NY Carpenters' Union Embraces Immigrant Organizing

This story originally appeared in Labor Notes.

It wasn't long ago that unionized carpenters were more likely to attack immigrant workers as they worked on construction sites than welcome them into a union hall.

"In the early 1990s, the union would go to non-union jobs and threaten to call--and sometimes call--immigration on the workers. It was a 'wrecking crew' situation," said Greg Butler, a United Brotherhood of Carpenters (UBC) member in New York City.

The animosity between unionized Carpenters and their non-union, sometimes immigrant, counterparts was fueled by the replacement of unionized workers by lower-wage, non-union Black and Latino workers throughout the industry in the last 30 years. A history of building trades locals segregated by race and ethnic identity heightened those tensions.

"As more immigrants came to New York, they gravitated towards non-union building trades and employers could pay them $7 an hour," said Butler. "The union has had to recognize the reality that the only way to organize is to start organizing the immigrant workers."

While it hasn't happened overnight, the union has been making attempts to bridge the gap between unionized and non-union carpenters in the area.

Recent small-scale campaigns by the UBC in New York could pave the way for an increase in the number of immigrant workers in the ranks. Worker-to-worker organizing models and the support of Carpenters members have brought dozens of immigrant workers into the union in the last year--though contracts have been harder to win.

Taking Chances

On 18th Street in Manhattan this June, a typical scene unfolded: 30 unionized carpenters picketed outside a non-union construction project where workers were preparing to pour concrete for the foundation of a new condominium.

But what happened next could portend a new phase in the acrimonious relationship between immigrant workers and the building trades. Amidst applause and cheers of "come out!" from their union counterparts, 15 non-union immigrant workers walked off the job, knowing they'd never be able to return.

Walk-out participant Shavan Agard, an immigrant from Ghana who's worked construction jobs in the New York area for more than two years, said workers were tired of being promised one wage and earning another. The choice to walk off, he said, boiled down to the day-to-day realities of working for non-union construction.

"The wages, the hours you worked, they pushed you a lot on the job," Agard said. "If you get injured on the job you have no benefits. They promise you one thing and you don't get it. They can fire you for any reason."

Agard, along with other immigrant workers who walked off, joined the Carpenters and now works on a union site and receives benefits.

"You've got to take chances," Agard said. "Construction workers fear getting into the union and getting out of work, but that's not true. In non-union construction, if the job is closed, too bad, you have to keep looking elsewhere."

While the Carpenters union has struggled to organize immigrant workers, union members supported the walk out. "Part of what you need to do to organize non-union workers is to organize your own workers to support the campaign," said Andres Puerta, who's been organizing immigrant workers for the UBC. "Carpenters in New York are aggressive, proud union members and part of that identity is that they support these campaigns."

Winning in Defeat

Organizing immigrant workers in the construction trades has proven difficult as immigrant workers are vulnerable to employer threats, work in job sites scattered widely across the city, and are often overlooked by union strategies that aim for larger workplaces--and quick campaigns.

To make it worse, employer retaliation can be hard to fight in small shops, and long proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board gives employers even more time to mount an anti-union campaign.