The Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters has a new game plan for contract talks that begin later this month.

Their campaign — “Contract 2007: Taking Care of Business” — will go all out to mobilize members at two massive unity rallies and recruit hundreds of worksite “captains.” They plan to employ tech-savvy methods to keep members up to date as talks progress.

The Seattle-headquartered Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters — which represents 23,500 construction workers in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming — has three agreements set to expire May 31 that cover close to 11,000 members: drywall hangers in Oregon and Western Washington, and general construction carpenters in Western Washington.

In the past, says Regional Council spokesperson Eric Franklin, the union waited for members to attend regular local meetings. As with most unions, only a tiny fraction of the membership showed up.

This year they want to demonstrate the size and power of the entire membership — and then take the union to the members at the worksites.

The campaign kicks off with a pair of rallies: Sunday, April 15, at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, and Sunday, April 22, at the Tacoma Dome. Carpenters members, who are typically dispersed across far-flung job sites, will be able to see just how big the union is. 

“We want to develop a sense of pride and solidarity,” said union negotiator Ed Triezenberg, “so that when we talk to the contractors, they know the members will stand behind the bargaining team.”

To publicize the rallies, the union has sent out 13 pieces of direct mail in the style of a political campaign, and will follow up with “robo-dial” reminders to 20,000 members.

Organizers expect 3,000 to 5,000 people in Portland and 5,000 to 8,000 in Tacoma. Some members from Idaho will be coming by charter bus, and members from Montana and Wyoming will carpool and be put up in local hotels by the union. To attract members, the union will give away a brand-new Chevy pickup and several flat-screen televisions.

The rallies are open to union construction workers and their families, not just Carpenters, and free hot dogs, chips and soda are on offer. Every attendee will be eligible to win the televisions, but only Carpenters members can win the truck. On both dates, doors open at noon and the rallies begin at 2 p.m.

After that, a core of “contract captains” will be entrusted to keep members up to date where they work. The Regional Council sent business reps out to worksites to find out who were the most respected members on the job — and recruit them to be the contract captains. They hoped to get 300. Over 700 signed up.

“What we found is that people were waiting to be asked,” Franklin said.

Apparently, members want to be kept in the loop as bargaining takes place. About 3,600 have signed up for e-mail updates via the campaign Web site, www.contract2007.org.

And with the cell phone now an essential part of a carpenter’s tool kit, the union plans to poll and update members using the text message feature.

Four years ago, Carpenters in Western Washington walked off the job in a nine-day strike after bargaining broke down over the issue of health care coverage. This year, Triezenberg expects negotiations to proceed smoothly with the employer groups.