Laborers, Operating Engineers Establish National Construction Alliance
Words: Dan KamysEffective March 1, the Laborers' International Union and the International Union of Operating Engineers withdrew from the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, and will form the National Construction Alliance (NCA).
The unions said the new basic trades organization, which will be independent from the AFL-CIO and modeled after the National Heavy and Highway Alliance, will respond "to today's construction industry."
Laborers's President Terence O'Sullivan and Operating Engineers President Vincent Giblin pledged to provide further details on NCA's structure March 1.
Along with the Laborers' and Operating Engineers, basic trade unions expected to join the alliance are the Carpenters and Joiners of America, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, and the Bridge Structural and Ornamental Iron Workers.
The Laborers' and Operating Engineers combined represent about 1.1 million members overall with about 625,000 of those members on construction job sites. An estimated two million building trades workers would be represented by the alliance with the addition of the other unions said to be considering joining the alliance.
About 80 percent of the Carpenters' 525,000 members are employed in construction, while the percentage of Teamster drivers on construction projects is relatively small.