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2001: Top 10 stories
The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America dominated the top union-related stories last year.
The No. 1 story involves the carpenters' March withdrawal from the AFL-CIO. That story involving the union was followed in November, when an unpopular reorganization moved 13 counties from the Carpenters Southern District Council to the Northern District Council.
Fighting for consensus
Political affiliation, job type and union status don’t matter to Wisconsin State AFL-CIO President David Newby as long as he can get the job done.
He works with Democrats and Republicans, contractors and manufacturers and labor and management to build relationships that generate results.
Growing up Together
John F. Kennedy was in the White House when Lyle Balistreri first entered Wisconsin’s construction industry, and since that time, he and organized labor have matured in tandem.
“It’s been a cakewalk,” said Balistreri, president of the Milwaukee Building and Construction Trades Council. “We’ve been working for over 20 years on trying to improve relations with employers. I just want to send a message out there that in Wisconsin, the relationship between labor and management and the marketplace is good.”
A strong ally
Joan Braun took notes at the first union negotiations she attended for the Plumbing and Mechanical Contractors Association of Milwaukee and Southeastern Wisconsin.
She said she remembers hearing a lot of four-letter words reflecting the relationship between labor and management at the time.
Regulating the industry
In the last year, Wisconsin unions have made it clear that mandatory state certification and licenses are a top priority, and they’re willing to go toe to toe with contractors to prove their point.
“In a nutshell, it’s for the betterment of the construction industry,” said Leon Burzynski, business representative for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 494 in Milwaukee, which union is backing a mandatory certification bill for electrical contractors and their employees. “Education is something that has to happen because the nature of the industry is changing.”
Lost in the flood
Wisconsin's union lobbyists are focused on preventing the government's preoccupation with the $1.1 billion budget deficit from burying the construction industry's interests in the next year.
"It is tough to talk about anything really exciting with a ($1.1 billion) deficit," said Joe Oswald, government and community affairs director for the Wisconsin Laborers District Council. "We want to concentrate on infrastructure and make sure that with all the cuts that are being made, they don't cut transportation. Our legislative agenda is preparing to make sure that everything is set when we start recovering."
Getting the nod
Labor unions across the state are preparing to mobilize and pack the polls in Wisconsin's November 2002 general election for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.
Many of the building trade locals are waiting until the September primary election to back candidates, but here is how the endorsements have stacked up so far.
Strength in Numbers
Union membership remains strong in the construction industry despite a national recession since March.
High membership numbers prior to the recession are a tool unions use to weather turbulent economic times.
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