PORTLAND, Ore. (PAI)—The United Brotherhood of Carpenters is scrapping its two-decade-old women’s committee. That decision was made to avoid legal action by the Trump administration, Carpenters President Douglas McCarron wrote in a May 5 memo to district vice presidents.
“As you are well aware, current executive orders and policies targeting identity-based initiatives put our program ‘Sisters in the Brotherhood’ and its structure at legal risk,” McCarron wrote. McCarron said a “realignment” is necessary as a result.
The memo didn’t say what the legal risk is, and neither the national union nor the Western Regional Council returned calls.
It’s illegal for employers or unions to discriminate on the basis of race, sex, and other characteristics, but the union’s Sisters in the Brotherhood (SIB) committees never did that. To help recruit and retain female members and make the union more welcoming to women, Carpenters locals have sponsored SIB committees since as far back as 1998.
The groups were never exclusive and welcomed participation by male members as well. As of April, as many as 160 locals in the United States and Canada had SIB committees. Through SIB, women members build community and get active in union political and charitable work.
The international union gave SIB substantial support over the years, including staff time and a national structure, quarterly Zoom meetings, and in-person conferences about every three years.
The May 5 memo says SIB committees will be replaced with a new “Member Engagement Program,” but details of what that means have not been announced, and SIB committee meetings around the country have been canceled.
The union also moved swiftly to cut off commitments that SIB committee members cherished. Just a week before an annual career fair for women in the trades, the Western Regional Council of
Carpenters notified the event organizer, Oregon Tradeswomen, that it would be rescinding its sponsorship, would not contribute the $10,000 it had pledged, and would not take part in the event.
Event posters and t-shirts had already been printed. The pull-out came as a total shock, since Carpenters had been a key supporter of Oregon Tradeswomen.
Then on May 15, another McCarron memo announced the union is pulling out of an immensely popular national conference for tradeswomen, scheduled for September 19-21 in Chicago.
“In an effort to continue to protect our membership and given the current executive orders and policies targeting identity-based initiatives, it has been decided that the UBC will not participate in the Tradeswomen Build Nations Conference this year,” McCarron wrote.
Tradeswomen Build Nations is the largest gathering of unionized tradeswomen in the world. Last year in New Orleans, it drew more than 5,200 attendees. Whatever legal risk frightened the Carpenters doesn’t appear to have spooked any other unions.
Carpenters members will still attend it, but they’ll be there without the support of their union. Locals are reportedly barred from contributing funds to send members to the conference. Some Carpenters members are planning on attending as individuals through fundraising and paying their own way. One respondent to the Northwest Labor Press story e-mailed whether any solidarity groups are planned.
Several SIB supporters told the Labor Press the name change and the canceled commitments have damaged morale and sparked something of a backlash.
Even before it became official in the May 5 memo, word of the planned changes leaked out. Fourteen retired former SIB leaders from a dozen locals signed a May 1 letter to McCarron and the Carpenters executive board urging them to support the work of SIB and not to change its name.
“The impact to our female members of taking away the Sisters name will be deeply negative and consequential,” the letter said. “Whatever the intent is, the message will be that women aren’t supported in the UBC. That may mean women not joining our union.
“It may mean women leaving the UBC. It may mean active members cease to volunteer for union events. It may mean local SIB groups leave the UBC, and re-form, separate from our union. None of these are good outcomes.”
As news spread of the name change and the decision to pull out of Tradeswomen Build Nations, SIB supporters began introducing and passing resolutions at local general membership meetings calling for continued support for SIB and restored participation in Tradeswomen Build Nations. By the June 19 deadline for submitting resolutions, at least 10 locals passed resolutions, including Local 503 in Oregon. They plan to take those resolutions to the union’s convention August 18-21 in Las Vegas.
Disclosure of the memo and UBC’s decision drew nine e-mailed responses to the Labor Press. All criticized the international’s decision. One wondered “if there are any solidarity events planned for our Northwest siblings who were planning to attend” the Chicago conference “and now face paying their own way.” Another, who named himself “Richard” said that as a member of Local 503, “I can tell you this decision was not popular with the rank and file.”
One, from “Proud UBC sister,” was mildly critical.
“Who are you getting this version of the story from?” she e-mailed. “Nobody active with the local or anyone official from the Council or UBC because your facts are out of whack. Local 503 membership still has a committee meeting led by the same sisters with full support of their local and council. The OTW (Oregon Tradeswomen) situation didn’t happen how you stated it.”
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