All our Negotiating Committee had in mind was to try to get our members back to work. Also at that time, the referendum vote for the football and baseball stadiums had been defeated. We did take a gamble with the seven-year agreement. However, keep in mind that the Western Pennsylvania Regional District Council of Carpenters has to negotiate with 500 contractors, not just forty or fifty like the other trades. We have 10,000 members to look out for in the 33 counties we represent, and all of those counties DO NOT have full employment like Pittsburgh is enjoying.
Cost is still the main factor.
If you look on those jobsites, the Carpenters are the only trade on these sites that are Union. We have to realize that we don't only have to compete in the markets with the non-union workers, we also have to compete with the other Union labor on a daily basis. I do believe the Carpenters deserve as much, if not more, than any trade in our industry. Our dilemma is that we have a lot more members then most trades combined. We have to be really careful not to out price ourselves out of the industry.