8-16-05,10:07am

Delegates to the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department’s convention wrapped up a three-day meeting in Boston pledging to fight for workers’ rights while seeking ways to work with members of two unions that recently disaffiliated from the AFL-CIO.

In his keynote address, BCTD President Edward Sullivan called for unity among all building and construction trades unions to address the challenges ahead. Although the disaffiliation of the Carpenters and the Teamsters from the federation means the unions cannot be part of the BCTD, Sullivan said, “We recognize that there is a necessary interrelationship among the building trades. We will continue to work together to ensure that our differences do not disrupt job sites and that the important progress we have made with contractors and owners will continue.”

AFL-CIO: Moving Ahead in the Fight for Workers’ Rights

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney told the delegates that the federation is determined to focus energy “not on those who are trying to tear our movement apart but on the greedy corporations and the right-wing elected officials who are trying to tear our country apart.”

President George W. Bush’s appointment of another reactionary justice to the U.S. Supreme Court and the narrow passage of the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement dramatize the difficulties facing workers, Sweeney said.

“We don’t have time to wring our hands in anguish over the internal difficulties we’re facing because the external challenges we’re confronting grow more urgent every day,” said Sweeney.

The delegates approved a resolution to support BCTD’s efforts to maintain stability on the job site. Sullivan said the resolution means “we’ll push hard for the AFL-CIO to create real avenues of cooperation between us and those unions who have disaffiliated.”

BCTD Delegates Re-Elect Sullivan and Mahoney If the AFL-CIO Executive Council comes up with a formula that works for the construction industry, the BCTD will gladly sign on, Sullivan said in his closing remarks. But, he said, “if not, then we will devise our own mechanisms that will work for our industry.”

In other actions, the nearly 300 delegates also re-elected Sullivan and Secretary-Treasurer Joseph Maloney to five-year terms and heard an address by Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.). Aug.12