Posted on 07/11/2017 7:53:58 AM PDT by mbarker12474
Are goats taking jobs from union workers? Noe Hernandez , Battle Creek Enquirer Published 1:42 p.m. ET July 6, 2017 | Updated 14 hours ago 636349422166184578-goatherd-large-ngooch.jpg (Photo: Nick Gooch/courtesy of Western Michigan A battle is brewing at Western Michigan University this summer between a group of hungry goats and a labor union.
The 400-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has filed a grievance contending that the work the goats are doing in a wooded lot is taking away jobs from laid-off union workers.
"AFSCME takes protecting the jobs of its members very seriously and we have an agreed-upon collective bargaining agreement with Western Michigan," said Union President Dennis Moore. "We expect the contract to be followed, and in circumstances where we feel it's needed, we file a grievance."
The grievance alleges that the university did not notify the union that it was planning to use goat crews on campus, according to a chief steward report supplied to the Battle Creek Enquirer.
University spokeswoman Cheryl Roland said a small goat crew has been on campus this summer, but not to cut grass.
"For the second summer in a row, we've brought in a goat crew to clear undergrowth in a woodlot, much of it poison ivy and other vegetation that is a problem for humans to remove," Roland said. "Not wanting to use chemicals, either, we chose the goat solution to stay environmentally friendly.
"The area is rife with poison ivy and other invasive species, and our analysis showed the goats to be a sustainable and cost-effective way of removing them," she added.
The goats were formally introduced to the campus and local community on June 2 in parking lot 51 of the Sindecuse Health Center.
Garrett Fickle and his wife, Gina, the owners of Munchers on Hooves in Coldwater, rent out their four-footed "lawn mowers" to homeowners, commercial property owners and other clients.
WMU used a 10-goat crew for one week last summer as part of a pilot project, which Roland called a success.
The 20-goat crew is expected to clear about 15 acres on the southwest side of Goldsworth pond before students return for the fall semester.
The goats are ahead of schedule, said Nicholas Gooch, a university horticulturist and the project leader.
"It's definitely not what we hoped would come out of this project," Gooch said Thursday. "It kind of takes the air out of your sails a little bit."
Contact Battle Creek Enquirer education reporter Noe Hernandez at 269-966-0684 or nhernandez@battlecreekenquirer.com.
2. I like the comment from campus public affairs that they did not want "to use chemicals." Perhaps somebody from the WMU chemistry department can explain that there are no atoms or molecules or other "chemicals" in goat urine or feces.
3. It is no less "environmentally friendly" to hire humans to remove the weeds with trimmers and lopers. It is simply cheaper and smarter to use goats.
4. Shouldn't the university hire illegals and those with outstanding ICE warrents to pull the weeds, but pay them full union wages?
5. Who has the greatest claims of oppression and is most deserving of state university favoritism: goats? union workers? illegal laborers? Monsanto employees?
Another reason for the goats (that they probably don’t want to talk about)... keeps the number of rapes down as they import more Arabic students.
Goats provide natural fertilizer also.
I hear La Baaza is going protest the speciesism of these Union workers
“Another reason for the goats (that they probably don’t want to talk about)... keeps the number of rapes down as they import more Arabic students.”
____________________
You’re so baaaaaaaaaaaaad
What an opportunity for the government to spend a lot of money.
1. The Unions are put to work so dollars are spent now.
2. The government will need to pay for feed for those hungry goats now that they won’t have those 15 acres of overgrowth to eat up.
3. The jobs program for this university & the goat food programs will need to endure forever with accelerating exponential annual budget growth so that the bureaucrats running such programs can just keep getting fatter.
Goats are cheaper. They’re more eco-friendly. Generally they eat all day. And poison ivy doesn’t affect them like it does people.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/wheaton/ct-dupage-goats-clear-land-met-20140924-story.html
Right here in DuPage.
The goats may differ about that.
Goats; Just doing the work Americans won’t do.
Cut a deal requiring the goats to pay dues, and the union will be cool with this.
I did think about that, after I typed my post.
Poor goats.
Replaced by a goat....now that says a lot about job skills.
If the goats are immune to the effects of poison ivy, it might help to keep medical costs down. Also, if you have goats, you are going to need a goatherd. Perhaps he could join the union, if only for companionship.
We could have replaced Obama with a sloth... but I don’t know if that’s constitutional. Probably not.
You don’t have to pay for Worker’s Comp when goats do the job.
Goats come with 4 wheel drive and have no issues clearing out areas that are unsafe for human workers.
Goats leave natural fertilizer, humans remove the nutrients when they clear an areas.
Goats don’t tend to compact the soil, leaving it healthier.
When the goats are finished, you can sell them. Their value increases as they do the work.
Goats don’t create noise pollution.
Always remember that Chris Matthews was successfully replaced by an orange traffic cone.
Obviously, the goats need to join the union!
Obviously, the goats need to join the union!
I don’t know, but the goats would rather work in the fields than get humped by ugly-a$$ bearded savages.
No it doesn’t say a thing about job skills. It just speaks to the need of assuring good jobs for American workers. Isn’t it bad enough that the proud US worker must compete against foreign goods, foreign workers in the US, and robots, and now, goats? And to just beat all goats were brought here from Spain. Americans need a government that will protect them from this lowest of the low form of unfair competition.
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