Statements issued March 13 did not discuss whether non-AFL-CIO unions may be department members. The Laborers are members of Change to Win, as is another former Building Trades Department union, the Carpenters.

"LIUNA is reuniting with the national department after mutually resolving issues regarding the Plan for the Settlement of Jurisdictional Disputes, which governs how unions are given the right to perform specific work on jobsites, and regarding per capita voting, which allows for decision-making based on the number of rank-and-file members each union has in the department," O\'Sullivan said in a statement.

"We left the Building Trades for principled reasons and we are going back for principled reasons," O\'Sullivan added. Without agreement from the board, whom the Laborers president said "personify the meaning of solidarity, we would not be marking this proud moment." He called it a "win-win" on the eve of the department\'s centennial.

Ayers, who ascended to his post only in the middle of last year, made the point that while the Laborers left the BCTD after joining Change to Win, they never lost contact with the other construction unions and their leaders. Ayers praised O\'Sullivan\'s "willingness to continue a dialogue" with the department board and the Laborers\' leader\'s "commitment to always putting the interests of his members first."

This article was written by Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.