"I agree with the proposal," explained Peter Pascale, Jr., prior to the meeting. "It's good for guys like me that have a lot more years to work." He reported that other construction trades honored the carpenter's picket lines.

Another young carpenter planned to vote against the contract. "They didn't meet us in the middle," he argued. "They gave us a little more but extended the contract from three years to four." He, like others, support the gain in the proposed contract that would bring the carpenters who work on road construction up to the salary of building construction, a central aim of the strike. "But this is the second most expensive state in the country" to live in, he explained.

By a vote of 835 to 236, union members approved the contract. The agreement raises the wage and benefits package for building workers by $7.85 per hour and of highway workers by $10.40 an hour over the life of the agreement.

Some 3,000 carpenters were on strike statewide. Another 2,000 members, whose employers agreed to abide by any contract negotiated with the union, were not called out by the union leadership.

This strike is the first by all three Connecticut locals. A number of union members pointed out that the process of synchronizing the contract expiration dates and wiping out a tradition of lower wages in some parts of the state has strengthened the union.

Mike Goodman, with 15 years on the job, didn't like the proposed contract because of the extension to four years. He spoke to Militant reporters at the Norwalk Local 210 hall. "Construction workers face the risk of injury and death. We don't get sick days, paid holidays, or paid vacations," he explained. Goodman said he is helping to form a local chapter of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists to push for more minorities in union offices to help strengthen the union.

Bob Violano has 30 years in the trade. A year and a half ago he was seriously injured when a beam fell on him. He discovered that in the state of Connecticut companies are not required to pay health benefits for workers who are disabled on the job. Violano receives 75 percent of his net pay while he recovers and is paying $500 a month for his health care. He will also lose out on pension benefits for the time he is out of work.

Several members of Local 210 said the union has been on a campaign to reach out to workers who have not traditionally been union members. Mike Robinson, an apprentice instructor who was staffing the voting operation in Norwalk, said Spanish-speaking instructors have been hired and there are eight women in the current class. He reported that there are 70 women in Local 210.

"The union is becoming very mixed, very fast," explained Erik Kowalski. "I'm 33 and since I've been working I've seen a lot more Blacks and Hispanics," he said. "When I see Mexicans on a site I'll bring up the union with them. The union magazine has articles in English, Spanish, and French. I leave it around." Kowalski also reported that he now sees union organizers come onto nonunion sites where he's working.

In March 2001 Doug McCarron, national president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, led the union out of the AFL-CIO. The July 23 Fortune magazine noted that McCarron's "defection highlighted Big Labor's central crisis: declining membership. The AFL-CIO spends a lot of money on public relations, lobbying, campaign contributions, and bureaucratic featherbedding--funds McCarron believes would better be spent on recruitment."

Under McCarron the Carpenters reversed substantial losses in membership, growing from 349,000 in 1995 to around 550,000 in 2001.  
 
 
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