Copyright Hartford Courant
Three building-trade unions representing more than 10,000 laborers, heavy equipment operators, plumbers and pipefitters have left the Connecticut AFL-CIO after a failed effort to oust Ed Hawthorne as the president of the state labor federation. The leaders of two of the unions, the Laborers and Operating Engineers, confirmed the decision to disaffiliate with the AFL-CIO but declined comment on what led to the challenge and the split. The leader of the third, Pipefitters Local 777, could not be reached. Keith R. Brothers, the leader of the Connecticut Laborers District Council, said his union formally disaffiliated on Oct. 1, a month after a slate opposing Hawthorne and other top leaders dropped their challenge. The slate was led by Joelyn Leon, who was the AFL-CIO’s political director until recently, and included Brothers. Brothers also is the president of the State Buildings Trade Council and was general vice president of the AFL-CIO. The Building Trades Council will remain affiliated with the AFL-CIO, but Brothers and an Operating Engineers official, Tiana Ocasio, will be replaced Friday as AFL-CIO officers. What the changes mean for the labor movement and how it was playing at a two-day AFL-CIO convention was unclear. Hawthorne declined an interview request, and the convention, where he is expected to be reelected before adjournment Friday, was closed to the press. But he suggested in an emailed statement that differences were inevitable within such a large, diverse federation. “The Connecticut labor movement has a vast and diverse membership — from nurses and teachers to bus drivers and machinists to fire fighters and construction workers,” Hawthorne said. “While we may not always agree on every issue, every union in our state remains committed to fighting for workers’ rights and advancing policies that improve the lives of working people. And we understand that every union must also make the choices they feel are best for their members.” Tensions within the AFL-CIO are not new. The building trades nearly bolted four years ago, complaining that the federation dominated by public-sector unions was not always supportive of its issues. One of the issues then was a belief they were not adequately supported as they lobbied for Gov. Ned Lamont’s unsuccessful effort to return tolls to pay for infrastructure projects that produce construction jobs. The industry and the trade unions spent $1.5 million lobbying for the tolls. The building trades have maintained cordial relations with Lamont, whose administration has agreed to project-labor agreements on major projects and backed the expansion of the State Pier in New London, which has been important to off-shore wind projects and their union jobs. Hawthorne’s relationship with the Democratic governor, who is about to launch a campaign for a third term, has been fraught at times. He blistered Lamont after the governor vetoed an AFL-CIO priority: a bill that would have provided jobless benefits to strikers. “Gov. Lamont has failed to hear the voices of thousands of working people who urged him to stand with striking workers,” Hawthorne said then. “The governor had a choice — stand with corporate CEOs or stand with working people. Unfortunately, he chose corporate CEOs.” One of the unions that backed Hawthorne against the challenge slate was SEIU 1199, whose president, Rob Baril, also has been among the more aggressive union critics of Lamont over his opposition to a more progressive tax code and greater state spending. Baril confirmed he backed Hawthorne but downplayed its significance in ending the challenge. “I think reports of my importance in Ed’s retaining leadership are greatly exaggerated,” he said. Baril is a member of the Connecticut AFL-CIO executive board, but he was on union business out of state and not attending the AFL-CIO convention. He said he had no insights on what was driving the departures. “I haven’t been following closely who’s left and who hasn’t, and I don’t really have a strong opinion on it,” he said. Baril’s parent union, the Service Employees International, has its own rocky history with the national AFL-CIO. It left the federation in 2005 and became part of a short-lived Change to Win coalition that promised to be more aggressive than the AFL-CIO in organizing new members. SEIU later returned to the fold. Hawthorne comes from the public sector: He was an AFSCME official and lawyer at the state Department of Labor when he won his first term, running on a slate with Shellye Davis, an AFT official who represented paraprofessionals in the Hartford schools. Sen. Julie Kushner, D-Danbury, a retired UAW executive who is co-chair of the legislature’ Labor and Public Employees Committee, predicted that the building trades will remain an important voice on labor issues, even if they are outside the AFL-CIO. Daniel McInerney, the president of the Fairfield County Building Trades, was expected to take Brothers’ seat in the AFL-CIO leadership, leaving the trades with a voice inside the federation. In his statement, Hawthorne expressed optimism that the unions still will work for common goals. “We all understand the moment we’re in and the enormous challenges we all face,” Hawthorne said. “To build a strong labor movement to meet this moment means we have to find a way to work together. I’m hopeful we will be able to do that.” Mark Pazniokas is a reporter for the Connecticut Mirror. Copyright 2025 @ CT Mirror (ctmirror.org).
