 The SBTA was formed in Chicago during a conference of building trades unions held from October 7 to October 10, 1903.The new organization firmly declared its allegiance to the AFL (but did not seek to join the federation), and refused to admit unions which did not belong to the federation.The SBTA admitted only large, amalgamated unions as members in an attempt to lessen jurisdictional struggles, and permitted only representatives of national and international unions to have a voice in organization affairs.