IBEW Local 1 Pickets Carpenters’ Electrical Union

More than 200 union construction workers picketed outside the Carpenters' District Council headquarters on Hampton Avenue on December 7 in protest against Local 57 and "the hypocrisy" of Carpenters' leader Terry Nelson.

Nelson established Local 57 in 2008 as an electrical division of the carpenters' union, because electricians were taking carpenters' work, he said. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local One, which had represented all union electricians in metro St. Louis, alleges that Local 57 lowers wage, skill and safety standards in the region. The IBEW led the rally, which also included members of other trades, including glaziers and plumbers.

Stephen P. Schoemehl, business manager, IBEW Local One, said his union decided to picket the carpenters' hall on December 7 because Nelson was going to hold an electrical show there on that date.

"St. Louis has greatly benefited from each trade's development as specialists that cultivate the highest skilled and safest workforce in the country to deliver projects proficiently. Carpenters doing electricians' work lowers that standard and undermines efforts to build better together," said Schoemehl. Local 57, he added, "gives a black eye to the St. Louis construction industry."

Some prominent construction consumers don't agree that Local 57 is bad for the industry. BJC, Lindenwood College, St. Louis Community College, and Jefferson Barracks all have or have had Local 57 signatory electrical contractors work on their projects.

The demonstration at the Carpenters' Hall was publicized on the web site local57facts.com, an anti-Local 57 web site that Schoemehl said is independent of the IBEW.

IBEW Local One billed the mass picket as a "Do Not Patronize Hypocrisy" rally to highlight the "hypocrisy" of an on-going CDC campaign to post "Do not patronize" pickets in front of St. Louis area businesses that it claims undermine wage, skill and safety standards by using non-union carpenters on their building projects. Those pickets can be found at Crazy Deals at Natural Bridge and Lucas and Hunt roads; the Holiday Inn at Butler Hill and I-55 and all locations for The Olive Garden, Texas Roadhouse and Dollar Tree.

"As long as the CDC continues to lower standards with its electrical division, that campaign rings very hollow," Schoemehl said.

Nelson has consistently rejected the charge that Local 57 lowers labor standards. He said that the wages and benefits enjoyed by Local 57 electricians are comparable to the wages and benefits enjoyed by IBEW Local One electricians. The difference in total hourly rates, amounting to about $7.50 an hour, is due to the higher "overhead" that the IBEW charges for administering benefits. Local One countered that that supposed "overhead" includes apprenticeship and journeyman training that its members get without charge, but that Local 57 members have to pay for out of their own pockets.

Schoemehl insisted that the picket line at the Carpenters' Hall was not directed at members of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. "We know many rank and file carpenters feel the same way we do, but the CDC has attempted to silence any opposition," he said. "We want to show our support for the dues-paying members of the Carpenters' District Council who oppose the CDC using those dues to fund a non-union trade that has no benefit to rank-and-file carpenters," he added.

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