To the editor:
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I am one of the persons mentioned in the January 10 article “Suits vs. Boots.” Now on a whole, all the response to the article I heard was good. Carpenters of all ages, races, and genders had told me so at all the rank-and-file meetings we attend. But all readers of the Chicago Reader were treated to, in response to the article, was none other than the response of the president/executive secretary-treasurer of the Chicago and Northeast Illinois District Council of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Earl Oliver. He said the “story claimed to be about the carpenters’ union.” It was, and furthermore, it was based on reality. Something he wouldn’t quite know about, since he hasn’t worked as a tool-carrying carpenter in nearly 30 years.
He said that we got an $8.40 raise for a four-year period. That’s great. What he didn’t say was that maybe only half of that will make it on the check and that we are taxed 3 percent of it by our union. There was also a laughable statement about an “82 percent” increase in our pension. I’d be staggered to meet some of the pensioners receiving that. Also mentioned was that 93 percent of all commercial building and 80 percent of all residential work is performed by union carpenters in Chicago. That’s great too. But what isn’t mentioned is that Mr. Oliver is the leader of a district council that covers Cook, Du Page, Lake, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, McHenry, and Will counties too. Why doesn’t he talk about the percentage of union work done in his district council? It is because he can’t make such claims outside the city of Chicago.
Local One
