"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

Eisboch wrote:
"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




Union organizers typically do not go onto the premises unless management
invites them. Being invited, however, is not that unusual in the
construction trades, especially at the smaller subcontractor shops,
because typically the owner of the shop was and is a union member
himself, and most unions allow the non-union owners and white collar
employees of such operations to participate in the health insurance
program.

The guys who visited your site were in error. They should have put
flyers on the windshields of those worker cars on public property, or
handed out flyers while on public property to workers leaving their shifts.

Your "Big Ed" was out of line, too, by the way.

"hk" wrote in message
. ..


Union organizers typically do not go onto the premises unless management
invites them. Being invited, however, is not that unusual in the
construction trades, especially at the smaller subcontractor shops,
because typically the owner of the shop was and is a union member himself,
and most unions allow the non-union owners and white collar employees of
such operations to participate in the health insurance program.

The guys who visited your site were in error. They should have put flyers
on the windshields of those worker cars on public property, or handed out
flyers while on public property to workers leaving their shifts.

Your "Big Ed" was out of line, too, by the way.




"Big Ed" got a round of applause and a few high 5's from many of the other
shop employees.
A good shop is self-policing. Management usually doesn't need to get
involved.

If successful, those union guys would have wiped out the company, causing
many others to suffer.

Eisboch

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

Union organizers typically do not go onto the premises unless management
invites them. Being invited, however, is not that unusual in the
construction trades, especially at the smaller subcontractor shops,
because typically the owner of the shop was and is a union member himself,
and most unions allow the non-union owners and white collar employees of
such operations to participate in the health insurance program.

The guys who visited your site were in error. They should have put flyers
on the windshields of those worker cars on public property, or handed out
flyers while on public property to workers leaving their shifts.

Your "Big Ed" was out of line, too, by the way.




"Big Ed" got a round of applause and a few high 5's from many of the other
shop employees.
A good shop is self-policing. Management usually doesn't need to get
involved.

If successful, those union guys would have wiped out the company, causing
many others to suffer.

Eisboch




The company would have been wiped out if a few guys left for better wages?

snerk

"hk" wrote in message
...


The company would have been wiped out if a few guys left for better wages?

snerk

The "few" guys would represent half of the welding/fabrication shop. We
only had about 45 employees total at the time and that included management,
administrative, engineering, design, electrical, controls and machinists.

Eisboch

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

The company would have been wiped out if a few guys left for better wages?

snerk

The "few" guys would represent half of the welding/fabrication shop. We
only had about 45 employees total at the time and that included management,
administrative, engineering, design, electrical, controls and machinists.

Eisboch




Well, that's a management problem, right?

I mean, if American corporations are free to dive to the bottom in terms
of layoffs, pay reductions, and benefit cuts, employees should be free
to jump with their feet.

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

The company would have been wiped out if a few guys left for better
wages?

snerk

The "few" guys would represent half of the welding/fabrication shop. We
only had about 45 employees total at the time and that included
management, administrative, engineering, design, electrical, controls and
machinists.

Eisboch


Well, that's a management problem, right?

I mean, if American corporations are free to dive to the bottom in terms
of layoffs, pay reductions, and benefit cuts, employees should be free to
jump with their feet.


Good grief. Our guys booted them out the door. Don't you get it?