Notice: This is the development version of the new AUD website. We are adding and changing content and design. You can help us by testing this site and telling us about glitches and possible improvements. Use the contact form. Volunteers are welcome! Special thanks to Virginia Boggs for her help uploading articles and troubleshooting.

Home ›

United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters (UA)

UDR Story

  • How the Ironworkers and Pipefitters rig trusteeships

    SUBSCRIBE to Union Democracy Review!

  • Pipefitters, feisty Canadians, and Pilots: results of AUD's Best Rank-and-File Website Contest 2005

    SUBSCRIBE to Union Democracy Review!

    Internet exclusive. (A shorter version of this piece appears in the January-February 2006 issue of Union Democracy Review #160)

    "The GREAT contests for web sites run by LabourStart and by the AUD are the "Oscar ceremonies" of the Labor Cyber World." - Art Shostak, author of CyberUnion and the CyberUnion Handbook.

  • In the construction trades: Top Plumbers international officers expelled

    SUBSCRIBE to Union Democracy Review!

    Last August, after the U. S. Labor Department ordered Martin Maddaloni and Thomas Patchell removed as trustees of the union's seven ERISA-covered pension funds, the two agreed to resign their offices as international president and international secretary of the 325,000-member United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters [UA.] They were among the four trustees ordered to pay $10.8 million in reimbursements and penalties.

  • New Voices at AUD construction trades conference, and Workshop Reports

    Keep AUD on the job: SUBSCRIBE to Union Democracy Review!

    Fair hiring, fighting pension abuses, and a Bill of Rights for Building Trades Unionists were up for discussion at AUD's national conference of construction workers in Brooklyn, November 8 and 9.

  • UAW Toledo Local 12 forced to end ban on petitions

    Keep AUD on the job: SUBSCRIBE to Union Democracy Review!

    Members of the Jeep Unit of UAW Local 12 in Toledo report that their local has agreed to expunge from the unit bylaws an illegal provision which prohibits circulating petitions "without prior approval of the Executive Committee."

    In October, Mark Epley, a production worker in the Jeep Unit of the 8,500-member local, submitted a protest signed by 345 members, to the Jeep Unit's executive committee charging that a recent contract referendum violated the unit's bylaws, the UAW Constitution, and democratic procedures.

  • Some unions hate to say, "you have legal rights."

    Keep AUD on the job: SUBSCRIBE to Union Democracy Review! Call 718-564-1114.

    When President Kennedy decided to appoint his own brother as attorney general---so the story goes---he explained how he intended to make the somewhat embarrassing news public. "Sunday at 3:00 AM, I will tiptoe out on the deserted White House lawn and whisper: it’s Bobby."

  • Section 105 Update: obeying union democracy law, belatedly

    Keep AUD on the job: SUBSCRIBE to Union Democracy Review! Call 718-564-1114.

    Slowly, one by one, with varying degrees of lack of enthusiasm, top union leaders are learning that they must comply with federal law and let their members know that the LMRDA protects their rights in their unions. First, the Machinists. Then, the United Transportation Union. Then, the Plumbers and Pipefitters United Association. And latest, dragging its heels, the Carpenters.

  • Pipefitters win points in battle for democracy

    Fitters and Plumbers, get all the news: SUBSCRIBE to Union Democracy Review! Call 718-564-1114.

  • A report from a woman in the construction trades

    by Veronica Session

    Ms. Session has been a working member of Carpenters Local 926 in Brooklyn for 19 years and has been a member of the Carpenters Women's Steering Committee since its inception. She attended the 2009 NYC Tradeswomen's Conference on May 9.

FAQ Legal Rights

  • Defending free speech without going to court?

    A: Judging by the term "circulating letters of falsehood and misrepresentation," we are talking here about the United Assocation of Plumbers and Pipefitters, (UA), and the language to which you refer is not only in the bylaws, but in Section 199 of the UA constitution. More than once, democratically-challenged union officers have tried to use this provision to punish members for exercising their free speech rights. Section 199 misrepresents UA members legal rights and AUD has helped UA members fight back in a number of ways, more on that below.

Syndicate content