• We deserve higher compensation for our labor. Business owners rely on keeping wages low in order to maximize profits.

• Tiered contracts create division between workers in the same trade. We should all be getting paid the same.

• The more workers that bargain together, the stronger their bargaining power becomes. We believe informed members are vital to strong organizing. 

• We believe solidarity across trades is the best way for all of us to increase our bargaining power.

• We believe that meaningful involvement of working carpenters in our union activities is vital to the continuance and growth of our organization. 

• We believe in bottom-up organizing and that union leadership should be directed by the voice of the Rank and File.

• We want every carpenter to attend and participate in local meetings. Meetings should be scheduled at sufficient locations and with reasonable times so as not to place unnecessary burdens on the membership. Technology should be utilized to provide access when necessary.

• We believe that Local unions should be as local as possible, and we oppose any consolidation of locals and/or local properties solely on a financial basis.

• We define rank and file as a carpenter who is covered by our collective bargaining agreements, paying hourly working dues, and whose monthly membership dues are up to date.

• We unite with the spirit of Point 12 of UBC’s stated platform: “Adoption of legislation requiring the election of all public officials by direct vote of the people.” This should also be applied to our union.

• We believe that direct democracy keeps members involved and provides an environment that nurtures participation and the freedom to express new ideas.

• Contract ratification should be democratically decided by One Member One Vote. All contracts should be voted on by dues paying rank and file as the sole means of ratification.

  • Carpenters deserve a say in our own livelihood.

  • We believe that only working carpenters should decide matters of compensation, retirees should have a voice but no vote on the matter.

• The rank and file should be informed of all developments in the contract negotiations. The contractors are certainly aware of what their representatives are doing at the table, we should be aware as well. 

• An Informed and prepared membership bargains from a position of strength, which in turn leads to the best decisions made for the most amount of people.

• Elected officers and delegates should carry the will of the rank and file members.

• We want our leaders to make a carpenter’s wage. No appointed or elected official should make more than the highest paid working carpenter in the area they represent. 

• To avoid potential conflicts of interest in leadership, delegates to intermediate bodies should be rank and file UBC members.

• Section 2: Objects:

  1. to organize workers; to encourage an apprenticeship system and a higher standard of skill;

  2. to develop, improve and enforce the program and standards of Occupational Safety and Health 

  3. cultivate friendship;

  4. to develop good public relations in the community;

  5. to assist each other to secure employment; to reduce the hours of daily labor;

  6. to secure adequate pay for our work;

  7. to establish a weekly pay day;

  8. to promote the establishment of fringe benefit plans for our members through the collective bargaining process;

  9. to coordinate bargaining toward the goal of taking wages out of competition and by legal and proper means to elevate the moral, intellectual and social conditions of all our members; 

  10. and to improve the trade in every way possible

• Section 3: Our Principles

  1. UNION-MADE GOODS

     1. As union members, we should be supporting other unions. Our money should not support non-union employers.

  2. LABOR LEGISLATION

     1. We should defend and push for labor-friendly laws, and hold politicians accountable when they fail to support labor-friendly objectives; no rubber stamps for rhetoric alone.

  3. LABOR DAY

     1. Labor Day should be a contractor-paid holiday.

     2. We recognize International Workers Day, aka May Day. The working class exists around the world, and our union should stand in solidarity.

  4. FAITHFUL WORK

     1. Our work reflects on each other and our communities. We have a responsibility to hold each other to the highest standards.

  5. SHORTER HOURS OF LABOR

     1. We unite with the UBC’s call for a thirty hour work week, with no reduction in weekly pay or benefits.

  6. OTHER INTERESTS

     1. We should respect and work alongside all rank and file union carpenters, regardless of race, gender, or sexuality

     2. No carpenter working in the field, paying working dues should be excluded for any reason. Excluding people only hurts our cause.

We are a democratic caucus and as such, we will make any democratically agreed upon changes.