Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York.

Following the Civil War, the number of New York City's building trades unions rapidly increased, pointing to the need for joint action. In 1884, six building trades unions organized a Board of Delegates. Factional strife created additional building trades organizations, but they reunited in 1902 as the United Board of Building Trades, comprised of 22 skilled and 15 unskilled trades. A lockout of building supply workers forced another split, establishing the Building Trade Council of New York in 1902. Until 1910, the Council's main goal was to resolve jurisidictional disputes, after which time wage demands became more important. In New York, if one craft was granted a wage increase, the differentials in the other trades were disturbed. The Building Trades Council acted as the machinery to stabilize wages.

The post-World War I building boom brought relative industrial peace to the industry. In the mid-1930s, the Building Trades Council reorganized into the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York. Today it is comprised of sixteen unions representing a total of one million members. It works to create job opportunies by interfacing with private developers while dealing with city, state and federal agencies, and mediating jursidictional disputes.

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