St. Louis Carpenters Expand Into KC

The Carpenters' District Council of St. Louis announced Wednesday a merger that will expand the trade union's reach into Kansas City, Kansas and Southern Illinois.

The 27,000-member organization will be called the Carpenters' District Council of Saint Louis and Vicinity. The Carpenters District Council of Kansas City has dissolved, leaving most of its 14,000 members under the jurisdiction of the St. Louis Carpenters union.

The action occurred suddenly Tuesday under orders of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters in Washington, D.C., which oversees the carpenter district councils around the country.

The only reasons provided for dissolving the Kansas City district were to consolidate resources and provide more mobility for members and contractors to work in other parts of Missouri and Illinois.

In addition, the dissolution apparently results in the removal of Terry Davis as the Kansas City council's executive secretary-treasurer. Davis has headed the KC Carpenters council since 1992.

"The merger will consolidate our resources to provide better services and extend mobility for our members and contractors," the St. Louis council said in a prepared release.

Council spokesman Dave Wilson said union carpenters in western Iowa and Nebraska, once part of the Kansas City council, will be absorbed by the North Central States Regional Council, which encompasses Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Dakotas.

Nelson and Wilson both stressed that the merger is not connected to ongoing tension between the St. Louis council and other labor groups in the St. Louis region. "There's nothing sinister about this, it's just a consolidation of business practices," Nelson said.

The council is in the middle of a dispute between the carpenters and organizations representing other building and construction trades. Two years Nelson formed a splinter electrical contractors association to compete with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1.

Columns