CARPENTERS GET 'DROP-DEAD' DEADLINE TO REJOIN AFL-CIO By Mark Gruenberg, PAI, ILCA Associate Member
AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney gave the Carpenters a 'drop-dead deadline,' the federation's convention in July, to rejoin the federation or be evicted from all federation affiliates, including the Building Trades Department.
Confirming a reporter's talk with Building Trades President Ed Sullivan, Sweeney said he would 'enforce the (AFL-CIO) constitution' then. It requires unions to be wholly in or out.
At the AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting in Las Vegas, Sullivan told Press Associates that, for his unions, getting the Carpenters back 'has been a subtext of' AFL-CIO revamp talks.
When Carpenters President Douglas McCarron withdrew his union several years ago, he said the AFL-CIO needed to reform and put more emphasis on organizing. Sweeney and McCarron have talked of its return, while the union stayed in the department.
'What Sweeney has proposed shows he, too, agrees on the need for reform. It's Doug's choice, now,' Sullivan said.