Why have not worker centers and building trades unions formed alliances to advance their common interests? Why do many construction unionists perceive worker centers as threats? Why do worker centers regard building trades' locals with suspicion? What can be done to promote communication and collaboration between worker centers and labor unions in the construction industry? This article examines the characteristics of both building trades unions and worker centers, analyzes opportunities for collaboration and conflict between the two kinds of organizations, discusses the impact of immigration on construction unionism, and describes two brief examples of building trades union and worker center collaboration.
AFL-CIO.2006. A national worker center—AFL-CIO partnership. Executive council statement, Chicago . Unpublished document.
2.
Benner, Chris, Bob Brownstein, Laura Dresser, and Laura Leete.2001. Staircases and treadmills: The role of labor market intermediaries in placing workers and fostering upward mobility . Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Industrial Relations Research Association, New Orleans, Louisiana.
3.
Building and Construction Trades Department.2007. The Building and Construction Trades statement of principles on comprehensive immigration reform. Casa Latina documents.
4.
Draft unity blueprint for immigration reform. 2007. Unpublished document.
5.
Erlich, M.1986. With our hands: The story of the carpenters in Massachusetts . Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
6.
Erlich, M., and J. Grabelsky.2005. Standing at a crossroads: The building trades in the twenty-first century. Labor History46 (4): 421—45.
7.
Fine, J.2006. Worker centers: Organizing communities at the edge of the dream. Ithaca, NYILR/Cornell University Press and Washington, DC: Economic Policy Institute.
8.
———. 2007. A marriage made in heaven? Mismatches and misunderstandings between worker centres and unions. British Journal of Industrial Relations45 (2): 337—64.
9.
Gamson, William A.1968. Power and discontent. Homewood, IL : Dorsey.
10.
Gordon, Jennifer.2007. Transnational labor citizenship. Southern California Law Review80:503.
11.
Hirsch, Barry T., and David A. Macpherson .2007. Union membership, coverage, density, and employment among private construction workers, 1973—2006 . Available from http://Unionstats.com.
12.
In defense of day laborers. New York Times, March 28, 2007, sec. A.
13.
Levitt, P.2001. The transnational villagers. Berkeley : University of California Press.
14.
Mullins, John P.2006. Recent employment trends in residential and nonresidential construction. Monthly Labor Review (October): 3—13.
15.
Pew Hispanic Center.2006. The labor force status of short-term unauthorized workers. Washington, DC: Author.
16.
———. 2007. Construction jobs expand for Latinos despite slump in housing market. Washington, DC: Author.
17.
Safford, Sean C., and Richard M. Locke .2001. Unions on the rebound: Social embeddedness and the transformation of building trades locals. MIT Sloan Working Paper 4175-01.
18.
Southern Poverty Law Center.2007. Close to slavery: Guestworker programs in the United States. Montgomery, AL: Author.
19.
Tarrow, S.2005. The new transnational activism. Cambridge , UK: Cambridge University Press.
20.
Troy, Leo, and Nei Sheflin .1985. Union sourcebook: Membership, structure, finance, directory. Industrial Relations Data Information Services.
21.
Valenzuela, A., N. Theodore, E. Melendez, and A. Gonzalez.2006. On the corner: Day labour in the United States. Working paper, University of California, Los Angeles, Center for the Study of Urban Poverty .
22.
Wasem, Ruth Ellen, 2007. Report for Congress: Immigration of foreign workers; Labor market tests and protections. Congressional Research Service .
