Posted on 07/25/2007 4:12:12 AM PDT by Renfield
On reading that the Carpenters Union hired others to picket for them in Washington, D.C., Ed Morrissey thinks the pickets who are paid less than WalMart workers should unite:
"....The ironies here are so thick that one could cut them with a labor-produced knife. Does the union offer these workers a chance to organize? Perhaps they should form Picket Line Walkers Local #1 and demand a better wage than $8 per hour. The working conditions sound rather grim as well. Do these workers get paid breaks, health-care coverage, and a safe working environment? Er ... no.
And let's take a look at that wage for just a moment. They're getting paid a whopping eight dollars per hour, almost certainly with no benefits. The Wal-Mart protest site, You Are Worth More, puts the average Wal-Mart hourly pay at $9.26 per hour -- which means they pay better than Labor pays its protest workers by 16%. Another site, Wake Up Wal-Mart, notes that the lowest paid job at the retailer still pays $8.23 per hour, and it doesn't involve hours of pacing in the hot sun during the summertime. And while some may consider Wal-Mart's benefits package insufficient, at least it exists.
The union's colleagues aren't impressed, nor should they be. The carpenters use what are essentially scabs for picket work because they apparently don't have enough out-of-work members to staff picket lines. That doesn't cut it for Wayne Ranick of the United Steelworkers, who says it doesn't leave a "positive impression" for labor. Homeless advocates interviewed by the Post call it an exploitation of the downtrodden, and wonder why the carpenters' union doesn't do some real good by providing these picketers with job training...."
Link to Wash Post article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/23/AR2007072302011.html
Only in America!
Unions are ludicrous.
“””””””Homeless advocates interviewed by the Post call it an exploitation of the downtrodden, and wonder why the carpenters’ union doesn’t do some real good by providing these picketers with job training....””””
When the homeless heard this recommendation their response was: “Screw the carpenters - they should build us houses with indoor plumbing, and Wal-mart workers should provide house-warming food and wine.”
My neighbor across the street and his wife both are police officers. He has more than 24 years of service. Their primary private vehicle proudly displays an FOP badge. Their older pickup has a "W'04" sticker on it.
LOL, gotta love it! The company gets a chance to scope out the employees beforehand. Do they show up on time every day, clean, neat and sober? Do they actively hold the signs or just sandbag it? And then they hire the union's best employees. A free market economy can be a frightening thing to a commie.
Dyslexics of the world, UNTIE!
Carpenters Union Nailed!
No doubt about it. My experience with unions dates back to a tech trade show I had to do in Chicago (MidCon) and the idiotic things I saw with respect to getting our booth set up - having to hire an electrician to plug in our lights and a sign painter to attach our velcro letters to the panels.
The whole booth was nothing but a few panels held together with stove bolts and wing nuts, but we had to hire TWO carpenters to assemble it, and the first thing BOTH of those bums did when they arrived at the booth site was to drop their tool belts and go to the restroom. My comment that they must have been in pain, holding on to a full colon for so long, got a grievance filed in response.
If I'm ever again asked to do a show in a closed shop state I think I'll just pass.
Remember the Bible verse, “Carpenters, take the plank out of your friend Karl’s eye” or something like that?
Lettuce now pick which is the best economic approach.
This union’s Hammer and Schtickle is quite the rusty old saw....
Funners & Punners ping list PING—
If anyone wants either on or off of this list, you must be out of your minds....
It’s pretty plane the picketers were board.
Leaders of the local 819, Phil Screwdriver and Alan Wrench immediately called a meeting....
Thanks for the ping!
“Wooden shoe do the same”?
I wood knot.
However some carpenters have branched out and added another trade to their craft. They have secretly gone into the fast food business, becoming a target for the tin foil conspiracy crowd. They call themselves the builder-burgers.
One of the picketers was injured and filed a worker’s comp claim. His claim was upheld because even after extensive treatment, he was knot hole.
Thanks S of A. :’)
"....The ironies here are so thick that one could cut them with a labor-produced knife. Does the union offer these workers a chance to organize? Perhaps they should form Picket Line Walkers Local #1 and demand a better wage than $8 per hour... Do these workers get paid breaks, health-care coverage, and a safe working environment? Er ... no... a whopping eight dollars per hour, almost certainly with no benefits... the average Wal-Mart hourly pay at $9.26 per hour... the lowest paid job at the retailer still pays $8.23 per hour, and it doesn't involve hours of pacing in the hot sun during the summertime. And while some may consider Wal-Mart's benefits package insufficient, at least it exists... The carpenters use what are essentially scabs for picket work because they apparently don't have enough out-of-work members to staff picket lines... Homeless advocates interviewed by the Post call it an exploitation of the downtrodden...You know, the downtrodden -- taxpayers? :')
Heh, heh, heh. Excellent. Nice of a union to help an employer out these days.
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