| Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters and the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Washington recently settled an important labor agreement that affects more than 5,000 carpenters and 497 contractors in Western Washington.
After months of preparations on both sides of the table, including high-profile union rallies in Portland and Tacoma that drew 14,000 carpenters and their families, negotiations between the organizations that began in mid-April were successfully concluded recently with an overwhelming majority of carpenters covered by the agreement voting for it.
The carpenters were seeking increases to wages, benefits, pensions and the carpenter’s training fund. The increases in the new agreement amounted to an additional $7.20 per hour for a journeyman carpenter.
AGC also has reached full agreements with the Laborers and Cement Masons, and a tentative agreement with the Operating Engineers Local 612. An offer to the Operating Engineers Local 302 was also made. | 
