Mechanical Crafts Unite To Protect Turf - McGraw-Hill Construction | ENR
Six building trade unions representing mechanical crafts have formed a new division within the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Dept.
The unions, including the plumbers, boilermakers, electrical workers, ironworkers, asbestos workers and sheet metal workers, want their Mechanical Allied Crafts unit, or MAC, to present a unified front to owners and contractors. Owners are paranoid with all of the turmoil in the AFL-CIO, says one union chief.
Together, the MAC unions count 1.4 million members. In addition to calming owners’ jitters, the group hopes to ward off jurisdictional raids, particularly from the carpenters’ union which has left BCTD. "It’s strength in numbers," says William P. Hite, plumbers’ union president who also is president of MAC. There are no plans to take the group outside of BCTD.