Building Trades Should Work Together

Painters Union President Jim Williams, right, presents President John J. Flynn with the Painters’ new member orientation video set.

“Did you ever notice on gratis jobs there is never a jurisdictional dispute?” Jim Williams, President of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades asked the Executive Council. “This is something we need to strive towards on every job. Our organizations have to grow together, not be predators,” said Williams.

Williams used his home local in Philadelphia as an example of what can be accomplished when unions work together instead of against each other. “When I took over my local, there were 200 members. Today, there are over 1,600 members. I didn’t do it alone. I had help from BAC and other union reps.”

In closing, Williams presented BAC President John J. Flynn with a new 12-part orientation series developed by his union in three different languages. “Our future depends on understanding what the union members who came before did for us… And we have to accept that the next generation [of members] won’t look like us. We have to work together,” emphasized Williams.