Yesterday they had one picketer hand out fancy lime green flyers. Today they went with the universal white background color and had 4 people out there picketing in front of the building project.
I asked 'Boss McGhee' for a response and here's what Andy had to say...
"I suppose it appears that in some circles I am 'The Man'.... These folks seem to think that 50 new jobs on Morse Avenue is a bad thing. I personally think it's an OK thing. Time will tell."
10 comments:
Just out of curiosity, I wonder what those substandard rates are, exactly.
I will tell you what the standard rate is exactly for carpenters, 39.77 and I don't know why some of the union trades on that job would work with scab carpenters. They should not even walk on the job knowing non union workers are there
Let's hear it for the artificial inflation of wages! Why should I pay someone $39.77 if I can get the same quality work for $20? High union wages have done more to hurt the economy in the last 30 years than help it. But I'm sure good ol' Obama will stop that.
Un-commonsense,If you think $20 an hour is a living wage today, you are an idiot, and your not getting the same kind of quality as a skilled union trade. You probably have a shitty no skill job and jealous of someone having a real skill, that makes a living wage.
Commonsense is just another brainwashed dumbass. It's not artificial inflation, it's the asking price. When wages are good there's more spending money in people's pockets and the economy thrives. The only thing $20 an hour does for the economy is for the underground economy. The rest of us pay for it by an increase in the need for publically funded benefits, too. When the wages reflect the true cost of living, individuals are self sufficient and contributing more to the tax base rather than drawing on it. Families living on poverty wages draw tax credits and have to rely on publically funded healthcare among other things. This underground economy doesn't cover all the liabilites, insurances and workman's comp either. It relies on an underemployed and transient labor force. They get out of every duty and responsibility by sub contracting for it
Union Carpenter's assertion that non-union carpenters' work is of lesser quality than union carpenters' work is without merit. There are thousands of highly skilled immigrant workers in the Chicago metropolitan area who want to work and work hard. They produce quality work and are in high demand. Additionally, Union Carpenter states that $20 an hour is not a living wage - he should talk to the majority of "union" represented CPS teachers and SEIU workers throughout Chicago who would be ecstatic to make $20/hour as they are currently making a lot less than that. The contention that people who make less than $39.77 per hour are somehow in a "shitty no skill job" and are jealous of someone who makes that much is also without merit. Not that I would wish Union Carpenter to be hospitalized, but the next time U/C or a loved one is hospitalized, let's be sure to remind U/C that the LPN with over 20 years of experience and a college degree who is taking care of the patient makes, on average, $18.54 per hour. The Registered Nurse who will be administering medications and carrying out the doctors' orders who has over 20 years experience makes, on average, less than $30 per hour. One thing is for sure, if those union carpenters picketing the Morse Theater are so very skilled, they wouldn't have time to sit in lawn chairs and insult people who are working hard for a living - they'd be at work. Maybe if someone makes $39.77 per hour, he doesn't have to work all the time to make ends meet. By my calculation, for a 40 hour week at that rate, a union carpenter makes nearly $83,000 per year. I'd say that is a bit more generous than to be deemed "a living wage" and I would guess much more than most people in Rogers Park actually live on.
Common sense says "Why should I pay someone $39.77 if I can get the same quality work for $20?" The point, as Paradise and union carpenter state, is that you are NOT automatically getting "the same quality." Union carpenter can probably go into more detail about the kind of training, skill and experience a union carpenter might have over a non-union one. Paradise reveals the "economic externalities" that are included in EVERY PRICE but some choose to pretend that they don't exist.
Peoples' labor isn't exactly interchangeable like screws and nails might be. Furthermore, CS's sweeping statement about union wages hurting the economy over the last 30 years is off the mark a bit. There is a difference between people who work as independent contractors and people who work in union jobs for a corporation. Allowing unions in corporations was part of the detente that employees and corps came to when owners/senior managers wanted to reduce the power of foremen. Unions within companies were basically a negotiated political solution (especially during WWII) to just temper labor unrest. When business was no longer going gangbusters, that is when the cracks in the negotiated solution began to reveal itself.
Commonsense should lead you to concede that you can't make such sweeping statements that "unions have done more to hurt us" when you acknowledge such facts.
To someone who knows more: why wasn't the rehab spec'd using union rates so that this didn't become an issue anyway? Aren't government funds being used?
My nonunion carpenter partner will not 1) join a union; 2) hire union carpenters. He says they are lazy and do crappy work. He says he doesn't need the union to make good money (a chunk of which they then take to fund their private planes and limos); he can charge his rates just fine without some union standing behind him. I'm beginning to think that unions are the home of baby men who need a mommy to protect them but the joke's on them because it's the union bosses getting rich! Now watch: all the brainwashed unionites will come out and hurl insults my way. Yawn.
Tom Mannis rants about the issue on his blog too.
I think there are more than a few people out there afraid of the free market - they're probably going to vote for Obama and say the economy hasn't grown under NAFTA.
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