Nearly two dozen carpenters, union representatives, and others turned out for the 5:30 a.m. picket denouncing the company’s attempt to nullify a recent union certification election held there. Carrying signs in Spanish reading “Workers have rights” and “Vote union, Sí,” pickets also demanded the reinstatement of four workers they said were fired for union activity.

“Organize or die” is the bottom line for the unions, said Craig King. “If we don’t organize, we’re going away.” King is the field representative of the Alabama Carpenters Regional Council, which is carrying out an organizing drive among workers employed by concrete construction contractors in the Birmingham/Tuscaloosa area.

The union won an election at Concrete Form Walls June 24. The owner is challenging the results, claiming that undocumented workers who participated in the election had no right to vote. A hearing before the National Labor Relations Board in July will rule on the issue.

The Council, a division of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, began laying the groundwork for the organizing drive seven months ago. In late June informational pickets were set up at five targeted companies: Concrete Form Walls; Concrete Walls; Superior Concrete Walls and Footing Company; Cornerstone Poured Walls; and JeffCo Concrete Contractors. Workers from all of these companies have expressed interest in union representation. None of these employers offers pension plans or affordable family health insurance. Hourly wages average $8--$10, well below union scale.

The Carpenters union is targeting a “market segment,” or group of companies that do basically the same kind of work, instead of one single company at a time, King said. Jerry Brooks, an organizer from Mobile, Alabama, said this approach has been used successfully by the union in its organizing drive at petrochemical plants along the Gulf of Mexico coast from Texas to Florida. Brooks said the union has won recognition and has been fighting for contracts in the Mobile area for the past two years.

JeffCo attorney Bruce Henderson dismissed the organizing drive, telling the Tuscaloosa News that this is “a typical campaign attack.” The company is considering legal action, he said.

Workers are drawn to the union because they want higher wages, family health coverage and other benefits, and rights to dignity and to combat discrimination, Brooks said. “Nobody should have to live under the poverty level,” he stated. “Immigrants should have the same rights as other workers.”

King said that both union and nonunion contractors bid on jobs based on the same average labor costs, about $35 per hour per worker. Since nonunion companies pay lower wages and offer no benefits, “Where does the difference go?” he asked. The bosses’ attitudes towards the workers is to “use them ’til they get worn out, then get new young ones they can hire at lower pay.”

Johnny Arguedes, a union organizer and member of Carpenters Local 127 in Birmingham, told these reporters that 90 percent of the 150 employees of the five targeted companies are either Latino or Black, including many immigrants. Some of the Latino workers have lived and worked in the United States for a number of years. Others are recent arrivals. “We get a good response from the Hispanic workers,” he said.

“Latino workers will stand strong, even though some may be fearful and feel like everybody is against them,” said Larry Hodge, a Carpenters Local 127 organizer. “But constant pressure from the company can have an effect. You can’t have a fair election with intimidation tactics.”

Pascual Hernández was a union surface miner in Mexico for 16 years before coming to the United States. A year ago he was part of a successful 43-day strike there by some 1,500 workers demanding a wage raise and rejecting attempts by the bosses to set up a pro-company union. “That experience will be useful here,” he said.

King stated that the union organizes all carpenters at a construction site regardless of race, gender, or immigration status. “All workers in the United States have a federally protected right to organize,” he said.

On July 2, a number of regional staffers and members of Carpenters union locals in the area were on hand with signs to greet workers coming to vote on union representation at Concrete Walls.

One of the carpenters present was Alejandro Arcos, 36, originally from Vera Cruz, Mexico. He came with three other union carpenters who work out of Wilsonville, Alabama. The pickets were standing at a turnoff from the highway, and many passing truckers honked in solidarity. “We’re here to support the union because the union supports us,” Arcos said.

Brian Taylor is a member of United Mine Workers of America Local 2133. Janine Dukes contributed to this article.  
 
 
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