By DON McINTOSH
Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters is no more.
According to disclosures filed with the U.S. Department of Labor, United Brotherhood of Carpenters General President Douglas McCarron directed the regional council to dissolve on June 6. Its geographical and trade jurisdiction, and $115 million in assets, were merged into the Southwest Mountain States Regional Council of Carpenters, headquartered in Los Angeles.
Within the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, local unions don’t employ or select their own union business representatives; instead they elect delegates to regional councils, which hire and oversee reps.
The dissolution of the Pacific Northwest Regional Council came 19 months after the national union placed it into trusteeship following allegations that a Seattle-area contract ratification vote was rigged by its leaders. The national union later dissolved eight Oregon and Washington locals that were affiliated with the Pacific Northwest Regional Council on March 1, 2023, and transferred its 19,000 members into five newly chartered locals.
Before the recent merger, Southwest Mountain States Regional Council of Carpenters served 63,000 members in Southern California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Eastern Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. The merger added over 27,000 members of 13 locals in Oregon, Washington, and Alaska, including Western Washington Locals 196, 206, 360, 425, and 2761; and Oregon Locals 503, 541, 2851, and 2949.
The merged regional council spans 12 states and totals almost 90,000 union members. Notably it does not include Northern California, where the Northern California Carpenters Union covers 37,000 members in 22 locals.
In a video posted on YouTube Nov. 4, the merged regional council announced a name change. Reflecting the expansion of its jurisdiction, it will now be the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters. Its new website, registered Oct. 5, is wscarpenters.org. Â Â
