Former Vice Chairperson Justin Gartrell Expelled from BAC Local 23 and the International Union

On October 8, 2026, the International Union Executive Board permanently expelled Justin Gartrell from the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers. Gartrell, who had served as Local 23 Vice Chairperson, no longer holds any office or membership in BAC Local 23 or the International Union of Bricklayers & Allied Craftworkers.

Earlier this year, Local 23 members filed charges against Gartrell with the International. After an independent investigation and a trial on August 1, the Executive Board found that while serving as an officer, Gartrell:

• Publicly praised and promoted efforts to get members to quit the Union and stop paying dues.
• Secretly recorded a confidential Local 23 leadership meeting and shared it with someone outside the Union who is actively working against us.
• Used his position and relationships as an officer to set up a meeting with the outsider and one of our longtime signatory contractors to promote anti-Local 23 efforts.

He was notified of the trial and given every opportunity to defend himself, but chose not to participate.

“Holding an elected position comes with responsibility, and that responsibility has to mean something. Justin was elected by members who trusted him to do what was right, to represent them honestly, and put our union ahead of himself. If you accept the privilege to represent our membership, your loyalty should be to the members and the union, not to another individual who is working with an anti-union organization to destroy this union. If you use the position the members entrusted you with to do someone else’s bidding, then you have to answer for those actions. If you’re going to hold other people accountable, you have to be willing to accept accountability yourself. Justin betrayed the trust of the people who put him in office, and there had to be consequences. That’s what accountability means,” said Local 23 President Danny Musacchio.

“This isn’t about personal differences or settling scores. It’s about the responsibility that comes with leadership and the obligation to put the interests of the membership first. The members deserved an officer who would stand up for their union, protect its integrity, and act in the best interests of the organization, not an officer who would allow someone else’s interests to undermine it,” Musacchio said.

“This was never about disagreement,” said Secretary-Treasurer Noah Carmichael. “Members are always free to question and criticize their leaders, and that’s part of what makes a union strong. What Mr. Gartrell did was different. He used the trust that came with his office to work against the very Brothers and Sisters he had sworn to serve.”

Local 23 Vice Chairman Joshua Moss, who presented one of the charges at trial, said: “This case is about an elected officer who chose loyalty to a man who is tearing down this Union over loyalty to the members who elected him. This is not a case about one bad decision or a lapse in judgment. It’s a pattern, repeated, deliberate and ongoing, of an elected officer using his position, influence and access to help a man who is working with the national Right-to-Work Foundation to undermine the Local that keeps our contractors signatory and the solidarity that keeps our pensions solvent.”

After receiving the verdict, Local 23 President Musacchio called an emergency Management Committee meeting where they unanimously voted to fill the vacancy per the newly ratified constitution with Brother Joseph Harrison.

Read the IU Executive Board Order here.

Joseph Harrison being sworn in as the new Vice Chairperson for BAC Local 23