A carpenters union that represents three Midwestern states has endorsed Better Together’s proposal to consolidate regional governments, the first official endorsement from organized labor for the pro-merger advocacy group.

The chief of the St. Louis-Kansas City Carpenters Regional Council, which represents workers in Kansas, Missouri and southern Illinois, said on Wednesday that he met with representatives from all 33 local chapters of the council, and they unanimously voted to support Better Together.

“I have been concerned for a number of years that we are falling behind the competition, dramatically, because of our fractured government here,” said Al Bond, executive secretary-treasurer of the council. “All we’re doing is just beating each other up, and wasting tax dollars. What we should be doing is working as one for the whole region.”