Union mentality... I'll never understand it

Well, for starters, like in the metal work example above they can't go having some scabs coming in and outperform them, it might educate the masses on how worthless their asses might actually be.

I have family and friends STILL with no power and tonight is the second night that will be dipping down to freezing temps......every time I think about those Alabama linemen crews being turned away I can't help but wonder how many homes would have power right now if they went straight to work. The crazy thing is you can't even blame the power company!

 

i'll also add....they guys who came through baltimore from georgia light, back in july, who i talked to when they were getting our power back on after the derecho, those guys kicked ass. they looked like hell, sunburned all to crap, stinking, and working like 18 hour days. im sure they were raking it in, but they were busting some serious ass too. made me proud to see trades guys humping for a change. you guys have some hard core m-effers down there. those dudes were not screwing around. they were even giving the spanish dudes crap for not clearing the trees fast enough.

 

It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it. -- Upton Sinclair

 

I'll also add that a baby storm like that wouldn't shut down power for this long in Fl, Ga,N.c,Sc Al, etc.
But then again we are used to getting things done...........

Down here when a storm approaches every surrounding state nearby is already on the way as the storm hits to help as soon as it blows by .

 

I work for a non-union concrete construction company. 100% prevailing wage. Heavy highway, roads, street curb and everything in between.

We're working at the new casino being built in downtown Cincy. There are a few other concrete companies working there as well, unions.

The other day, I was working close to a union crew. They took their mandatory or scheduled 9a.m. break about the same time I fired up the stihl cutsaw. Dude walks over and says, 'hey, we're taking our break, turn that shit off.'

First thought was to cut his arm off but then I calmly turned the saw off and muttered 'that's cool' or something like that.

I've been doing this for 23-ish years, concrete men are some of the hardest mofos out there. It took some restraint on my part to not tell him to go f$%k himself.

The amount of laziness and sloppiness is so apparent with these union crews. It's common knowledge that if we know that you ever worked for a union crew, you won't get hired at our company.

 

Six pages over something that didn't happen as reported? You guys are more dungeon than the dungeon.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/sandyunion.asp

It appears the ones that claimed they were turned back were actually told to return by their company not any union. They were from Decatur Utilities. Decatur Utilities would have been required to pay the prevailing wage. Guess how that went down when the crew asked their company about that.
Spin it anyway you like but one thing is fact; a politically spun story gets more traction in General than it does in the Dungeon.

 

Pff ... Only about 3 of the posts had anything to do with story. Don't matter if it's real or not.

 

The way I read that link is the unions wanted any companies that were willing to help to follow union rules and pay regulations.

In other words, don't make us look bad while you are doing our job. We will make you look as bad as we are.

 

"Union rules and pay regulations"?
State prevailing wage laws and safety regulations?

Sure, let's all make less so we can look good.

 

You're right. All non union linesmen and electricians work with reckless abandon and work for minimum wage.

 

I didn't say that but not surprised by your spin on it.
Are you dizzy yet?

 

I've spent years supervising emergency storm repairs and working as a project manager for major utilities in large metropolitan areas. In my personal opinion, this was either a pre-arranged political stunt or the confusion of a person who doesn't grasp their own profession.

There are countless non-union utility crews operating, hand in hand with union crews throughout areas hit by Sandy as we speak, type, or sneak a few bits of our kids Halloween candy. Damn, these York Peppermint Patties! Typically these are through rather convoluted mutual assistance agreements hashed out long before. Where training, qualifications, protection procedures, regional storm operating guidelines are understood and agreed upon beforehand. During emergency conditions utilities frequently perform high voltage switching, jumping, etc. without lockout/tagout equivalent protection in place. Instead relying on some scripturally followed operating guidelines that take years to memorize and comprehend. It's simply not the time to introduce an unknown player into the picture nor are their resources for hand holding.

In the video that's been trolling the internet, the utility manager from Alabama even backtracks about the reasons why they were turned away... they were not required to join the IBEW. For what it's worth, not all lineman are equivalent, just as not all electricians are equivalent. While not all southern utilities are the same, it's very common in the south for small coop utilities to exist which classify people as lineman with only the most rudimentary skills. As in the rural areas of the south, the distribution circuits tend to be fairly simple due to their rural population density and limited sub-transmission.

There's a lot of union bashing in this thread, even though it's in General. It's understandable, we seem to love an "Us vs. Them" battle, especially since they're bastards... who likely eat all of the good Halloween candy. Anyways, I've also been a union steward/rep/committeeman in the past. A union is simply a legal tool, nothing more or less, it can be used for mutual good or misused for mutual misfortune... just like most other legal tools. Or anything that people use. For the people complaining about union wages, I'm a bit bewildered, as equivalently trained non-union linemen frequently are paid more. Primarily as an enticement, to poach the best lineman from the union halls or utilities. For good or ill, and I've never been an IBEW member, the IBEW does have one of the most highly respected lineman training programs in the nation with few peers - and I can't name one. I've also witnessed, from a supervisory role, the IBEW Line Crews police their own members at a level I truly admire. Any signs of laziness, disinterest, or lack of passion for learning the trade and an apprentice is bounced out of their program. Regardless of who there dad, uncle, or connection to Willy Wonka is. Sorry, stealing another piece of my kids Halloween Candy.

 

I never understood it either.....until I worked for one. Only then did I realize why the employees were the way they were. Why? Because the company constantly went against the contract they agreed to. They didn't care.

 

best post of the entire thread. :up: *proud member of the IBEW Local 613, ATL, for 30 years*

 

thats a great series though, the amount of money those guys had back in the day was insane even with the modern day equivalent

 

I'm as bewildered as can be, either from the sugar rush I'm rocking now... damn Nerds... or because of those damned bastards! Doesn't matter who they are, they're bastards! Especially those who give fun sized candy bars, what the hell is fun about a small candy bar? I bloody want a King Size! Even if it's just ostensibly for my 4 year old daughter.

Sigh, not sure where I was going with that. Oh yeah, it's "Us Vs. Them", doesn't matter who we are or they are. Republicans/Democrats, Conservatives/Liberals, Executives/Workers, Capitalist/Socialist-Commies, or those damned to eternal hell fire or rocking the banjo with Jesus! It's all about "Us vs. Them"... there can be NO MIDDLE GROUND. This isn't theology, there's no grey area, no purgatory... they're bastards!!! Nor Lord of The Rings and their damned Middle Earth, I swear that's fiction. Sorry, My Little Pony is on and my daughter is distracted, I'm going to go snatch some candy.

 

Which brings me to another point, notice how much fatter union folk are? Lazy mf'ers!

 

Did I mention, fuck unions?

And in a closed shop its NOT "Us vs Them" in the sense youre thinking. Both the union and the company are in cahoots and lining their pockets. The ones losing out are the suckers in the unions and the average joe citizen that pays more for everything.

Nevermind the irony of all these idiots thinking we should all make more yet dont want to pay for anything.

Let companies pay management and laborers what they want. It's simple capitalism. Dont like it? Start your own company.

 

All well and good except the story was false to begin with.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/11/union_official_denies_non-unio.html

http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/sandyunion.asp

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news...-From-Helping-NJ-Sandy-Victims-176949061.html

Sorry to piss on a perfectly good union-bashing thread. Sometimes facts will do that.

Union-hating is almost as stupid as racism, and for exactly the same reason. It paints every person with one brush, when every person is his own person.

I've worked with a union card three times in my life, as a Marine Engineer with IUOE Marine Division Local 25 (Philly, PA and Brooklyn, NY), Communications Workers of America (CWA Local 13500-Philly) and IBEW (Local 98-Philly).

I saw some pretty shady stuff going on in the IUOE, but the US Attorney's office cleaned that up during the time I was in there. It was a few guys dipping into the pension fund. One Business manager committed suicide when he was cornered.

In the CWA we had a good contract with Lucent, Verizon and AVAYA. We were treated well and we gave them good work and a lot of it. That was highly technical work, and we were very proud of the caliber of product that we delivered. We always delivered better stuff than the fly-by-night operators who sometimes worked in the co-locations alongside us, who had little training and no visible chain of command or enforcement of contract requirements via-a-vis reporting and quality oversight.

The IBEW was a thug operation. I was not proud to be affiliated with that local, and I left within a year of getting my book. I saw non-union guys get threatened and harassed, I saw union bosses "put the arm" on contractors and building owners, and I got shorted out of money in my pension and vacation fund. With the IBEW, the word was "Don't make waves or you'll never get work again." Several years after I left the IBEW I had a network cabling job in Philly where the IBEW guys vandalized the cabling and panels I had installed. The client threw out the contractor who had brought the union guys in.

So, in my experience, unions are made of people. People run the gamut from honest and hard-working to scumbags who would rob their own mothers. Just like every other walk of life.