That time of year again!
 

JimH wrote:
"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...

JimH wrote:

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...

JimH wrote:

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...

JimH wrote:

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
news:85OdneshcK6UtGjenZ2dnUVZ_smdnZ2d@comca st.com...

Dan Krueger wrote:

Harry Krause wrote:

Don White wrote:


The local boat show starts at noon today and runs through Sunday.
Newspaper says admission fee has jumped to $ 10.00. Is it just
me..or does that seem a bit excessive?
http://www.masterpromotions.ca/halif...-boat-show.asp

It should be free.

It should be free but many of these shows are run by large
exhibition companies employing union labor at exorbitant rates.
Traffic control, ticket sales, security, etc. are all union
controlled.

I have attended shows where you would have to literally pay a union
electrician $50 to plug in your extension cord. Plug it in
yourself and you would be charged the same $50. Simple forklift
delivery of your booth materials cost hundreds. Even worse, they
would put their hand out looking for a tip while they are on the
clock. Pretty sad.

Poor Dan. He had to pay a contractor who paid his workers a decent
wage with benefits.

What do *you* do that's worth $50?


Dan speaks the truth Harry. That is the way it goes at the
International Exposition Center in Cleveland. I am sure other
unionized convention centers are the same

So?

You go to a prime convention center, you want work done, you deal with
the contractors with whom the convention center has contracted. That's
how it is in the real world.


No, that is how some unions chose to make it in the real world.

Wonder why jobs are going overseas?

Convention center jobs are going overseas?

Union jobs certainly are.

Sure. US Corporations are taking us to the bottom, heading back to the
middle ages.



Nope, it is now all about brain not brawn. The unions have led businesses
into bankruptcy or caused them to delegate their manufacturing to overseas
in order to make a profit.

That is indisputable.


If that's the case...wht don't all the manufacturing companies just move
to a so called 'right to work' anti-union state..instead of China etc.

That time of year again!
 

JimH wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...

Dan Krueger wrote:

Harry Krause wrote:

Don White wrote:


The local boat show starts at noon today and runs through Sunday.
Newspaper says admission fee has jumped to $ 10.00. Is it just me..or
does that seem a bit excessive?
http://www.masterpromotions.ca/halif...-boat-show.asp


It should be free.

It should be free but many of these shows are run by large exhibition
companies employing union labor at exorbitant rates. Traffic control,
ticket sales, security, etc. are all union controlled.

I have attended shows where you would have to literally pay a union
electrician $50 to plug in your extension cord. Plug it in yourself and
you would be charged the same $50. Simple forklift delivery of your
booth materials cost hundreds. Even worse, they would put their hand
out looking for a tip while they are on the clock. Pretty sad.

Check your bill. That simple forklift delivery was almost certainly
billed to you by the show organizers, not directly by the union. The
difference in the wage paid to a union fork lift operator (maybe $10
for a 15-minute delivery) and an illegal alien doing the same job
(maybe $1.50 for a 15-minute delivery) isn't going to run the bill up
to "hundreds of dollars". If the bill is hundreds of dollars, it's the
show organizers or the display rental company that is profiting. Our
local boat show rentals include basic 15-amp power to the booth and
there is no restriction about plugging in you own
display------------however, if you need more power than 15 amps or
require specialized routing of wires etc there would be additional
charges and it isn't unreasonable to pay a $50 minimum for a skilled
electrician.

Or is it actually your opinion that the difference between a $15/hr
unionized concession stand worker (sellling $600 worth of junk food
with a gross margin of over $500 per hour) and a $5.75/hr "guest
worker" making almost the same sales- but not quite because the mental
translation from Spanish to English takes a moment to do- would mean
that everybody should be able to get into the show free? Are you really
saying that the only reason there's an admission charge at all is to
cover the difference in cost between workers smart enough to engage in
collective bargaining with management and workers dumb enough or
desperate enough to be exploited?

You may be on to something. Let's kick out the unions everywhere. No
more admission fees to state fairs, amusement parks, movie theaters,
concerts, plays, boat shows, home shows, car shows, etc. I had no idea
that the only reason admission to all forms of entertainment isn't
completely complimentary was due to the difference between a living
wage and a slave wage. Let them eat stale nachos, I wanna get in free.
:-)

My experience with setting up for boat shows has been that it is the
display companies, not the union laborers, who rape and pillage.
Example: A few shows back I arrived at the booth to find a very, very
short table had been delivered. We had ordered a table with 40" legs so
that one can either stand or sit behind it at various points during the
day. I was looking at something that was too short to sit behind with a
standard chair- let alone a stool- and would have placed our display
far too low for comfortable viewing by show patrons. I went to the show
office and complained, where I was informed that the table delivered to
the booth was exactly what the publisher had requested. It wasn't of
course, but any time there's a monopoly in place- as at a trade show-
you can argue until you are three shades of blue in the face and get
nowhere. I had to agree to pay over $100 to have the table removed and
the proper table delivered, and had to sign a purchase agreement for
that fee at the conclusion of the discussion.

What burned my butt, big time, was when one of the company
representatives showed up at the booth and asked, "Is this the place
that needs the 40-inch table?" When I said yes, the company
representative turned the little table on its side, *extended the
telescoping legs to make it 40-inches high* (!) and said, "Have a nice
show!" No union employee in sight, just an asshole who could have told
me, when I complained, that the legs were adjustable.

When the next show came around, I went out to IKEA and bought a table,
two chairs,
a carpet, etc for just about what Rape and Pillage Display wanted for a
short term rental. We just used that gear for the 4th time in January-
so I guess I have to thank that free enterprise crook who screwed me
out of the hundred bucks for the leg adjustment. That
ripoff incident inspired me to save some money- and the $100 the
company virtually stole from me has cost that outfit close to $1000 in
lost revenue so far.

But you're right about at least one thing if not more. I'm sure the
show display rental companies would be able to keep a bit more of their
unconscionable fees if they could hire a greater number of illegal,
unqualfied, or desperate workers. It's easy for any company or
organization charging obscene prices to blame it on "the unions"- but
in reality boat show display pricing is more the result of absurd
profiteering in a monopolized market.



Welcome back to the darkside Chuck. We knew you would come back. ;-)



Glad we have an 'insider' here to cut through the bulls*it.

That time of year again!
 

On 16 Feb 2006 19:07:59 -0800, wrote:


JimH wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...

Dan Krueger wrote:
Harry Krause wrote:
Don White wrote:

The local boat show starts at noon today and runs through Sunday.
Newspaper says admission fee has jumped to $ 10.00. Is it just me..or
does that seem a bit excessive?
http://www.masterpromotions.ca/halif...-boat-show.asp


It should be free.

It should be free but many of these shows are run by large exhibition
companies employing union labor at exorbitant rates. Traffic control,
ticket sales, security, etc. are all union controlled.

I have attended shows where you would have to literally pay a union
electrician $50 to plug in your extension cord. Plug it in yourself and
you would be charged the same $50. Simple forklift delivery of your
booth materials cost hundreds. Even worse, they would put their hand
out looking for a tip while they are on the clock. Pretty sad.

Check your bill. That simple forklift delivery was almost certainly
billed to you by the show organizers, not directly by the union. The
difference in the wage paid to a union fork lift operator (maybe $10
for a 15-minute delivery) and an illegal alien doing the same job
(maybe $1.50 for a 15-minute delivery) isn't going to run the bill up
to "hundreds of dollars". If the bill is hundreds of dollars, it's the
show organizers or the display rental company that is profiting. Our
local boat show rentals include basic 15-amp power to the booth and
there is no restriction about plugging in you own
display------------however, if you need more power than 15 amps or
require specialized routing of wires etc there would be additional
charges and it isn't unreasonable to pay a $50 minimum for a skilled
electrician.

Or is it actually your opinion that the difference between a $15/hr
unionized concession stand worker (sellling $600 worth of junk food
with a gross margin of over $500 per hour) and a $5.75/hr "guest
worker" making almost the same sales- but not quite because the mental
translation from Spanish to English takes a moment to do- would mean
that everybody should be able to get into the show free? Are you really
saying that the only reason there's an admission charge at all is to
cover the difference in cost between workers smart enough to engage in
collective bargaining with management and workers dumb enough or
desperate enough to be exploited?

You may be on to something. Let's kick out the unions everywhere. No
more admission fees to state fairs, amusement parks, movie theaters,
concerts, plays, boat shows, home shows, car shows, etc. I had no idea
that the only reason admission to all forms of entertainment isn't
completely complimentary was due to the difference between a living
wage and a slave wage. Let them eat stale nachos, I wanna get in free.
:-)

My experience with setting up for boat shows has been that it is the
display companies, not the union laborers, who rape and pillage.
Example: A few shows back I arrived at the booth to find a very, very
short table had been delivered. We had ordered a table with 40" legs so
that one can either stand or sit behind it at various points during the
day. I was looking at something that was too short to sit behind with a
standard chair- let alone a stool- and would have placed our display
far too low for comfortable viewing by show patrons. I went to the show
office and complained, where I was informed that the table delivered to
the booth was exactly what the publisher had requested. It wasn't of
course, but any time there's a monopoly in place- as at a trade show-
you can argue until you are three shades of blue in the face and get
nowhere. I had to agree to pay over $100 to have the table removed and
the proper table delivered, and had to sign a purchase agreement for
that fee at the conclusion of the discussion.

What burned my butt, big time, was when one of the company
representatives showed up at the booth and asked, "Is this the place
that needs the 40-inch table?" When I said yes, the company
representative turned the little table on its side, *extended the
telescoping legs to make it 40-inches high* (!) and said, "Have a nice
show!" No union employee in sight, just an asshole who could have told
me, when I complained, that the legs were adjustable.

When the next show came around, I went out to IKEA and bought a table,
two chairs,
a carpet, etc for just about what Rape and Pillage Display wanted for a
short term rental. We just used that gear for the 4th time in January-
so I guess I have to thank that free enterprise crook who screwed me
out of the hundred bucks for the leg adjustment. That
ripoff incident inspired me to save some money- and the $100 the
company virtually stole from me has cost that outfit close to $1000 in
lost revenue so far.

But you're right about at least one thing if not more. I'm sure the
show display rental companies would be able to keep a bit more of their
unconscionable fees if they could hire a greater number of illegal,
unqualfied, or desperate workers. It's easy for any company or
organization charging obscene prices to blame it on "the unions"- but
in reality boat show display pricing is more the result of absurd
profiteering in a monopolized market.


Welcome back to the darkside Chuck. We knew you would come back. ;-)


Dark side?

I thought we were discussing whether extortionary pricing for boat show
display and setup services was a result of union laborers earning $5-10
an hour more than the guys sent out from rent-the-homeless agencies vs.
display companies charging 5, 10, or 15 times their actual costs (union
or not) for goods and services supplied? :-)

Been there, done that, paid the fees. I have an informed opinion. Yeah,
the display company costs would be less if they could hire all
non-union help, but it would be foolish to expect to see those savings
passed along to the exhibitors. If we're going to have to pay through
the nose, and other orifices, to display at a boat show it's somewhat
gratifying to think that just mayhbe the guy pushing the broom, taking
tickets, or walking around on security patrol won't have to sleep under
a bridge and go dumpster diving for dinner.

Jim's up to his tricks again. He can't seem to learn.
--
'Til next time,

John H

******************************************
***** Have a Spectacular Day! *****
******************************************

That time of year again!
 

wrote in message
oups.com...

JimH wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...

Dan Krueger wrote:
Harry Krause wrote:
Don White wrote:

The local boat show starts at noon today and runs through Sunday.
Newspaper says admission fee has jumped to $ 10.00. Is it just
me..or
does that seem a bit excessive?
http://www.masterpromotions.ca/halif...-boat-show.asp


It should be free.

It should be free but many of these shows are run by large exhibition
companies employing union labor at exorbitant rates. Traffic control,
ticket sales, security, etc. are all union controlled.

I have attended shows where you would have to literally pay a union
electrician $50 to plug in your extension cord. Plug it in yourself
and
you would be charged the same $50. Simple forklift delivery of your
booth materials cost hundreds. Even worse, they would put their hand
out looking for a tip while they are on the clock. Pretty sad.

Check your bill. That simple forklift delivery was almost certainly
billed to you by the show organizers, not directly by the union. The
difference in the wage paid to a union fork lift operator (maybe $10
for a 15-minute delivery) and an illegal alien doing the same job
(maybe $1.50 for a 15-minute delivery) isn't going to run the bill up
to "hundreds of dollars". If the bill is hundreds of dollars, it's the
show organizers or the display rental company that is profiting. Our
local boat show rentals include basic 15-amp power to the booth and
there is no restriction about plugging in you own
display------------however, if you need more power than 15 amps or
require specialized routing of wires etc there would be additional
charges and it isn't unreasonable to pay a $50 minimum for a skilled
electrician.

Or is it actually your opinion that the difference between a $15/hr
unionized concession stand worker (sellling $600 worth of junk food
with a gross margin of over $500 per hour) and a $5.75/hr "guest
worker" making almost the same sales- but not quite because the mental
translation from Spanish to English takes a moment to do- would mean
that everybody should be able to get into the show free? Are you really
saying that the only reason there's an admission charge at all is to
cover the difference in cost between workers smart enough to engage in
collective bargaining with management and workers dumb enough or
desperate enough to be exploited?

You may be on to something. Let's kick out the unions everywhere. No
more admission fees to state fairs, amusement parks, movie theaters,
concerts, plays, boat shows, home shows, car shows, etc. I had no idea
that the only reason admission to all forms of entertainment isn't
completely complimentary was due to the difference between a living
wage and a slave wage. Let them eat stale nachos, I wanna get in free.
:-)

My experience with setting up for boat shows has been that it is the
display companies, not the union laborers, who rape and pillage.
Example: A few shows back I arrived at the booth to find a very, very
short table had been delivered. We had ordered a table with 40" legs so
that one can either stand or sit behind it at various points during the
day. I was looking at something that was too short to sit behind with a
standard chair- let alone a stool- and would have placed our display
far too low for comfortable viewing by show patrons. I went to the show
office and complained, where I was informed that the table delivered to
the booth was exactly what the publisher had requested. It wasn't of
course, but any time there's a monopoly in place- as at a trade show-
you can argue until you are three shades of blue in the face and get
nowhere. I had to agree to pay over $100 to have the table removed and
the proper table delivered, and had to sign a purchase agreement for
that fee at the conclusion of the discussion.

What burned my butt, big time, was when one of the company
representatives showed up at the booth and asked, "Is this the place
that needs the 40-inch table?" When I said yes, the company
representative turned the little table on its side, *extended the
telescoping legs to make it 40-inches high* (!) and said, "Have a nice
show!" No union employee in sight, just an asshole who could have told
me, when I complained, that the legs were adjustable.

When the next show came around, I went out to IKEA and bought a table,
two chairs,
a carpet, etc for just about what Rape and Pillage Display wanted for a
short term rental. We just used that gear for the 4th time in January-
so I guess I have to thank that free enterprise crook who screwed me
out of the hundred bucks for the leg adjustment. That
ripoff incident inspired me to save some money- and the $100 the
company virtually stole from me has cost that outfit close to $1000 in
lost revenue so far.

But you're right about at least one thing if not more. I'm sure the
show display rental companies would be able to keep a bit more of their
unconscionable fees if they could hire a greater number of illegal,
unqualfied, or desperate workers. It's easy for any company or
organization charging obscene prices to blame it on "the unions"- but
in reality boat show display pricing is more the result of absurd
profiteering in a monopolized market.


Welcome back to the darkside Chuck. We knew you would come back. ;-)


Dark side?

I thought we were discussing whether extortionary pricing for boat show
display and setup services was a result of union laborers earning $5-10
an hour more than the guys sent out from rent-the-homeless agencies vs.
display companies charging 5, 10, or 15 times their actual costs (union
or not) for goods and services supplied? :-)

Been there, done that, paid the fees. I have an informed opinion. Yeah,
the display company costs would be less if they could hire all
non-union help, but it would be foolish to expect to see those savings
passed along to the exhibitors. If we're going to have to pay through
the nose, and other orifices, to display at a boat show it's somewhat
gratifying to think that just mayhbe the guy pushing the broom, taking
tickets, or walking around on security patrol won't have to sleep under
a bridge and go dumpster diving for dinner.


Maybe in Seattle, you can plug in your TV to the NEMA 15 amp circuit. But
in Chicago and New York and Washing DC, you have to have the "Union
Electrician" plug in that plug. The same plug you plug in all the time at
home, when you want to hook up your TV, or run an electric drill. I can see
the "Union Electrician" to run the circuit to your booth, but not to plug in
a standard electrical cord. We had that problem at a couple of customers
years ago. They had to have the "Union Electrician" come up to plug in our
o'scope. And you wonder why people move their companies from those places?

That time of year again!
 

Calif Bill wrote:


Maybe in Seattle, you can plug in your TV to the NEMA 15 amp circuit. But
in Chicago and New York and Washing DC, you have to have the "Union
Electrician" plug in that plug. The same plug you plug in all the time at
home, when you want to hook up your TV, or run an electric drill. I can see
the "Union Electrician" to run the circuit to your booth, but not to plug in
a standard electrical cord. We had that problem at a couple of customers
years ago. They had to have the "Union Electrician" come up to plug in our
o'scope. And you wonder why people move their companies from those places?

You might want to check and see whether it's really "union rules" or
the local fire code that requires a licensed electrician to make the
electrical connections in a booth at a trade show. The last thing
anybody would want to see would be fire breaking out in a building
filled with people at any sort of show. Some of the beat-up junk stuff
that I'm sure at least a few folks want to plug in wouldn't pass a
cursory inspection. It may not be the "plugging in" that's the issue.
It may be that while connevting the plug the electrician is going to
make sure that the insulation isn't peeling away, the conctacts aren't
all burned up from previous arcing, etc.

And even so, when the show sponsor sends you a bill for $100 for
electrical connection be very aware that the union electrician is only
earning a tiny fraction of that. Let's say the union electrician earns
$50 an hour, plus benefits, so his time actually costs the show sponsor
maybe $70 an hour. If that electrician can work his way down an aisle
and connect 10 exhibitors in an hour, the cost to the employer is $7
per connection.
My entire point is that marking that $7 cost up to $100 and then
blaming the high fee on "the union" is just silly. Let's say that the
show coordinators could hire a quick and dirty backyard electrician
with a questionable "green card" for $35 an hour, all in all done. Half
the cost of union labor. Now the cost of making each connection is only
$3.50, rather than $7........In reality the service wouldn't be priced
at $96.50 with the same $93 markup that applied to the $100 billing,
the electrical service would still be priced at $100 and the markup
would be $96.50 instead of $93.

In some cases, such as the "plug in my booth" example, the markup from
the contracting company is such an enormous percentage of the bill that
doubling, halving, or even removing the true labor cost entirely
wouldn't affect profitability by all that much.

That time of year again!
 

wrote in message
oups.com...

Dan Krueger wrote:

"Collective bargaining" says it all. The individual either can't think
for himself or can't earn his own wage on his own merit. He has to be
grouped with a variety of worker - good and bad - to get the same pay,
the same raises, the same treatment, etc.

Still sad.

"Collective bargaining" is the only means by which the worker can even
begin to establish a level playing field. Now, there are folks who
don't think anybody except the guy with capital invested in a private
company has any right to any sort of fair or equitable
business/employment climate and that such a capital investment grants a
license to exploit any and all dumb or desperate enough to work for
the firm- and those who feel that way are entitled to do so.

Otherwise, the power of the employer to withhold pay is merely offset
by the power of the collective bargainers to withhold services. Seems
pretty fair to me. One side uses every trick in the book to pay as
little as it can get by with, and the other uses every trick in the
book to get paid as much as it possibly can. Yup, that's fair. Not
exclusively advantageous to management and capital- but fair.

Without collective bargaining, it is the employer, not the worker, who
ignores merit and does not differentiate between good and bad workers.
Without collective bargaining, everybody's job is constantly at risk if
some guy happens along who will whore out for a buck an hour less.



Tried hard to stay out of this, but Chuck, you did me in ...

Where do people like yourself get these concepts and models of business in
your head? The majority of people are employed by small businesses. Every
small business I've ever dealt with or been associated with absolutely do
NOT have the employment philosophies that you describe. Employees who make
themselves valuable through their skills and dedication to their
responsibilities are cherished and rewarded to the max the company can
afford. Conversely, the slackers, assuming they can meet the minimum job
requirements, are not compensated at the same level. Seems fair to me.

The only place in industry where I consistently saw the employees becoming a
"billet" number with no consideration given to individual talent or drive
was in big corporations with a unionized work force.

RCE

That time of year again!
 

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...


What do you do that's worth $50?

Assumed the risk and liability of creating a business that paid employees 70
bucks an hour. :-)

RCE (true statement for many years)

That time of year again!
 

"Bert Robbins" wrote in message
...


This reminds me of the time I went down to Ft. Lauderdale to record some
datacom lines at an major credit card company's data center. When I
arrived I asked where the power outlet was to plug in my data line
recorder. I was told that we can lift the floor tile but, we can not plug
in the equipment without a union electrician. So, the network engineer
called the electricians shop and asked for an electricain. An hour and
forty-five minutes later the electrician showed up and plugged my
equipment into the standard electric socket. Before, the electrician left
he said to give him a call when I was ready to have the equipment
unplugged. I responded "ok". Once the door shut the network engineer said
that the electrical plug to my equipment would probably get accidentally
kicked out of the electrical socket and that we would need to call the
electricians shop to get a union electrician to unplug the equipment from
the electrical outlet.

The plug was accidentally kicked out and I went back to the airport to
catch the next flight back to DC.



Years ago, my company designed and built a large, custom system for
McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis. The system took almost a year to engineer,
design, build, test and ship. After being installed at the McAir facility I
visited to witness the commissioning of the system. I noticed during it's
initial operation that a minor "set point" adjustment was not correct and
pulled a small, 3-inch "tweaker" screwdriver out of my pocket and approached
the system to make the minor adjustment. The McAir engineer was horrified
and grabbed my arm to stop me. He explained he had to call a union
electrical technician, who, following my instructions, would turn the tiny
little potentiometer to make the adjustment. I said, "you gotta be
kidding". He was not. He explained that if I were seen making the
adjustment a "grievance" would likely be filed by any other union employee
who witnessed my action, be he or her an electrician, painter, carpenter or
whatever. So, we stood there for almost an hour waiting for the call to be
made, the work order to be written and the technician to show up. When he
finally did and I politely explained what had to be done, he asked me if I
would mind doing it because he didn't know anything about the equipment.

RCE

That time of year again!
 

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
. ..

It is also possible that your convention center's electricians are not
represented by the IBEW.

Having attended and exhibited at many trade shows over the years, the fee
for electrical service is a hourly rate with a one hour minimum, regardless
of how long it actually takes to do the job. The 50 buck fee being
discussed here would apply for wiring in a new service, or plugging in the
cord to an existing one. The requirement on the exhibitor to utilize the
exhibit hall contractor, union or not, is mandated by the exhibit hall
insurance regulations.

I don't mind having to pay for that service.

RCE

That time of year again!
 

"JohnH" wrote in message
...
On 16 Feb 2006 19:07:59 -0800, wrote:


JimH wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...

Dan Krueger wrote:
Harry Krause wrote:
Don White wrote:

The local boat show starts at noon today and runs through Sunday.
Newspaper says admission fee has jumped to $ 10.00. Is it just
me..or
does that seem a bit excessive?
http://www.masterpromotions.ca/halif...-boat-show.asp


It should be free.

It should be free but many of these shows are run by large exhibition
companies employing union labor at exorbitant rates. Traffic
control,
ticket sales, security, etc. are all union controlled.

I have attended shows where you would have to literally pay a union
electrician $50 to plug in your extension cord. Plug it in yourself
and
you would be charged the same $50. Simple forklift delivery of your
booth materials cost hundreds. Even worse, they would put their hand
out looking for a tip while they are on the clock. Pretty sad.

Check your bill. That simple forklift delivery was almost certainly
billed to you by the show organizers, not directly by the union. The
difference in the wage paid to a union fork lift operator (maybe $10
for a 15-minute delivery) and an illegal alien doing the same job
(maybe $1.50 for a 15-minute delivery) isn't going to run the bill up
to "hundreds of dollars". If the bill is hundreds of dollars, it's the
show organizers or the display rental company that is profiting. Our
local boat show rentals include basic 15-amp power to the booth and
there is no restriction about plugging in you own
display------------however, if you need more power than 15 amps or
require specialized routing of wires etc there would be additional
charges and it isn't unreasonable to pay a $50 minimum for a skilled
electrician.

Or is it actually your opinion that the difference between a $15/hr
unionized concession stand worker (sellling $600 worth of junk food
with a gross margin of over $500 per hour) and a $5.75/hr "guest
worker" making almost the same sales- but not quite because the mental
translation from Spanish to English takes a moment to do- would mean
that everybody should be able to get into the show free? Are you
really
saying that the only reason there's an admission charge at all is to
cover the difference in cost between workers smart enough to engage in
collective bargaining with management and workers dumb enough or
desperate enough to be exploited?

You may be on to something. Let's kick out the unions everywhere. No
more admission fees to state fairs, amusement parks, movie theaters,
concerts, plays, boat shows, home shows, car shows, etc. I had no idea
that the only reason admission to all forms of entertainment isn't
completely complimentary was due to the difference between a living
wage and a slave wage. Let them eat stale nachos, I wanna get in free.
:-)

My experience with setting up for boat shows has been that it is the
display companies, not the union laborers, who rape and pillage.
Example: A few shows back I arrived at the booth to find a very, very
short table had been delivered. We had ordered a table with 40" legs
so
that one can either stand or sit behind it at various points during
the
day. I was looking at something that was too short to sit behind with
a
standard chair- let alone a stool- and would have placed our display
far too low for comfortable viewing by show patrons. I went to the
show
office and complained, where I was informed that the table delivered
to
the booth was exactly what the publisher had requested. It wasn't of
course, but any time there's a monopoly in place- as at a trade show-
you can argue until you are three shades of blue in the face and get
nowhere. I had to agree to pay over $100 to have the table removed and
the proper table delivered, and had to sign a purchase agreement for
that fee at the conclusion of the discussion.

What burned my butt, big time, was when one of the company
representatives showed up at the booth and asked, "Is this the place
that needs the 40-inch table?" When I said yes, the company
representative turned the little table on its side, *extended the
telescoping legs to make it 40-inches high* (!) and said, "Have a nice
show!" No union employee in sight, just an asshole who could have told
me, when I complained, that the legs were adjustable.

When the next show came around, I went out to IKEA and bought a table,
two chairs,
a carpet, etc for just about what Rape and Pillage Display wanted for
a
short term rental. We just used that gear for the 4th time in January-
so I guess I have to thank that free enterprise crook who screwed me
out of the hundred bucks for the leg adjustment. That
ripoff incident inspired me to save some money- and the $100 the
company virtually stole from me has cost that outfit close to $1000 in
lost revenue so far.

But you're right about at least one thing if not more. I'm sure the
show display rental companies would be able to keep a bit more of
their
unconscionable fees if they could hire a greater number of illegal,
unqualfied, or desperate workers. It's easy for any company or
organization charging obscene prices to blame it on "the unions"- but
in reality boat show display pricing is more the result of absurd
profiteering in a monopolized market.


Welcome back to the darkside Chuck. We knew you would come back. ;-)


Dark side?

I thought we were discussing whether extortionary pricing for boat show
display and setup services was a result of union laborers earning $5-10
an hour more than the guys sent out from rent-the-homeless agencies vs.
display companies charging 5, 10, or 15 times their actual costs (union
or not) for goods and services supplied? :-)

Been there, done that, paid the fees. I have an informed opinion. Yeah,
the display company costs would be less if they could hire all
non-union help, but it would be foolish to expect to see those savings
passed along to the exhibitors. If we're going to have to pay through
the nose, and other orifices, to display at a boat show it's somewhat
gratifying to think that just mayhbe the guy pushing the broom, taking
tickets, or walking around on security patrol won't have to sleep under
a bridge and go dumpster diving for dinner.

Jim's up to his tricks again. He can't seem to learn.
--
'Til next time,

John H

******************************************
***** Have a Spectacular Day! *****
******************************************

Learn what Sheriff?