Posted on 08/20/2010 5:59:26 AM PDT by Second Amendment First
A growing number of New York construction workers are vowing not to work on the mosque planned near Ground Zero.
"It's a very touchy thing because they want to do this on sacred ground," said Dave Kaiser, 38, a blaster who is working to rebuild the World Trade Center site.
"I wouldn't work there, especially after I found out about what the imam said about U.S. policy being responsible for 9/11," Kaiser said.
The grass-roots movement is gaining momentum on the Internet. One construction worker created the "Hard Hat Pledge" on his blog and asked others to vow not to work on the project if it stays on Park Place.
"Thousands of people are signing up from all over the country," said creator Andy Sullivan, a construction worker from Brooklyn. "People who sell glass, steel, lumber, insurance. They are all refusing to do work if they build there."
"Hopefully, this will be a tool to get them to move it," he said. "I got a problem with this ostentatious building looming over Ground Zero."
A planned 13-story community center and mosque two blocks from Ground Zero, Park51 has exploded into a national debate.
Louis Coletti, president of the Building Trades Employers' Association, said unions have not yet taken a "formal position" on Park51, but he understands why members would be hesitant to work there.
"It's a very difficult dilemma for the contractors and the organized labor force because we are experiencing such high levels of unemployment," he said. "Yet at the same time, this is a very sacred sight to the union guys."
"There were construction workers killed on 9/11 and many more who got horribly sick cleaning up Ground Zero," Coletti said. "It's very emotional."
L.V. Spina, a Manhattan construction worker who created anti-mosque stickers that some workers are slapping on their hardhats, said he would "rather pick cans and bottles out of trash cans" than build the Islamic center near Ground Zero.
"But if they moved it somewhere else, we would put up a prime building for these people," he said. "Hell, you could do it next to my house in Rockaway Beach, I would be fine with it. But I'm not fine with it where blood has been spilled."
Spina, who sells 9/11 apparel on his website, said he's printed thousands of stickers and plans to produce thousands more.
"They're going all over the country," he said. "They got pretty popular fast."
Popularity aside, there are some construction workers choosing not to set themselves against the project.
"Hundreds of guys here are wearing stickers as a sign of protest, but I'm on the fence about it," said Frank Langan, 50, a site superintendent from Queens working at Ground Zero.
"It's a tough debate," he said. "I sympathize with workers' position, but at the same time, you can't single out all Muslims because of a small number of terrorists."
Most rank and file union workers (at least the manufacturing type guys rather than the government (non-) worker unions) that I know can be pretty conservative. They supported Regan and they helped elect W twice.
My bet is that the union leadership will not force the issue. Obama has not done manufacturing workers any favors. The NYC Public Safety Unions will have a conniption if this thing is built there.
My fondest hope is that the construction union workers refuse to build it and that Holder starts a suit against them for religious discrimination.
More liberals would probably support non-union labor to build this mosque than would support opening a non-union Wal-Mart in Manhattan.
Being union workers, they will do what Obama wants them to do.
oh darn! More crazy right-wing racists! /s
Nearly 20% unemployment in the construction industry right now—somebody will build it.
Yes!
there’s always those who will “do the work American’s won’t do”
Yes we can.
Finally, something good coming from the unions!
Frustrated Cargo.
They’ll just hire the illegals who do the work Americans won’t do, if they’ll convert! You can’t have an Infidel engineeer, architect, or workman befouling your holy mosque, can you?
That would be a good name for it: the Abomination of Desolation Mosque.
From what I have been reading, the construction workers are at 23% unemployment.
There are strict rules too. If you don’t work 500 hours you lose your benefits.
Things are very bad, despite the shovel ready bull that was shovelled at us to make the stimulus more acceptable.
New tagline...
76 24 0 no change after thirty minutes!
Good! If muslims want it, they should build it themselves and not expect other *religions* to build it for them. Oh, and they should fund it themselves....Better yet, they should build it in their own country.
The NY Daily News poll (running as a sidebar to this thread’s article) made me laugh out loud. Better chance of having 76% of America think the Detroit Lions will go 16-0 and win the Superbowl this season. No way three-quarters of Americans—or New Yorkers, for that matter—are fine with this 9-11 Islamic Terrorist Victory Mosque at Ground Zero.
Now, 76% of those responding -thus far- may have said that. The poll does not display the number of respondents. A handful of early-arriving community organizer types with their marching orders probably skewed the poll. Or, the site may have a glitch in the software that tallies the responses. But no way, no-how, do these results in any way reflect reality. Way too many other polls and evidence to the contrary.
Nail/head. Yep, they'll jump right on it.
Yeah...my first reaction, too. I sympathize with the need for more work, but putting Islamderthals ahead of patriotism isn’t going down well in the union hall.
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