Why do companies let unions hold them hostage?

We spent 3 years off and on working a contract in downtown Boston... on Albany Street. Saw union picketers the entire time. It was funny the looks we would get when they would see us come out of the buildings in hardhats. They would get all excited like they needed to take care of us. They were basically told that if they entered the customer's property they would be arrested for trespassing.

Our guys/gals liked the deal they had and didn't want anyone messing it up.

 

What are your thoughts on Prevailing Wage?

 

The ones I'm refering to are at private construction sites.
Come to think of it, I've never seen any protests at any public construction sites. I wonder if it's because its all union and they're getting paid what they want? Hmm, cant imagine why the states broke and sales tax was just increased.

 

As for my feelings on prevailing wage, I work in a job we send supplies to government entities on a regular basis. We always have to bid on the job and they take lowest price. Why is labor any different?

 

If it werent for the wink I'd learn you on the reality of things.

Anyhow, I find it amusing cuz the very government who protects it's citizens on the right to strike are the same ppl who tell their employees, no can do.

 

I think it must come from being a mallcop. Real cops--or at least our real cops--can strike and have threatened to do so in the past if they weren't granted their 10% raise. And their benefits are ridiculous by any metric.

I don't know, may in other parts of the country it's different, but there's a waiting list three inches deep to be a cop here--clearly somebody doesn't mind the pay, hours, and benefits. And you were the one bragging about the six-figure salaries available where you are. That's sweet money in any part of the country.

 

They supposedly need cops here. Several counties and cities have ads out. NYC advertises for police officers too.

And when I spoke of government employees it was in the context of the government employees I work with... such as Dept. of Energy employees. They can't strike.

As far as I know, the police and fire departments aren't allowed to strike. Instead they get the "blue flu".

 

And listen buttsnacks... I'm no mall cop. I couldn't pass the Segway driver's exam.

 

I don't know about other places, but there will be no need to recruit here...ever. There's a waiting list more than a thousand names deep, and a lot of these guys actually take mall cop, or campus cop, or whatever jobs until they can get on to the police force proper. And there are something like 16 other law enforcement-type agencies that are similarly staffed. Maybe it's just a nice place to live.

That's a lie. It sucks here. Don't even think about it.

Listen, jerky, I wasn't talkin' to you.

And like I said, I don't know about cops elsewhere, but our city police force has threatened to strike over pay raises, which leads me to believe they're allowed to do it. And they invoked the specter of the rampant crime that would occur if they did strike. I guess there's be a lot of soccer moms out cruising for poon, or something. We don't have any real crime to speak of, so I suspect not striking was a good idea in that if they did do it we'd all figure out real damn quick just truly how (not) bad the crime here really gets. Awkward.

I've been sniggering for five minutes since I saw this. You mind if I appropriate it? Too late, it's mine now.

Awesome...'buttsnacks'. My wife says 'fuck you' in advance.

Listen, bish, driving a Segway is no easy matter. And doing it without spilling your Big Gulp is damn near Zen-like.

Ask BTard. He's the one that taught me to roll it. You gotta watch for little girls leaving Hot Topic, the goths down by the arcade...this ain't an easy gig.

 

Exactly the kind of crap I hear all the time. I'm an engineer and I try to work with guys on the floor because they have valuable daily experience, but I run into the ones who have been at the company 30 years and think that they know it all. I spent the better part of six months making analyzing a particular process and eliminating waste, making a 60 page manual to cover every mistake that the operators were capable of making and they still find new ways to screw things up. A big part in our eventual success was moving the guy who thought he knew it all to another line where he couldn't do any more damage.It pissed me off that we ran into a situation where one of the best guys on the line got laid off just because there were other guys who had more years in at the company. There was a lot of combined effort to go from around 80% efficiency to over 95% and actually make some money.
You know what really got me going today? Some guy actually called me "management" It shows they really don't have an effin clue what engineers do.

Yes, I know that there are engineers that don't have a clue either, but you just made a generalized statement yourself that shows your attitude. You assume that the engineer that you run into doesn't know what he is doing. I know what I have to do when I run into guys like you. I wait for you to tell me to my face how I'm going to screw things up, then I figure out what you really know so I can try to get some useful information, then I have to get the job done while you act like you knew what to do all along.

If you're so darned smart, why aren't you an engineer?

 

no, i dont ever, nor have i ever told an engineer what to do. Been doing this long enuff, that i let you do your job, after all, i get paid to do what YOU tell me to do. And then when it fucks up, its at that time i tell you why it did. Yes it was a generalized statement, and it was said to simply make a point. And the "engineer that i ran into".......wtf? You think i made that statement based on my dealings with ONE engineer? LMAO! sorry. Dude, this was not a dig at you, this was a statement that the majority of engineers in MY line of work, know ohms law, all the other theoretical bullshit, but very very little of real world electrical work. Hell, you just said it yourself making a 60 page manual to cover every mistake that the operators were capable of making and they still find new ways to screw things up. Dude, im not an operator, i install, and troubleshoot multimillion dollar automated equipment on a daily basis. Like i said, i dont try to tell you how to do your job, just dont try to tell me why what YOU wrote on your engineering paper will work in the field when i prove and show you why it wont.

Why didnt i become an engineer? cus i enjoy working with my hands too much. I tried the "sit behind a desk" thing a long time ago, no thanks, i get much more satisfaction out of standing back when i finish the job and watching stuff work. :up:

Keep up the good work tho, if youre one of the "real world" engineers that can actually figure out and put on paper how to make things work the first time, good on ya, you guys are few and far between. Oh, and for the record, i havent been with any company for 30 years, just been doing the same type of work nearly that long.

 

First, I wasnt exactly bragging about it I just tend to mention it whenever some cop hating dumbass brings up that played out line about how, "some ppl need the power so much that they don't care about the pay."

Second, I got a newsflash for you.....just barely breaking into 6 figures in NNJ is hardly living in the lap of luxury.

 

Well, which is it, Blart? Is it that six figures is way short scratch and they're just doing it for the power trip, or is it a lot of money and they're doing well?

 

We just had two clients turn down state leases for a liquor store training "academy" because it required Prevailing Wage workers which would probably double their buildout costs.

 

What the hell is a liquor store training academy? Sounds like something I might be interested in bidding on.

 

As a Project manager and an engineer, the guys that feel they need to give me their resume all the time are the ones I watch. "I have X amount of years doing this" shows me they are trying to validate themselves to make up for some shortcomings.
There are good and bad engineers, electricains, plumbers, etc. The guys that have a vested interest in getting the job done are the ones that will succeed. To the rest it's just a job and you will never get a better product as a result. Companies need to do a better job to weed out those employees and/or call the union hall and get someone else.
I completely agree that the people with field experience are way ahead of the game. You can't be successful in system designs by doing it behind a desk and not getting your hands dirty.

 

Hmmm I thought I was pretty clear. Better than the $30-40k dittoheads like yourself keep tossing around but n-o-t___l-i-v-i-n-g___in___the___l-a-p___of___l-u-x-u-r-y. In my best sign language......do you understand n-o-w?

[email protected] to google it cuz apparently I don't have as much free time as you do.

 

I completely agree. We had someone at a job that started everything with, "I've been doing this 26 years..." Which I eventually figured out they had no idea what they'd been doing for 26 years, and knew it.

 

Our cops start in the mid-30s. Six figures is good money a_n_y_w_h_w_e_r_e i_n t_h_i_s c_o_u_n_t_r_y.

I'm going to mark you down for bragging that they're overpaid. You can change your mind whenever you want, though.