A job well done to five union carpenters who volunteered on a Saturday in late April to help Rebuilding Together Boston as part of their National Rebuilding Day. The members, who participated through the Sisters in the Brotherhood program worked together, alongside 30 other volunteers, on the house of an elderly Dorchester resident. 

The Rebuilding Together Boston program works throughout the City of Boston to repair and renovate the homes of economically disadvantaged homeowners including the elderly, veterans, families with children, single parent households, the physically challenged, and others in need. The program also assists non-profit-owned facilities- community centers, schools, worship centers, etc. Services are provided at no cost to recipients due to the generous support of foundations, corporations, vendors and individuals like the carpenter volunteers.

Volunteers on the Dorchester project rebuilt a bulkhead, replaced a number of windows and two doors, patched walls, hung drywall, rebuilt a portion of the kitchen, replaced window and door trim, rebuilt latticework around the foundation, poured concrete for a new sill to the bulkhead, and much more.

Members involved in the effort included Karen Blandino, Local 67; Mary Ann Cloherty, Local 40; Mary Muhler, Local 67; Liz Skidmore, Local 118; and pre-apprentice Kaitlin Medeiros.

Applications are now being accepted for the 2013 New England Regional Council Scholarship Program. Last year 148 students applied and a total of $50,000 was awarded, including the top prize scholarship of $5,000.

To be considered for an award, a completed application package must be received by 5:00 pm on April 12, 2013.

Please review the Eligibility and Guidelines for the program before completing the application. Applicants will be required to write an essay of between 500 and 1000 words on the following topic:

What impact does “Right to Work” legislation have on labor unions, economic development and the standard of living in a state that adopt the law?

To eliminate bias, the scholarship committee is blind to the identity of the applicant. Essays are numerically coded to prevent any reader from having knowledge of the writer. Winners of the top two prizes will be asked to read their essays at the June 2013 delegate meeting. Persons awarded first or second place in a prior year are ineligible for first or second place in subsequent years.

Congratulations to New Hampshire Local 118 member Gary Vermillion, who yesterday was elected to a two-year term on the Londonderry Budget Committee. 

See complete list of Londonderry town election reults here. 

Bryan Bouchard, who serves as Business Manger of Local 1996 in Vermont, Regional Manager for Northern New England and a member of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters Executive Board has announced his retirement, effective March 11. Bouchard is a 36-year member of the UBC.

Executive Secretary-Treasurer Mark Erlich is appointing John Leavitt to fill Bouchard's unexpired term on the Executive Board as well as his role as Regional Manager for Northern New England.

"Bryan served the members on staff for the Carpenters Union for 26 years," Erlich said. "He has been a quiet but effective leader who always carried himself with dignity and integrity. He will be sorely missed by his members and the Council. We wish him a long and happy retirement."
 

The 5th Annual New England Carpenters Ice Fishing Derby will be held Sunday, February 17 from 7am-2pm at Singletary Lake in Millbury, Massachusetts.

Organizer Joe Broderick will be set up at 5am at the lake, which can be accessed by West Main Street in Millbury. Look for a banner with the carpenters emblem by the boat ramp. There is a $20 fee to enter. Twenty-five percent of proceeds will be donated to the Valley Tech Educational Fund

Power augers will not be allowed before 7am and no tickets will be sold after 9am. Awards and a shore drawing will be held at the boat ramp at 2pm. Prizes will be awarded to the heaviest fish of any species, with 40% of proceeds going to the winner, 25% to 2nd place and 10% to 3rd place. Ties will be broken by fish length. All fish must be brought in alive.

For questions, please call Joe Broderick of Local 535 at 781-983-1383.

On January 12, 2010, a catastrophic earthquake hit Haiti, devastating an already impoverished nation. With much of the country's medical infrastructure destroyed, plans that were in place to build a 110-bed community hospital had to be revamped. The Ministry of Health, along with Partners In Health, launched a far more ambitious plan to build a 320-bed state-of-the-art teaching hospital in Mirebalais, which is located thirty-five miles north of Port-au-Prince in the Central Plateau.

Haiti's building industry, however, was simply unable to meet the needs of the new building design. Massive donations of time, materials and skills would be needed for the project to succeed. Union carpenters and contractors stepped up to the challenge to help secure materials and volunteer their time and labor to help build the hospital while teaching Haitian workers valuable craft skills 

To learn more, check out the piece NERCC Executive Secretary-Treasurer Mark Erlich wrote for Commonwealth magazine about this amazing project following a trip to Haiti in 2012.

Registration is now open!

Registration is now open for 2013 Spring Semester. All training is provided FREE to UBC members. Classes are filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so register early!

To register, log onto the training website NECTF.org by using your UBC number (found on your union card) and your date of birth.

Check out nercc.org/training2013 for more info. 

Applications are now being accepted for the 2013 New England Regional Council Scholarship Program. Last year 148 students applied and a total of $50,000 was awarded, including the top prize scholarship of $5,000.

To be considered for an award, a completed application package must be received by 5:00 pm on April 12, 2013.

Please review the Eligibility and Guidelines for the program before completing the application. Applicants will be required to write an essay of between 500 and 1000 words on the following topic:

What impact does “Right to Work” legislation have on labor unions, economic development and the standard of living in a state that adopt the law?

To eliminate bias, the scholarship committee is blind to the identity of the applicant. Essays are numerically coded to prevent any reader from having knowledge of the writer. Winners of the top two prizes will be asked to read their essays at the June 2013 delegate meeting. Persons awarded first or second place in a prior year are ineligible for first or second place in subsequent years.

Misclassification has been a serious problem in the construction industry for years, and something against which the Carpenters union has led the fight locally, regionally and nationally. Union efforts resulted first in greater understanding and awareness among elected officials and now regularly lead to enforcement and publicity on the issue that is either directly a result of union action or an indirect result of efforts initiated by the union.

Two items broke this week that reinforce that point. In Worcester, Telegram and Gazette columnist Clive McFarlane wrote about efforts by NERCC Organizer Manny Gines to chase down employers who cheat by misclassifying workers as independent contractors or cheat them out of their wages.

McFarlane's column ties into an announcement earlier in the week by the Executive Office of Labor in Massachusetts that more they had found more than 2,300 workers misclassified by just three employers. Though the three companies were not involved in the construction industry, the eye-popping $11 million in unreported wages and millions of dollars the state should have received for unemployment insurance payments generated new stories that put the issue in front of the general public.

To all staff and local unions:

Yesterday was a good day for union carpenters across New England. Amazingly, all of the Council’s endorsed candidates won election. Obama swept the six states, including winning swing-state New Hampshire by a larger-than-expected margin. In the critical races -- Warren in Massachusetts, Murphy in Connecticut, Hassan/Kuster/Shea-Porter in New Hampshire, King in Maine, Cicilline in Rhode Island – our picks were all winners!!

There is no doubt in my mind that some of the credit for these outcomes belongs to all of you and our members. We worked as hard as we ever have in an election season. We used all the tools available to us – new and old techniques – to educate and mobilize our members. And they responded. Door knocking, phone banks, rallies, visibilities, robo-dials, tele-Town Halls. We had a good story to tell…and we told it well and often.

But it’s important to keep a clear-eyed perspective on where we stand the morning after Election Day 2012. In many ways, we “held serve”. We helped fend off the right wing Republican assault on the middle class. There should be a clear message to the nation’s anti-union forces that their philosophy is not welcome, that the voters do not buy an agenda that favors the wealthy over working families. Yet we still have a divided Congress; we still have a Republican Party that attacks unions. We have some new articulate champions but we also have some old foes. Paul Ryan is still chair of the House Budget Committee and there are no signs yet that the House leadership is prepared to move forward in terms of solving our country’s problems as opposed to scoring political points.

So, as much as all of us deserve to take a deep breath and feel a justified sense of pride in our efforts, we will need to remain vigilant. The economy will not fix itself; it will require more federal and state action to invest in jobs and people. And it will require our continued involvement. Our members need to work; that’s why we endorsed the candidates who understood that the best social program is a job.

Thank you all for your efforts these past weeks and months. It was worth it. Congratulations.

Mark Erlich
Executive Secretary-Treasurer
New England Regional Council of Carpenters
 

More than 50 members, representing ten local union affiliates of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters, gathered in Salem and Pelham, New Hampshire Saturday to knock on some doors. Members canvassed in support of President Barack Obama, Gubernatorial candidate Maggie Hassan and Annie Kuster, Second District candidate for United States House of Representatives. They visited with both union carpenters and members of the general public for several hours.

Learn more about the Portsmouth Middle School project by clicking here to see it in our online portfolio. 

Learn more about the Congreve Hall renovation project, by clicking here to view the project in our portfolio.

Learn more about the Service Credit Union building project, by clicking here to view the project in our portfolio.

Members from Local 118 gathered with other Building Trades members in front of the Merrimack Premium Outlets in New Hampshire to protest Simon Property Group’s broken promises and lack of support for union workers.

Simon Property Group is building the $100 million dollar outlet mall, which will be home to more than 100 high end and designer retailers.

Local union members first stepped up to support the project in 2005.

“The developer came to us…and asked for our help getting the project through a complex zoning and planning process that included a city-wide vote that produced the highest voter turn-out in Merrimack’s history,” said Liz Skidmore, NERCC Organizer.

“In exchange for our support and help, they committed to building the entire project union. They reneged on their promise.”

Instead of hiring local, responsible contractors, Simon Property Group hire out-of-state contractors who brought out-of-state workers, a number of whom are illegally misclassified as independent contractors and aren’t covered by workers’ compensation.

Simon management released a statement in response to the demonstration.

“We have cooperated with the unions from the beginning of the project. The project was always planned as a publicly bid open shop.”

Construction workers from about 30 states have been helping to create the new shopping center, including tradesmen from as far away as Arizona, California, Nevada and Texas.

Various building trades members gathered at the mall to bring to light their frustrations from these broken promises, in an effort to drive more local jobs as fit out work continues on site.

The Merrimack Patch ,Nashua Telegraph , and Union Leader covered the rally.

Members were meeting at the site once again this morning and are considering a rally on opening day at the mall, which is scheduled for June 14th.

Congratulations on a job well done to eight union carpenters who pitched in a lot of time and effort to help the Rebuilding Together Boston Program on their National Rebuilding Day. The women members, who participated through the Sisters in the Brotherhood program, worked on three sites in the city, adding experienced, skilled hands to the effort.

Rebuilding Together Boston works on an annual basis to repair and renovate the homes of economically disadvantaged homeowners (including the elderly, veterans, families with children, single parent households, the physically challenged and others in need) as well as non-profit-owned facilities (community centers, schools, worship centers, etc.) in the City of Boston. RTB provides its services at no cost to recipients due to the generous support of foundations, corporations, individuals and vendors.

This year's projects on National Rebuilding Day included: six homes in Mattapan, Dorchester and Roxbury; Pine Street Inn Veterans’ housing, a residence for formerly homeless women, and the Nazareth Residence for Mothers and Children.

Members involved in the effort included: Joan Bennett, Local 33; Theresa Haymon, Local 33; Maureen Owen-Ewings, Local 67; Marcia Williams-White, Local 33; Karen Blandino, Local 67; Judy Sullivan, Local 67; Mikey Myles, Local 67 and Liz Skidmore, Local 118.

Carpenters Local 118 in New Hampshire recently announced that is has endorsed the candidacy of former state senator Maggie Hassan for Governor. The affiliate of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters was the first union to endorse her campaign. She will face fellow former state senator Jackie Cilley in a Democratic primary to replace retiring incumbent Democratic Governor John Lynch.

“There is too much at stake for any of us to sit on the sidelines in this election. We need to support a leader who can win in November and that leader is Maggie Hassan,” said Brother Joe Donahue. “We’ve worked with many candidates and public officials over the years and Maggie’s records as a State Senator and Senate Majority Leader is second to none in demonstrating a firm commitment to New Hampshire’s working families.”

“Maggie is a strong and consistent advocate for the issues important to working people in New Hampshire: protecting workers’ rights to collectively bargain, standing up against attempts to make New Hampshire a so-called “right to work” state, and increasing the minimum wage.”

“I’m honored to have earned the support of the Carpenters,” said Hassan. “They represent some of the best and brightest trades people in our state and I’m excited to have them on board our growing campaign. I’m also proud to have stood with them in their ongoing efforts to prevent the abuse of workers in the construction industry.”
 

 In recognition of Earth Day 2012 the New England Carpenters Training Fund is sponsoring a FREE electronics Recycling on Monday, April 23, 2012 at the New England Carpenters Training Center (NECTC), 13 Holman Rd, Millbury, MA 01527.

Items may be dropped off between the hours of 7:00 AM and 2:30 PM (any day this week or on Monday, April 23).

Please call the NECTC at 508-792-5443 to let them know if you will participating so they have an idea of when you will arrive and the items you will be bringing.

The following items will be accepted.

• PC’s/Laptops
• Monitors (CRT & LCD)
• Terminals
• Servers
• Wires and Cables
• Fax Machines
• Printers
• Power Supplies
• VCR, DVDs, CD’s, floppies, camcorders
• Electrical Equipment
• Stereo Equipment and components
• Server Racks
• Projectors
• Photocopiers
• Communication Equipment
• Networking equipment
• Cell Phones
• Telecom Equipment

****We will not accept TV’s as there is a charge for them

Information sessions are being held for members who would like to learn more about degree programs available through the union at Wentworth Institute of Technology. Two sessions are scheduled in the coming weeks.

Saturday, April 21 at 10AM: 750 Dorchester Ave., Boston, MA

Saturday, May 5 at 9 AM: 13 Holman Rd., Millbury, MA

Learn more general information about the program by clicking here.

While we love the convenience and immediacy of sharing news and information through the “Council Update” and on NERCC.org and social media platforms, we know not every carpenter is active online. So the New England Regional Council is committed to continuing to produce the New England Carpenter magazine and deliver it to every member’s home.

The latest issue of New England Carpenter magazine has rolled through the presses up in Salem, Massachusetts at Deschamps Printing. You’ll notice some changes in this issue, including some new design elements and more (and bigger) pictures of union members and union projects!

We’re featuring a cluster of stories about member involvement in area standards demonstrations and introducing the Union Participation Program, which will plug active members into ongoing union efforts to protect standards and win more work opportunities.

Keep an eye on your mailbox or check-in at the media center on NERCC.org

Carpenters who were cheated of tens of thousands of dollars in wages reached a settlement with Capstone Development and Cottage Builders yesterday to receive their pay. The companies are the owners and developers of the “Cottage of Durham,” an upscale housing project where the carpenters were employed. It will serve students attending the University of New Hampshire.

The carpenters solicited help in getting their pay after their employer, Builders Construction Services of Alabama, refused to pay them and then fired them and evicted them from company-provided housing when they asked for their wages.

The Carpenters union and local church, student and community groups supported the carpenters, holding a high profile march and demonstration last week. The event garnered significant local and regional media attention (link) that put Capstone under a public spotlight and raised questions about other troubles the Alabama-based company has had with college housing projects, including one in Connecticut.

“We’re happy that these carpenters are finally going to be paid,” said Joe Donahue a representative of the Carpenters Union in New Hampshire. “Wage theft is a real problem in the construction industry right now. It drives down industry standards and drives qualified people out of the industry. Capstone and other developers and general contractors need to be held accountable for the subcontractors they hire. They should implement better controls and have severe penalties for members of their building teams who break the law.”
 

Union carpenters will join with church, student and community groups to hold a news conference today at 3pm at the Community Church of Durham (NH) at 17 Main Street to release information about serious violations of state and federal law--including non-payment of wages--at the "Cottages of Durham." The "Cottages of Durham" is a new student housing development for students of the University of New Hampshire. It is being developed by Capstone Development/The Cottages of Durham.

Please read this and consider visiting the Cottages of Durham Facebook page and politely ask them to do right by these workers.

Construction workers at the Cottages of Durham describe multiple and flagrant violations of state and federal labor law.

These workers say that they worked long hours for many weeks without pay. When they complained about nonpayment of their wages, they were terminated and evicted from their housing.

Union carpenters stand in solidarity with these exploited workers and demand that Cottages of Durham/Capstone Development promptly pay these workers what they are owed in wages and overtime.

The Nashua Telegraph yesterday published a piece by Mark Mackenzie, President of the New Hampshire AFL-CIO calling for a New Year's resolution to help workers in 2012. The piece was a good summary of what workers want and deserve, but aren't gettingin today's America. Click through to read the piece and consider sharing it with others.

Legislative leaders in New Hampshire today fell short of the votes needed to override Governor John Lynch's veto on Right to Work legsilation. The result is that New Hampshire will not become a Right to Work state.The vote was 240-139 to override the veto, short of the neccesary 2/3 required. Speaker William O'Brien had promised a swift override of the Governor's veto, but failed to call for a vote through the spring and summer, prompting many to believe that he could not muster the votes to override. Today was one of the final two active days of the current session, meaning if he did not bring it to a vote, the bill would have to be refiled fro scratch in the next session.

Texas Governor and GOP Presidential hopeful Rick Perry addressed legislators and voiced his support for the override vote just an hours before the effort failed, earning boos as well as cheers. Another Republican Presidential candidate, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, also spoke to legislators and urged them to support Right to Work by overriding the Governor's veto.

The judgement of both might be qustioned, given that news articles and talk around Concord seemed to indicate O'Brien was certain to fall several votes short, with most legislators holding firm and well known positions on the issue.

The Concord Monitor had an early report.

Right to work supporters are planning a major event in Concord on Wednesday to coincide with a vote on Right to Work legislation for New Hampshire. There are rumors that Republican Presidential Candidates will attend this rally.

We have beaten back this efforts before and need to do it again. But we need to ensure that our voices are heard and our faces are seen. Please join us Wednesday at 8am in front of the State House for a demonstration in support of workers, in support of unions and against Right to Work.

Again, that’s this Wednesday, November 30 at 8am in front of the State House in Concord. Thank you.

A New Hampshire commission established to consider and make recommendations on existing and potential new business regulations will include the voice of union carpenters. Joe Donahue, a member of Local 118 and employee of the New England Carpenters Labor Management Program was appointed by New Hampshire Governor John Lynch to the "Commission to Study Business Regulations in New Hampshire," a body established by legislative action earlier this year.

The commission will "study business regulations in New Hampshire, the impact they have on employment growth and business profitability, and the costs and benefits associated with the current regulatory environment. The goals of the commission shall be to:

(a) Review New Hampshire’s business oversights that fall under the umbrella of labor and workforce regulations.

(b) Review New Hampshire’s business oversights that fall under the umbrella of environmental and construction/permitting regulations.

(c) Identify potential reforms that could be made to regulations cited above, and develop legislation for the 2012 session to accomplish those reforms."

Donahue has extensive experience in political and legislative issues relating to the construction industry in New Hampshire and has been a key player in the efforts to improve enforcement, particularly relating to the issue of the misclassificaiton of workers.

Residents and workers in New Hampshire or those interested in the state or the construction industry, would do well to follow NHCarpenters on Twitter. Today, he's providing live, blow-by-blow updates on the progress of hearings relating to expanded gaming in the state. NHCarpenters is also a regular source of information on what's going on with carpenters--union and nonunion--in the industry and how contractors are behaving.

Even if you do not use Twitter, you can visit pages of those who do to see what they're up to. Use the link above to see current and past posts.

And of course, be sure to visit the Twitter account of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters (@NERCC).

Tradesworkers in New Hampshire recently rallied to support a legislative initiative that would expand gaming in the state, creating thousands of jobs and desperately needed revenue for the state.

The Manchester Union-Leader, a New Hampshire newspaper that has generally stuck to its very conservative roots even as the politics of the state become gradually more moderate to liberal, printed a two-story feature in it’s Sunday edition about the dark side of the construction industry in the state.

The stories center around Juan Garcia Hernandez, a "jefe" NERCC Organizers also knew as Juan Garcia. Hernandez supplied immigrant drywall workers for several projects in the region, including projects financed by the federal government through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). He was also arrested by state and federal agents on Easter weekend in New Hampshire’s biggest drug bust when he and some others were caught with 100 pounds of cocaine, worth approximately $4 million.

NERCC Organizers have been talking to employees working for Hernandez and other jefes for a long time, finding low wages promised, though sometimes unpaid. Without a concerted Federal effort to limit illegal immigration, several years ago the union decided it would be better served talking to immigrant workers and helping them fight for decent treatment.

The stories highlight how and why things have gotten so bad in the industry. Hutter Construction, who was the general contractor where Hernandez was subcontracted for drywall work, claimed they didn’t know a thing about Hernandez. Though their website brags about their skills as a company that can manage all aspects of a project including "supervision," "job records and reports," and "establish boundaries and benchmarks," they tried to run from any involvement with Hernandez in the story:

"The actual contract was with Granite State Drywall," said Chad Gibson, Hutter's project manager, adding that he was unaware Hernandez was involved in the project.
"It would be very hard for us to police three tiers down the line who is hiring them," Gibson said. "It's somewhat beyond our control."