Here is the letter sent out by the president of the Carpenters Union, Doug McCarron. We are also providing a translation of some of the finer points.
McCarron: “Our membership is divided over this election. However, what unites us is stronger than what divides us.”
Translation: “We recognize that many of our members have fallen prey to racism and other forms of bigotry. We, the union leadership, will do nothing to challenge this disease that will rot away the very foundation of worker solidarity.”
McCarron: “Every good UBC member has the desire to be the best, most productive craftsperson in the industry. And by being productive we help ensure that our employers can be successful and bid and win more work.”
Translation: “The union will survive by providing workers who make more profit for the boss than do the non-union workers. That this destroys the very reason for a union, and that this policy has been a total failure, we will ignore.”
McCarron: “We will now work with (Trump) to find common ground such as on infrastructure spending.”
Translation: “We will continue to ignore his playing to bigotry as it doesn’t affect our dues base. We will ignore his war mongering, unless that means increased construction spending, in which case we’ll support it. As for infrastructure spending – oil pipelines, coal storage facilities, methane plants… we will support it 100% (as long as we get some dues money out of it). As for a Wall? Well, let’s discuss that.”
McCarron: “work to achieve our goal of 70% market share.”
Translation: “We are a business just like any other, not a union. And just like any other business, we’re after our share of the market.”
McCarron: “As Senator Ted Kennedy once said, ‘… the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.'”
Translation: “We know we are headed to disastrous failure for the rank and file. So they should console themselves with the hope that sometime in the future they – or maybe their kids, or maybe their grand kids – will do better.”
What’s left unsaid: “Meanwhile, don’t worry about me, I’ve got millions stashed away in stock and real estate investments plus all the right connections in the construction industry. Even if the union went belly up tomorrow, even if the rank and file’s pension plans went broke, I’ll be okay.”
For a more in-depth review of where the union leadership stands right now, see this Labor Day article.
Whats a joke is that the UBC has been working with Trump and financing his projects. He has been funneled Pension and Annuity money for years through ULLICO. They have ULLICO Seperate J and their front MEPTS New Tower who in 2014 had 45 UBC funds alone feeding them. Check the numbers in the billions on their form 5500 for the numbers in the billions ULLICO J EIN 131423090 and MEPTS EIN 526218800.. Look what happens to any UBC fund who tries to pull out of ULLICO
Herbert Kolben, Senior Vice President at Ullico in a Q&A said:But we do a lot of construction loans—both to create jobs for the union members but also to balance the portfolio. [Those aren’t going away]. (But mostly because two morons, Ed Durkin and Doug McCarron, fell for Terry Nelsons BS scam that they could control the non Union by loaning them money. Of course check the projects financed by Union money that gave PLAS with wage give backs All of our projects require 100 percent union [work] on construction projects.(BS that is a lie. Al they require are neutrality agreements and attempts to bet workers to sign authorization cards.)
Which borrowers you are targeting?
We deal with some of the most sophisticated and well-known developers in the country: Trump, Related, Brookfield, SL Green, Hines, Tishman Speyer. https://commercialobserver.com/2015/02/qa-herbert-kolben-senior-vice-president-real-estate-investment-group-ullico/
This scam combined with the scam to strip the fiduciary power and fiduciary duty of fund trustees and put it in the hands of fund managers that would,could and did make high risk loans which resulted in the NCCMP MPRA scam and the recently failed NCCMP Composite Plan BS.
The first such scam was McCarron the ice cream crappers Hamilton Lane -UBC Opportunity Fund. Check to see how many UBC funds are feeding this Hamilton Lane scam and have become its victims . We have the Hamilton Lane -UBC Opportunity Funds I,II,III and IV. These are the high risk alternative loans the IRS warned about in 2010 and the IQ Office warned about in 2013 and 2014 .IN 2014 the audit declared we conducted this audit because these funds are in serious danger
For more on the Ullico scam, see the pamphlet “What Happened to our Unions?”, available on this blog site.
Do you just spout bullshit or do you actually have any evidence to back up the vomit you are spewing as fact?
Lovely comment from Brian Smith. It would be interesting if he would identify himself, especially whether he is a staffer for one of the unions mentioned here. He asks for evidence. Well, 90% of what’s written in this article is simply (1)direct quotes or (2) statistics.
Mr Smith,
I most certainly do .What would you like. But really you do not want and would not look at evidence would you since I provided you with EIN numbers and other evidence. Its clear you never bothered and believe just because you say BS anybody cares.
“We will work with” Trump…Did he mean we have already been working with Tump. Now they are line to ride on Air Force 1 just the same as Bush. This time with sell out Elaine Chao who can just ignore a Judges ruling as she did for her pal Doug McCarron in the Harrinton -v-Chao 3 case…
“
We backed Clinton and obviously didn’t get the result we wanted but we have to deal with the orange cheeto to reach our goals so why is this so hard for you to understand? BTW do you know Alex Jones personally cause he sees conspiracies everywhere too. Check your meds!
We thank Brian Smith for his “thoughtful” comments. Maybe he’d like to identify himself. For starters: is he an employee of the Carpenters Union? As for the evidence he asks for in his earlier comment: He should look at our Labor Day report from this year for starters. The fact is that the strategy of his apparent heroes, the Carpenters Union leadership, is a disastrous failure.
To Richard D, who are you and how dare you attribute certain comments to me. First of all, the UBC is an investor in Separate Account J also known as J For Jobs. As are the IBEW, the Laborers, the Teamsters, the Painters, Plumbers and so on and so on. J For Jobs has been in existence since 1977 and has had only one negative year in its now 40 year existence having created over 500,000,000 hours for organized labor. Every investor may withdraw funds at any time without, as you insinuate, repercussions. Secondly, PLA’s are vital agreements in certain areas that enable a project to be built union. Yes it is agreed to by the UBC but it also requires the consent and signatures of ALL building trade representatives in that locality. All of the Ullico construction financed projects are 100% union. Your comment that “the projects financed by Union money that give PLAS (sic) with wage give backs All (sic) of our projects require 100 percent union (work) on construction projects. (BS that is a lie. Al (sic) they require are neutrality agreements and attempts to bet workers to sign authorization cards.)”. Another misinformed run-on sentence. The neutrality agreement that you refer to is only applicable for hotel projects and then only for the operation of the hotel AND NOT FOR CONSTRUCTION. I hope that your reference to “two morons” comes from you as I have never never stated such. Postings such as yours is what is dangerous about the internet. Statements without factual accuracy.
Herb Kolben is an officer at Ullico, which should tell us all we need to know. Some decades back, many of the union presidents – McCarron included – used Ullico in a giant scam to enrich themselves at the expense of union pension funds. See this pamphlet for the details: https://oaklandsocialist.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/what-happened-to-our-unions1.pdf
Herb brags about how Ullico and the Project Labor Agreements are helping the building trades. I personally worked as the carpenter job steward on a PLA. They brought in a non-union contractor despite the PLA. As a pretty dedicated steward (and one who didn’t just spout the union leadership line), I was pretty popular among the carpenters and others. When I got the word out about the non-union contractor, people got so upset that they had to remove that contractor. The point is that a strong steward system and unions that really fight for the members are the best “PLA” that we can have. You don’t need to give away conditions to get a job 100% union.
In any case, this is just one element. What Herb cannot contest is that this entire strategy of the union leadership is failing disastrously as the statistics in the article prove.
Mr Kolben,
“How Dare you” The real question is who you think you are. Does your position at ULLICO make you somebody special that your public comments cannot be questioned. I am confused I thought I was reposting an interview in your own words you gave. I am not attributing “certain comments” I provided a link to your statements. I see you needed to point out typing, and grammatical errors due to edit constrictions and being lazy as if that makes the FACTS not credible .Who I am is a fund participant that has money being diverted to finance ULLICO Separate J and ULLICO Infrastructure.
In my opinion any investment with ULLICO made by a fund trustee should be a Breach of Fiduciary Duty under ERISA requirements for prudent investing. Of course by diverting fund money to ULLICO or by creating Hamilton Lane partnerships the UBC has worked to take away the Fiduciary power and rights of fund trustees. They have handed the Fiduciary power and rights of fund trustees over to managers willing to make high risk alternative investments. ULLICO. Investigated for fraud how many time??. Hemorrhaging money for how many years. One you say. BS.Had its entire ULLICO Casualty Division shut done by the State of Delaware in 2013. Are these things not true either.
Let me point to a few items.
(1)You said:Ullico J has created over 500,000,000 hours for organized labor” I have heard this speech before so may I ask where are they. If the ULLICO J (and other ULLICO) investments are generating that many hours where are they?? Why are so many UBC and multi employer funds in critical status and why is the UBC cutting and eliminating retirees benefits if so many hours were created.
(2) You claims ULLICO J is a banner program yet in 2012 alone ULLICO had investors seeking 3 billion back from ULLICO J. That was the year you rolled out the ULLICO Infrastructure Fund to make more “high risk alternative investments” with money from “our” funds money and not “your” funds. I wonder after Trumps move on the TPP how he feels about ULLICO going over to China to solicit Chinese investors for ULLICO Infrastructure in 2012. Or is that not true due to spelling errors as well.
(3) You said “PLA’s are vital agreements” I say BS and PLAs are just a means to make sure the Unions get their cut of a project. To obtain them Union Reps attend Local, State or Federal project meetings and lie or just leave out certain information.
In upstate NY we have the Global Foundries Project. That was given a PLA after getting 3 billion in cash and tax breaks from NY. The Unions, especially the UBC in particular, told everyone the PLA was needed to see to it that Local workers got benefits, prevailing wage and most important jobs for all local UNION workers. Instead the UBC let 180 Local Union Carpenters sit on unemployment while they brought in workers from out of State and paid them higher wages in direct violation of the existing CBA. When confronted the Union sent in Hatchet Jack Garrison to advise the company that it was to bad. “Our contract says we can bring in anybody we want, from anywhere we want, at any time and the PLA says you will honor the contract. Its called full mobility. (Recently ruled illegal under the NLRA by the NLRB. On top of that the UBC tested its Pre Apprentice Program on this job. They brought in workers with no Union membership, no benefits and at 12 an hour to work along side of Millwrights for Roth Rau. No they never mentioned “Pre Apprentices” or “Full Mobility” when demanding a PLA. By the way. I certainly do not need You to explain a PLA and your claim they are vital is BS.
(4) You stated “the UBC is an investor in Separate Account J also known as J For Jobs. As are the IBEW, the Laborers, the Teamsters, the Painters, Plumbers and so on” The UBC and so on are not investors in Separate J they are diverting money and financing a program whose premise is to control the Non and anti Union by loaning them money modeled after the Builders Pro Loan Program. I find it difficult to accept that the Unions loan money, diverted to ULLICO, to companies like SL Green who is listed in your interview and then have their members picket the jobs claiming unfair wages and safety issues. Hw can these companies be given hundreds of millions Union members fund money be, direct partners with Unions and then be given PLAs with concessions. Further while other Unions are invested in ULLICO funds the UBC in one year had 45 funds from Alaska to Florida in ULLICO J and MEPTS Newtower per the MEPTS and Separate J form 5500. The numbers are in the billions. I would not give ULLICO a damn penny.
We don’t need to go any farther. The documents and the facts speak for themselves and Mr Kolbens “How dare you” while laughable reveals the elitist attitude that is rampant in the Union leadership and their UNION Insurance /Savings and Loan Company????
Here you go Herb. Feel better..
Whats a joke is that the UBC has been working with Trump and financing his projects. He has been funneled Pension and Annuity money through ULLICO. They have ULLICO Separate J and their front MEPTS New Tower who in 2014 had 45 UBC funds alone feeding them. Check the amounts on their form 5500 for the numbers in the billions ULLICO J EIN 131423090 and MEPTS EIN 526218800.. Look what happens to any UBC fund who tries to pull out of ULLICO.
Herbert Kolben, Senior Vice President at Ullico in a Q&A said:But we do a lot of construction loans—both to create jobs for the union members but also to balance the portfolio. All of our projects require 100 percent union [work] on construction projects.(BS that is a lie. All they require are neutrality agreements and attempts to get workers to sign authorization cards.) (But we do a lot of loans—both to create jobs for the union members..But really because two morons, Ed Durkin and Doug McCarron, fell for Terry Nelsons BS scam that they could control the non Union by loaning them money. So says Richard Dorrough) Of course check the projects financed by Union money that gave PLAS with wage give backs.
Which borrowers you are targeting?
We deal with some of the most sophisticated and well-known developers in the country: Trump, Related, Brookfield, SL Green, Hines, Tishman Speyer.
https://commercialobserver.com/2015/02/qa-herbert-kolben-senior-vice-president-real-estate-investment-group-ullico/
This scam combined with the scam to strip the fiduciary power and fiduciary duty of fund trustees and put it in the hands of fund managers that would,could and did make high risk loans which resulted in the NCCMP MPRA scam and the recently failed NCCMP Composite Plan BS.
The first such scam was McCarron the ice cream crappers Hamilton Lane -UBC Opportunity Fund. Check to see how many UBC funds are feeding this Hamilton Lane scam and have become its victims . We have the Hamilton Lane -UBC Opportunity Funds I,II,III and IV. These are the high risk alternative loans the IRS warned about in 2010 and the IQ Office warned about in 2013 and 2014 .IN 2014 the audit declared we conducted this audit because these funds are in serious danger.
Web owner. Can you delete the early version and replace it with the corrected. It was late. I was tired.It is rather WT Heck were you thinking. Sorry
And thanks
“All of the Ullico construction financed projects are 100% union” Which borrowers you are targeting?
“We deal with some of the most sophisticated and well-known developers in the country: Trump, Related, Brookfield, SL Green, Hines, Tishman Speyer” So Herby. Who is the liar.. HOW LOW WILL DOUGYS RATS GO!!
Let there be no doubt.ON The Related Companies’ $25 billion, 28-acre Hudson Yards project DIRTY DOUGS PARTNER, developer STEPHEN ROSS, HAS GONE open shop for the remainder of the development.
“For several weeks in December and January, protesters gathered on 34th Street across from Related’s 50 Hudson Yards, where excavators and bulldozers are pushing aside massive piles of dirt to make way for the glassy office tower. The picketers came from a handful of trades and were calling for solidarity among different unions to boycott the development unless Related kept nonunion shops off the site.”
“But the carpenters’ union didn’t align with the other trades”
A UBC RAT SAID
“The call for solidarity this time came late: The union already had a contract to do foundation work at the site.”
THE FRIGGIN TRUTH IS DIRTY DOUG HAS ORDERED “BY FORCE”HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS FUNNELED TO STEPHEN ROSS OF RELATED FROM OUR PENSION FUNDS VIA THE ULLICO SCAM AND HAS ORDERED DIRECT PARTNERSHIPS “BY FORCE”WITH RELATED.
DEAR DOUGY WEINSTEIN
WHAT ARE THE RELATED-UBC OPPORTUNITY PARTNERSHIP AND THE HUDSON YARDS TOWER C PARTNERSHIP.HOW ABOUT YOUR LATEST BS RELATED PARTNERSHIPS.HY TOWER C CONSTRUCTION INVESTORS LLC & HUDSON YARDS 15 LENDER LLC?