"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Dan Krueger wrote:
Harry Krause wrote:

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?


Get me a 9-5 job with paid benefits, four week's vacation, and I'll sell
my business and plug in extension cords for $50 each all day long.


While some construction workers work 9-5, most work from sunrise to
mid=afternoon. Inside jobs, of course, are different.

If you want to be a journeyman electrician, attend a four or five year
apprenticeship program.

Oh...the paid benefits...they're part of the pay package. They're
negotiated and are there as part of the total hourly rate. They're not
given.


Help me with this part:

"He had to pay a contractor who paid his workers".

Does this mean a guy sits in a chair, takes $40, gives $10 to an
uneducated yahoo to PLUG IN AN EXTENSION CORD and that is OK?

I don't know of one major market where union electricians are paid only
$10 an hour. You obviously have no knowledge of the construction
contracting business.

What do you do that's worth $50?

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.

"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