LACEY – The Regional Council of Carpenters now has control of Carpenters Park on Long Lake, and while officials with the regional council say no decision has been made about its future, some union members say they no longer have access to the park.
The nearly 12-acre park, which overlooks the east side of Long Lake in Lacey, is owned by carpenters Local 470 of Tacoma and has long been a destination for its members. Over the years, 470’s members paid dues to maintain the park and spent time improving its facilities, most recently upgrading the kitchen, said Robert Bitz of Tacoma, a frequent camper at the park.
Bitz had been a member of Local 470 for more than 30 years, but that changed this year when the carpenters’ national organization, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America in Washington, D.C., decided to streamline its operations throughout the country. Those who were members of Local 470 now are belong to Local 129 in Lacey, and Bitz said he couldn’t access the park with the reader card he usually used to open the park gate.
The park is supposed to open April 1 and close for the winter in October, Bitz said.
“We bought it, our dues paid for it and we should be entitled to it,” said Bitz about the contributions Local 470 has made to the park over the years.
Bitz, 55, has camped at the park with his family for at least 27 years, driving his motor home to a site that features a ball field, a basketball court, a horseshoe-shaped dock and 500 to 800 feet of lakefront property, he said.
“It’s our favorite park,” he said. “We were so looking forward to it this year.”
No decision has been made about the park, Regional Council of Carpenters spokesman Eric Franklin said Wednesday.
“The former members of Local 470 want a decision and they want it now, but it’s not forthcoming,” he said.
The regional council, which is based in Kent, wound up with the park and other former union hall assets after the national organization streamlined its operations, Franklin said. That meant that 43 union locals in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming were whittled to 15 and five union locals in Tacoma, Olympia, Centralia, Aberdeen and Bremerton were rolled into Local 129 in Lacey. The consolidations started in January and took effect locally March 22, he said.
The decision to consolidate was part of an effort by the national group to prepare the locals for the 21st century, Franklin said.
“We have to run the union like a business, and the viewpoint of our international (United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners) was that we could do better,” he said.
The consolidation of union locals has resulted in some benefits for members, Franklin said. Monthly over-the-counter dues – the minimum required for a member to remain in good standing – have fallen to $20 a month, about half of what it used to be in some cases, he said.
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