The BTC’s strength, and its generally careful use of that power, ensured mostly harmonious relations with the contractors and continuous work for its members. Over two decades, only a couple BTC-sanctioned strikes lasted longer than a week. From time to time, however, it was forced to demonstrate why agreement with its principles made sound business sense. When McCarthy found that a contractor running a job building a large downtown bank had decided to cast a fancy conference room ceiling in an outside workshop, instead of employing plasterers on site to do it, he pulled all the plasterers off the job and called a meeting with the employer. The contractor threatened to import outside plasterers. The next thing the contractor knew, every worker from every trade on the job—hundreds of card-carrying BTC members—took an unscheduled holiday. The following day BTC plasterers began work on the ceiling on site.