This was the turn of the century. The country was just emerging from a severe depression and construction was picking up. Many Laborers were recent immigrants. They did not speak the right language. They followed different customs. They were especially vulnerable to employers who took advantage of workers needing to feed, clothe and shelter their families, by forcing them to take the poorest paying and least desirable work.

The problem was particularly bad for construction laborers, whose livelihood depended on finding work at whatever an employer would pay.

In those early years, Laborers as a trade earned respect through organizing and gained legitimacy when Samual Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor, issued a convention call in March of 1903 for the purpose of forming an International Union of Building Laborers.

The International Hod Carriers' and Building Laborers of America (IHCBLA), which today is known as the Laborers' International Union of North America, was born out of the first Convention in the Spring of 1903. But, while it was the only Laborers' Union affiliated with the AFL, it was not the only Laborers' Union.

At the time, dozens of Independent Unions claiming Laborers' jurisdiction existed in cities across the country. In addition, there existed two other rival organizations. The first — the International Building Laborers' Protective Union of Massachusetts — was affiliated with the AFL, but enjoyed a questionable reputation within the Federation as being a "cheap" organization that did not assist financially when a local union needed some help. It also had difficulty in meeting its financial obligations to the AFL, and because of that seceded from the Federation on at least two occasions, in 1899 and 1900.

The second — the International Laborers' Union (ILU) of Dayton Ohio — was a much greater threat.

Openly competing against the AFL affiliated Laborers' Union for members and recognition within the family of labor, the ILU routinely misrepresented itself in organizing campaigns claiming to be the only Laborers' Union affiliated with the American Federation of Labor.

Armed with a penchant for stretching the truth about itself and its membership, the ILU became known after time as the "International Liars Union." The ILU's General President, W.G. Critchlow, who advocated Laborers to work outside their jurisdiction and encouraged members to finance his own banking interest, became, not surprisingly, a vilified figure in the labor movement.

To beat back the challenge of the ILU under Critchlow, the Laborers received help from a number of International Unions affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, including Building Trades Unions.

Eventually, the word got out to both affiliated and independent local unions that the IHCBLA was in fact the one and only Laborers International in the eyes of the AFL. ILU Locals slowly began coming over to the IHCBLA.

The AFL also helped the IHCBLA in this effort. Jacob Tazelaar, an organizer with the AFL was instrumental in helping the Laborers convince Independent Laborers' Unions and Unions affiliated with the ILU to "return to the fold," through the IHCBLA.

Writing in the August - September, 1906 edition of the IHCBLA's Official Journal, Tazelaar offered encouragement to the young International, noting that the Laborers had organized more locals than any other building trades that year and that the "skilled" trades were finally recognizing the value that organized laborers bring to all the trades.

Acknowledging Tazelaar's impact on the Union, the editor offered the following footnote to Tazelaar's article: