lock out, the Building Trades in Chicago moved the disagreement to arbitration. The arbitrators’ ruling was nothing short of the employers dream. It did in fact force a wage cut and even established the open shop in Chicago. Every union in the building trades reluctantly accepted the judgment except two, one of them being the Carpenters.
    
    The Carpenters union refused to accept the open shop. It pleaded with the building trades to fight, but most unions refused. The Carpenters, in fact, left the building trades and organized a new one consisting of unions that refused to accept the open shop. In total there were thirteen unions in the new association formed by the Carpenters.
    
    The fight was a hard one. Banks refused to lend money to contractors who signed agreements with the Carpenters, the Citizens Committee boycotted companies that used union carpenters and the UBC was forced to strike throughout the jurisdiction.
    
    It took five long years of struggle, but the Carpenters ultimately led the fight against the open shop and forced employers to re-establish wage scales and the closed shop in Chicago. The “Citizens Committee” disappeared and the “American Plan” was destroyed. Unions once again held power in Chicago but only because the Carpenters had the courage to fight back against the “American Plan” and even break away from their brothers in the Building Trades who accepted it. It was a very expensive victory, but the Carpenters stuck to their principles and ultimately did win.
    
    In 1924 Bill Hutcheson, General President of the UBC, spoke to the delegate body about the Carpenters fights against the open shop. He told them, "In many localities there have been attempts made to disrupt not only the morale of the membership of our organization but the conditions that have been established. These attempts were made by different forces and from different angles. In some localities, the endeavor was made by the employers, backed by the Manufacturers' Association, the Chambers of Commerce, etc. These attacks took various forms; the one that was the most catching was where they attempted to put into effect what they were pleased to term the 'American Plan' of employment, but which really meant putting into effect a condition whereby men of our organization could not procure or secure employment other than under the rules and conditions as laid down by those who were advocating that system of employment."

20. Mass Hysteria and Red Scares

    When workers were marching for the eight-hour day in Chicago during the late 19th century, the City was thrown into hysteria by newspaper accounts that the eight hour movement was, “Communism, lurid and rampant.” On April 25th, 1886, The New York Times stated that the eight hour movement was “un-American” and that “labor disturbances were brought on by foreigners.” Power holders in the community used the press to spin the wheels of hysteria and divert the real issues that provoked tens of thousands of workers to fight for decency in the workplace. It is certainly true that many different workers belonged to a variety of political ideologies, as is true today, but it is clear that they were marching for better working conditions and not an overthrow of America.
    
    Once again the labor movement had to struggle through outrageous accusations meant to demonize the struggle for humane working conditions. Following the Russian Revolution, America was thrown into a panic against “radical movements.” A young J. Edgar Hoover headed the Justice Department’s new “Radical Division” and he set his eyes on labor. Major newspapers like The New York Times ran articles claiming that the labor movement was filled with “Bolsheviks.” Some strikers and picketers were beaten on lines.
    
    By 1921 some thirty-two states had passed laws against what they called “criminal syndicalism.” Outlawed were “illegal labor tactics,” “distributing literature that encouraged them” or even “belonging to such organizations.” The Tampa Morning Tribune declared “The greatest menace today to the perpetuations of the free institutions of the United States is to be found in the destructive propaganda, aims and practices of the American Federation of Labor.” Of course the United Brotherhood of Carpenters was one of the largest unions in the Federation. Business owned publications wrote the open shop was “the spirit of the constitution.”
    
    The “red scare” attack on labor was never truly retired. Throughout the early part of the 20th century labor unions were growing and so too was the idea that they were a threat to the American political system. When labor struck an employer, he would usually start talking about communism in the workplace. Decades of this sentiment culminated in 1947 when Congress passed the Taft Hartley Act.
    
    The Taft Hartley Act stands as one of the most anti-union pieces of legislation ever passed by a United States body of representatives. It does nothing short of handcuff labor’s ability to take action against an employer. It governs strikes, pickets, organizing, boycotts and solidarity activities that were always so effective for the labor movement. An important part of the Taft Hartley Act was the “non communist affidavit” which requires unions to pledge that their membership is not “communist.” This Act led to a purge of many of labor’s best organizers and leaders simply because they were assumed to belong to a political party. What followed is best described as a witch-hunt. America was in panic. Hollywood actors were blacklisted, Presidents were fearful of supporting labor and workers were booted out of unions. Throughout all of this employers gained a tremendous advantage and used it as much as possible.
    
    The Carpenters union was one of the many labor unions that struggled through each red scare in the twentieth century. Its goals of making the workplace safe and giving carpenters economic justice was often viewed as an insurgent cause. Employers were capitalizing on the hysteria that swallowed America by shooting ridiculous accusations at picketing workers and their unions. The UBC continued to organize workers and workers continued to fight for the Carpenters union. The UBC and its leaders, regardless of their political ideologies, were determined to make the lives of workers safe and fair.
    
    The Carpenters answered the Taft Hartley Act in the 1950 convention.
    
    "In all the years since the first general convention, the United Brotherhood has never been anything but a 100 percent American organization." General President Hutcheson went on to say, "Circumstances may alter, conditions may change, but the United Brotherhood will never be anything but an American institution devoted to the ideals laid down in the Constitution and broadened and polished by succeeding generations."
    
    When the labor movement was gaining strength in America, so too were different political ideologies. PJ McGuire was himself an outspoken socialist and he was not alone. Many unionists advocated a different type of economy or a different type of government. In any given march you would find socialists, anarchists, communists, democrats, republicans or any other affiliations. What brought all of these different visions together was their dedication to unionism and creating an America built on safety and fairness for the vast majority of Americans, workers. Industry owners were not afraid of a different political belief, they were afraid of losing power in the workplace and giving more of the pie to workers. They chose to scare America into thinking that unions were determined to “overthrow” democracy, instead of talking about the real issues unions fought for like living wages and safety in the workplace. Unions, in fact, are the only organizations that demand democracy in the workplace and fight for the majority in the economy (wage workers). In that way there is nothing more “American” than unions.

21. The Carpenters and the Labor Movement

    The United Brotherhood of Carpenters has always had a special relationship with the AFL and other labor unions. As one of the largest and most powerful trade unions in America, the UBC has led the AFL into many struggles, both victorious and not. Many UBC leaders in fact have sat on AFL executive boards or chairmanships in the Federation for long periods of time. Still, the Carpenters dedication to its members and its jurisdictions has led to some conflicts throughout history.
    
    The UBC was never afraid to voice its opposition if the direction of the labor movement, or some unions in it, would not benefit carpenters. When friction occurred within the labor movement the Carpenters would always make many attempts to come to an agreement, but if none could be made, the UBC would not hesitate to take off in another direction.
    
    There were numerous times in the 20th century when the Carpenters, or some of its locals, decided to leave the AFL or the Building Trades. Frequently the split was heated and passionate from both ends. On many occasions the dispute was over Carpenter jurisdiction, something the UBC was always determined about protecting at all costs. The Carpenters have even started their own Building Trade Councils comprised of like-minded unions that were sometimes in competition with the original councils in the area. Each time, however, the Carpenters rejoined the AFL or Building Trades after much discussion and thought.
    
    The emergence of the CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations) came at a time when every worker and his/her unions were recovering from the earth shattering Great Depression. Some in the labor movement thought unions should organize industrial workers into new unions, whereas others, including the Carpenters, believed that special charters should represent these workers. The disagreement came to a boiling point in 1935 when several unions split from the AFL and created the CIO, a new competing organization.
    
    Throughout the next twenty years the CIO organized millions of workers, as did the AFL, and the labor movement was growing. Although these two organizations did not see eye to eye on some issues, they were both dedicated to the same outcome - a strong and large labor movement. The split ended in 1955 when the AFL and the CIO merged to become the AFL-CIO. Although the Carpenters did not approve of the CIO at first, it did not block the merger but rather welcomed a new unity.
    
    At the turn of the 21st century the Carpenters Union itself disaffiliated with the AFL-CIO. The Carpenters had long disagreed with the Federation’s allocation of resources among other important issues. In 2005 the Carpenters became a founding member of the Change To Win Federation that encompasses some of the largest trade unions in America.
    
    Disputes within the labor movement have always existed and will forever be a part of the democracy that workers demanded in their unions. The vast majority of disagreements have come between leaders with good hearts and passion for unionism. The Carpenters history is one of leadership and it has never shied away from conflict, even in its own house. Although the UBC may have faced serious disagreements with the AFL-CIO and even disaffiliated, it was still dedicated to solidarity and willing to join in important fights. When workers at Yale University went on strike in 2003, Douglas McCarron, the General President of the UBC, was protesting alongside thousands of workers and different unions.

22. Women and the UBC

    Women have played a critical role in the labor movement in every respect. The early factories of the North frequently employed a majority female workforce. These workers often labored more than twelve hours a day, six days a week. Their working conditions were brutal in factories and abuse, of every kind, was not hard to find in the workplace. Women, however, were not afraid to fight back. The Lowell, Massachusetts strikes were entirely organized by women and their struggles are some of the most inspirational in labor’s history. Some of the greatest labor organizers were women. Just two of the many were Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and Mother Jones.
    
    Construction, of course, has always been a male dominated industry. It should be said, however, that women have done the arduous work of many construction trades especially when America was at war. During war-time the American labor market endured tremendous shifts. The majority of male wage earners were sent overseas, but production at home was essential to winning, thus women entered the labor force in great numbers. Women did everything from factory work in war producing industries to war necessary construction at home. During WWI and WWII thousands of women became union workers and kept unions strong while male membership was away.
    
    Women sustained the labor movement in another, no less important, respect. Union recognition and the meeting of union demands almost always required significant sacrifice from entire communities. Withholding labor in a job action meant unemployment for a period of time and it took the support of the community to win. When husbands, sons and brothers struck employers in any industry, women would rally behind the cause and organize their community. They would march along side picketers, they would organize food drives to sustain the workforce and they would serve as the backbone to many victories. Indeed at the 1910 UBC convention the delegate body noted,
    
    "It is a well known fact that in places where men are on strike no more loyal support is given the men on strike than that given by the wives and mothers and sisters of the striking men."
    
    A “Ladies Auxiliary” had already existed at a Carpenters Local in Indianapolis and this convention passed a resolution to support and guide Ladies Auxiliary’s in the UBC. It should be noted that the UBC also resolved to strongly support the women’s suffrage movement, a burning topic of the time.
    
    The Carpenters Union admitted women into its local’s for the first time in 1918 as part of a merger with an existing Boxmakers and Sawyers Local. It was decided that women would in fact be members of the UBC, but would not pay per capita tax or receive all the benefits of membership. It would not be until the mid 1950’s that women would become “official” members of the UBC and enjoy all the benefits.
    
    By 1955, the UBC resolved to allow women into UBC and all rituals were changed to include the term “sister.” In 1955 there were officially over 8,000 women in good standing.
    
    At the turn of the 21st century a group of women organized their own committee within the UBC named, “Sisters in the Brotherhood.” The organization was formed to better assimilate women carpenters into their union and help organize women in the non-union sector. In 2002 the UBC represented over 16,000 women in construction throughout the country and in some apprentice programs women comprised almost 10% of the apprentice class. At the 2005 UBC convention held in Las Vegas, the Women’s Committee gave a report to the entire delegation and received a standing ovation.
    
    Women, much like minority workers, struggled to join the UBC because unions are the most effective organizations to fight workplace discrimination. Women clearly struggled to gain full acceptance into many construction unions, including the UBC, but their efforts and resilience have won them an important place in deciding the future of the UBC.

23. New Heights and a Stormy Horizon

    In 1973 the United Brotherhood of Carpenters represented almost 850,000 members in North America. Wages had risen for all members close to 25% between 1969 and 1971 alone. Fringe benefits, including health care and pensions, were rising with wages and union carpenters were heading into a bright future, both individually and collectively.
    
    It wasn’t long until an old enemy, and a powerful one, had re-emerged for all workers and their unions. The American economy headed into a phase of sharp inflation and stagnation in the 1970’s. The construction economy slowed leaving many members unemployed for long stretches and even forcing thousands of members into leaving the industry as a whole. Membership in the Carpenters union started to decline by the thousands quickly as the economy faltered.
    
    The downward economy was accompanied by a newly intensified employer assault on unionism in America. More and more companies were turning violently anti-union in the 1970’s and joining together to take on workers. The newest employer strategies included openly violating labor law by breaking union drives with mass firings of workers active in organizing drives. Penalties for such violations were so minimal, and weakly enforced by government agencies, that many non-union companies treated the fines as a business cost. Union companies started to create “alter-egos” or what is commonly called double breasted. This meant that traditionally union companies would establish non-union “sister” companies that threatened market share. Corporate open shop drives gained strength and started to lobby Congress for more and more anti-union legislation. Their lobby efforts were rewarded as President Nixon took the almost unprecedented step of suspending Davis-Bacon protections on February 3rd, 1971. Although his decision was later reversed, it was a sign that construction unions and the labor movement were heading into troubled waters. General President William Sidell summed up the UBC’s outlook at the beginning of the 1978 convention when he said…
    
    "This period of high unemployment and almost total economic stagnation coupled with sharply increased employer resistance and more intense anti-union activity by right-wing groups of every description, including Merit Shop Contractors, the National Association of Manufacturers, Right-to-Work Committees, and many other anti-union forces, all combined to generate one of the most difficult challenges faced by the trade union movement in this century."

24. New Decades, Bad Times for All Workers

    The election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 brought in a new economic and social conservatism that would start to cripple America’s labor movement. The emergence of “Reaganomics” was just another name for an excessively pro-corporate and anti-union economic policy. Indeed the gap between the rich and the poor during Reagan’s presidency widened dramatically. Anti-union groups had a new friend in the White House and would use that relationship to try and destroy labor.
    
    Perhaps nothing better exemplifies labor relations in the 1980’s than the mass firing of air traffic controllers in 1981. For years PATCO (Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization) and its membership had been complaining about deteriorating working conditions. Because their complaints were not being taken seriously, over 15,000 members of PATCO took to strike on August 3rd, 1981. Within hours Ronald Reagan hit the airwaves to declare that any worker who did not return to their job within forty-eight hours would be fired. Most did not return and they were indeed fired. With one quick action President Reagan declared to America that union busting was not only okay, it is what the President would do.
    
    For the next two decades the economy became increasingly dominated by the few at the top. Wall Street was bustling with corporate mergers not seen since the days of gigantic monopolies. The very rich were receiving new tax breaks because they would “spend” and stimulate the economy. Corporations received tremendous tax breaks under the premise that more millions in profits would lead to more jobs for workers, but it didn’t. When jobs were created they were mostly non-union and paid workers a fraction of what their union jobs did. Social programs were cut to pay for these tax breaks to the wealthy and more families found themselves treading water. Federal construction regulations mandating that public projects pay “prevailing wage,” usually union scale, were simply ignored. By the mid 1980’s construction on military bases was dominated by non-union contractors.
    
    President Reagan left two seats open at the National Labor Relations Board, the governing body of labor disputes between unions and companies during organizing drives, for almost three years. When the seats were finally filled, with anti-union judges, the backlog of cases was tremendous. It was not unusual for a labor union to have to wait five years for a final decision from the NLRB thus making the Board almost useless and crippling organizing drives that relied on the process of elections.
    
    The entire construction industry encountered the 1980’s NLRB when the Board ruled in the John Deklewa and Sons case. The Deklewa decision greatly damaged the power of pre-hire agreements, something that construction unions relied on heavily for decades, when the Board essentially “freed pre-hire signatories from 8(d) requirements to bargain successor agreements, thus allowing for greater latitude for employers to walk away from 8(f) labor contracts.” What this effectively meant for construction trade unions was that they could no longer rely on top-down organizing techniques alone and they had to be able to organize workers through grassroots campaigns.
    
    The Carpenters Union was better organized to deal with such an anti-union decision because it had been teaching members how to organize and build worker support for decades. “In 1973, a call goes out to rank-and-file members to help the union grow as the Brotherhood inaugurates volunteer organizing committees in locals around the U.S. and Canada. ’You and your fellow members are the Brotherhood,’ writes Carpenter in announcing the program. ’Organizing is a task which must be accepted as a matter of urgency and necessity by each and every member.’ Today the UBC remains committed to building Volunteer Organizing Committees made up of members and organizers that aggressively organize workers and teach them how to fight their employers and win.
    
    The not-so-new economic practice of globalization started to really take off in the 80’s. Corporations shipped production overseas in the search for cheap labor, and then moved again looking for cheaper labor. Union companies took the lead as many union members in the manufacturing sector saw their jobs outsourced to places as far away as India. In 1994 the United States agreed to NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), which essentially opened the floodgates for corporations to seek the cheapest labor they can find in North America. That agreement was followed by CAFTA (Central America Free Trade Agreement) in 2005 that promises to make matters worse for American workers, and subsequently all workers in North America.
    
    Employer tactics and anti-union governments are not the only reasons that union membership dropped tremendously from 1980 to the mid 1990’s. Unions walked away from their roots of aggressively organizing workers. This led to a far more conservative labor movement. Even with concern to collective bargaining, unions were mired in givebacks to hyper profitable employers throughout the decade. The decades of the 80’s and 90’s saw fewer strikes than most before them. There is little question that a major reason why union power declined in the 1980’s and 1990’s was that union workers were not as active and militant as their predecessors.
    
    Like every union the Carpenters struggled through the 80’s and 90’s. Although wages and benefits for union members did steadily increase, union membership declined.

25. Fighting Back

    In 1995 the United Brotherhood of Carpenters elected new leadership dedicated to bringing the union back to its roots of aggressive organizing and winning at the bargaining table. Almost immediately the UBC hired new organizers from its ranks to hit jobsites and expand market share. The message was clear; the Carpenters’ union would once again be an aggressive organizing union dedicated to making sure that every worker in its trades is protected by the UBC. By 2006, the 125 year anniversary of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, the International Union was devoting over half of its budget to organizing new members and fighting non-union employers that exploit carpenters.
    
    Hundreds of organizers have indeed organized new contractors and brought in more members throughout the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. In cities like New York, for example, the Carpenters union has signed historical contracts that increase the wages and benefits for its members by twenty five percent. New policies have been passed by Carpenter District Councils and its Locals throughout America requiring union members to dedicate at least one day per year to union action. These programs have had a tremendous affect on all organizing efforts and legislative goals. These programs are proof that the Carpenters’ union is indeed dedicated to creating a “fighting” union for the twenty-first century. The emphasis on organizing and strong membership action has forced hundreds of new agreements on projects that would have otherwise fallen to the non-union sector.
    
    In 2005 the Carpenters union came joined six other unions in a new labor federation named Change to Win. This Federation is comprised of some of the largest and most powerful unions in the service and manufacturing sectors. The Federation promises to spend a majority of its resources on organizing new members and working in solidarity to bring employers from every sector to the negotiating table.
    
    The Carpenters Union is indeed going back to its roots of demanding recognition in the workplace by hitting employers in the streets. The anti-union environment in America comprised of anti-union employer associations, anti-union government and a general anti-union economy has devastated the American working class, regardless of union status. The Carpenters, and the labor movement, emerged from the last two decades of the 20th century battered but not beaten. The beginning of the 21st century marks a new chapter in labor history and the Carpenters, for one, are determined to write it in favor of union victories throughout America for all workers.

26. Resources

    Anyone interested in the history of labor, and that of the Carpenters union, has many more resources today than at any other time. There is no question that the history of workers uniting against almost insurmountable odds is not only stimulating, but critical to any worker who believes winning is impossible. Everyday workers before us re-defined impossibility and their stories are well-documented.
    
    Among many of the great books available, there are three great books that immediately come to mind.

    1. Labor's Untold Story. Richard O. Boyer and Herbert M. Morais. Pulished by UE.
    2. From the Folks Who Brought You the Weekend. Priscilla Murulo and A.B. Chitty, Illustrations by Joe Sacco. Published by the New Press in New York.
    3. The United Brotherhood of Carpenters. Walter Galeson. Harvard University Press, Cambridge Massachusetts.