“This is a very, very important development,” said Herman Benson, long time executive director of the New York-based Association for Union Democracy. “Ever since the UBC left the AFL-CIO and joined the Change to Win coalition it was implicit that they had a long-term strategy of becoming a general construction union that would take on all the trades,” he said. “This is the first indication I’ve seen that they will take on the IBEW, which is probably one of the strongest of construction unions. One of the most sacred things for the IBEW is the hiring hall. In effect, the Carpenters are offering employers a sweetheart deal to break into the electrical field and offering non-union contractors a union contract to use as a barrier against the IBEW.”