The Central Wisconsin District Labor Council was chartered on August 12, 1948 to represent unionized carpenters in Madison (Local 314), Portage (Local 1344), Watertown (Local 1403), Beaver Dam (Local 2064), and Baraboo (Local 2334). Fennimore, Local 2246, became affiliated with the district council around 1950. The geographic area represented by the council has varied somewhat over time but has generally included Dane, Dodge, Columbia, Sauk, Richland, Grant, Iowa, Lafayette, and parts of Jefferson, Adams, and Juneau counties.
The District Council was formed to help establish uniform wage rates and working conditions throughout the jurisdiction, as well as to improve carpenters' bargaining position at the negotiating table. The main focus of the District Council has been negotiating agreements with the Madison Builders Association and the Madison Employers Council, two employer associations whose members make up a large part of the construction industry in central Wisconsin. The District Council has also been active in organizing and negotiating with companies in the pre-fabricated housing business.
Madison Local 314 was the oldest and largest local in the district. It is also one of the oldest trade union organizations in Madison, since its beginnings are believed to date to 1893. Although a carpenters local was chartered in that year, that union organization collapsed about 1897. On July 12, 1899 a local comprised of fifteen members was rechartered by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. During its early years, members of Local 314 were active in organizing other Madison labor organizations such as the Central Trades Council (now the Madison Federation of Labor) and the Madison Building and Construction Trades Council. Since 1905 the local has been affiliated with the Wisconsin State Federation of Labor, and in 1919 it was a leader in organizing the Wisconsin Council of Carpenters.
During its first half century much of the union's activity focused on obtaining agreements for wages, hours, working conditions, and apprenticeship programs. Wages in 1910 were 37 1/2 cents per hour; in 1914, 45 cents per hour, and in 1934, 90 cents per hour. In 1949 wages were $2.00 per hour. Membership grew to well over 100 members by 1905 and to 300 members in 1914.
In 1929 the membership stood at over 700. Because of the Landis Act, the post-World War I years were a period of upheaval and job actions on the part of the Madison carpenters. As a result, from the onset of the Depression to the beginning of World War II, membership dwindled. World War II brought two large government projects to the area, and by 1942 membership stood at over 2000. The post-war level was approximately 1000. This period is treated at greater length in the history filed in Box 4.
