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:: Monday, September 13, 2004 ::

“An Apostle of Corporate Unionism” Corporate Unionism (part 2) By Harry Kelber
In 2001, McCarron decided unilaterally to disaffiliate from the AFL-CIO in disputes over the federation’s poor organizing record and the carpenters’ delinquency in dues payments. Many rank-and-file carpenters around the country decried the move, noting that it would aggravate problems with the other construction crafts. There were rumors that McCarron’s breakaway from the AFL-CIO was part of a plan to create a separate building trades organization that he would control.

McCarron saw it as smart politics to develop a friendly relationship with President George Bush, inviting him to Labor Day picnics and union headquarters and, in return, getting to ride with the president on Air Force One. He has supported the White House on a number of issues, including the expansion of oil drilling in Alaska.

McCarron was one of several national union leaders who profited from an insiders’ stock trading scheme while serving as director of the union owned Union Labor Life Insurance Company (ULLICO). With the scandal going before a grand jury and investigations by several government agencies, McCarron reluctantly decided to return about $300,000 of his ill gotten profits.

Opposition to McCarron’s dictatorial control of the union has grown. In British Columbia, angry carpenters voted to exit from the UBC to escape from his clutches. He is faced with numerous law suits challenging his denial of members’ rights. But there is as yet no broad movement to unseat him and win the union back for its members.

Barring a nuclear holocaust, McCarron will get another  five-year lease to run the union in his anti-democratic, corporate style, when he is re elected at the Brotherhood’s 2005 convention.

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