Recruitment program for veterans begins

"From Helmets to Hardhats" is the name given to a program to recruit personnel leaving military service for careers in construction.

Formally started by representatives of building trades unions and eight contractor associations on Aug. 1, the parties approved bylaws, elected a board of directors and an advisory board. The nonprofit group is called the new Center for Military Recruitment, Assessment and Veterans Employment. Both the U.S. Senate and House have approved funding for the project for one year.

"Military service people are ideal candidates," said the building trades' publication, The Builder. "They're educated, racially diverse, drug-free, have a record of dependability, are trained in leadership and have a wide variety of technical skills."

The building trades say there will be a deficit of construction workers nationwide over the next five years.

Edward Sullivan, president of the AFL-CIO Building Trades Department and Kenneth Hedman, vice president and manager of labor relations for Bechtel Construction Co., will share the chairmanship of the group. The federal government will fund $4 million of the $6.4 million cost; the building trades and contractors will split the remainder.

Carpenters talks 'a little complicated'

CHICAGO (PAI) - AFL-CIO talks with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters about re-affiliation of the 325,000-member union are "still a little complicated" but "making good progress," federation President John J. Sweeney said.

Sweeney told reporters, in an interview after the close of the federation's Executive Council meeting in Chicago, that he "had hoped to make a recommendation" to the council about re-affiliation "but we were not able to do so."

And though the Carpenters have not been formally in the federation for more than a year, there is still a lot of local cooperation. Nationally, Sweeney said, "The Carpenters have been participating in our political program" to mobilize workers for the Nov. 5 election.

Carpenters President Douglas McCarron took his union out of the federation more than a year ago, over jurisdictional conflicts and charges by the Carpenters that the federation spent too much money on headquarters staff and did not put enough resources into organizing. McCarron also demanded reorganization of the federation's Building Trades Department, and resignation of its top two officers.

Both Sweeney and AFL-CIO Building Trades Department President Edward Sullivan have since met with McCarron to try to bring the Carpenters back. Sweeney, said the focus in the talks "has been on organizing, resources for organizing, and jurisdictions. We've made a lot of progress on those issues."

McCarron could not be reached for comment on the status of the talks.