In answer to a query from a reader…you’re right, I owe a follow up on the tussle inside the Building and Construction Trades Department. Sorry…events just pushed it off the “front page” briefly.

So…to recap, a few days ago, I wrote about a constitutional amendment that was being pushed by the BCTD. It said, in part, “National and international unions that are members of a department must maintain membership in such department in order to remain affiliated with the AFL-CIO, unless waived by a two-thirds vote of the Executive Council.”

Well, that amendment is not dead: it was withdrawn by its sponsor, Ed Sullivan, the head of the BCTD. At a private meeting on Sunday that was limited to BCTD executive board meetings, Vince Giblin, the head of the Operating Engineers, asked how the resolution came about. Sullivan replaied that he had submitted it.

To which Giblin, according to a person familiar with the discussion, responded that the amendment was directed at “our friends and we won’t stand for it.” Terry O’Sullivan, president of the Laborers, then, said that the Laborers want to remain within the BCTD but “if this amendment goes through, I’m leaving and the Teamsters will leave, too.”

There was apparently broad agreement in the room so Sullivan backed down and agreed to pull the amendment.