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New Jersey Drywall Workers Overwhelmingly Vote to Remain with the International Union of
Painters and Allied Trades
Vote result ends attempted raid by the Carpenters Union

April 24, 2008 - New Jersey --- The National Labor Relations Board Announced today that the members of International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) District Council 711 overwhelmingly voted to remain in the IUPAT rather than join the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners (UBC) this week in New Jersey.  Of those eligible to vote in the drywall finishing unit, 94 percent chose the IUPAT.

“This vote was, as the man says, déjà vu all over again,” said IUPAT General President James Williams.   “The Carpenters came at us – again – hoping to raid those who are already organized and we voted them down – again.  

They have done the same thing in over a dozen cities in the U.S. and Canada and they lost every time.   The word is out on their empty promises for more work and more money and the men and women we represent in this trade will not be fooled by the UBC leaders in Washington, D.C.”
 
“The fight here in New Jersey has been going on for almost two years now and I’m proud of our members holding strong and voting for what is in their best interests and against this raid,” said IUPAT General Vice President William Candelori.   “Now, we can concentrate on doing the work and being the best at what we do for those we work for.”
 
The first polling place to open for this vote was in Eatontown, New Jersey on Saturday, April 12. Hundreds of fellow IUPAT members from throughout the Northeast and beyond showed up to rally with more than 1,600 crafts men and women from all the other building trades in support of their New Jersey union brothers and sisters. It was a clear sign of unity and strength against the UBC.  

“My thanks to all our fellow building trades men and women who came out as well as our brothers and sisters in the rest of the AFL-CIO,” said Williams.   “We saw t-shirts and signs at the rally from the UAW, Communications Workers of America, AFSCME, the HPAE nurses union, even the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union of the Change to Win federation sent people to protest this raid by the Carpenters.”

The Carpenters Union has been spending considerable resources to organize IUPAT members in the drywall finishing trade for the last ten years throughout North America.   This effort to organize the already organized by the UBC has been widely and strongly denounced by labor leaders in the AFL-CIO.

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