Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters Shame Campaign - by Shane Johnson, Salt Lake City Weekly
Daniel O’Shea, senior representative of the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters, a subdivision of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (UBC), takes full responsibility for the banners. On any given day, he says teams are stationed at about a dozen construction sites to let businesses know “if you’re going to be involved with less-than-scrupulous people in construction and bottom feeders, if you will, there’s a consequence for that, and people will know.”
An ongoing labor dispute with local building behemoth Okland Construction is at the heart of much of the agitation. Okland secretary treasurer John McEntire says a majority of its carpenters covered by UBC locals 184 and 1498 lost their input in union decisions when the chapters were folded into the Southwest Regional Council about two years ago. In response, he says, Okland’s carpenters bowed out of the brotherhood and formed their own union, the Utah Carpenter’s Association.