"hk" wrote in message
...
Eisboch wrote:
"hk" wrote in message
. ..

I think I am a bit closer to the labor force than you are.



Union labor force maybe.

Small business employees ..... no way.

Eisboch


I doubt it. I frequently go out on organizing calls with union reps, and
the companies and employees we visit are not members of unions.



You call that being *close* to labor?
How about *being* labor for several years .... punching a time clock,
wearing company issued uniforms with your name on the shirt, working with,
eating lunch with, drinking on Friday nights with, etc.?


Maybe we have met.

I'll share a little story with you.

Back when the "Big Dig" was in high gear up here, welders/fabricators were
in short supply for the project.
The local unions started a less than covert recruitment drive to find and
sign up qualified welders wherever they could find them.

We had several good, experienced welder/fabricators at my company. The
supervisor, "Big Ed" was a seasoned veteran, having done his time as a union
welder at the old Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, MA back in the 60's. Big
Ed is nearing retirement but still stands about 6'5" and has forearms the
size of my thighs.

One day someone came into my office and told me there were two union
organizers out in the shop. We had a conventional lobby/reception area
where visitors were supposed to sign in, get a badge and safety glasses, but
these guys had snuck around back and entered through one of the shop
overhead doors.

I entered the shop just in time to see "Big Ed" escorting the two union
dudes out the door. He had both by the back of their belts and was half
dragging, half carrying them out. One guy dropped the folder full of
propaganda he was carrying and another of our guys picked it up and threw it
in a dumpster.

They were handing out information on the local union and job offers for the
Big Dig. I've been told this is not normal practice, and I believe it, but
they tried and didn't get very far.

We lost only one employee to the Big Dig project and he returned a little
over a year later, fed up. We simply could not afford to match the pay and
overtime offered to him by the union.

Eisboch