Jeff, this was a great thread. Thanks. My husband has worked as a non union painter and as a Master Journeyman Union painter. There are lazy workers in BOTH. The difference is as you stated, do you want it done RIGHT???? The other difference is you can't survive or support a family on non union painter wages.
Another positive on the construction trade unions is if you suck, you don't work. Because layoffs happen when the jobs end and when a new job gets bid on next time, guess what, if you were a lazy piece of shit, you don't get called back.
Even in this economy my husband went back to work after his head injury three years ago. He works and works and works and when jobs and projects end, he is the first one to get called back. He is worth every dollar he earns.
The bad thing is that a lot of illegal immigrants are getting into the union somehow with fake paperwork. They go into the shops and take LESS money than they are supposed to. The union leaders are the lazy pieces of shit who are not checking the shops like they are supposed to because they are too busy eating donuts at the hall. So this goes on left and right.
I can tell my track house was made by non union illegals. We had to repair our tile roof last month. When my husband tore it apart he could tell the roofers did not have a clue what they were doing and there were no Journeymen roofers on the job. During the storms last month our 11 year old neighborhood replaced almost every roof because of this. I could go on and on with what we've discovered about our construction.
I think we need card check. It's too hard to unionize anymore. Even though middle management in companies is working long hours for less money, at the woof of a possible union vote, the intimidation tactics begin. They view it as a chance to advance to upper echelons in companies. So employees are brow beaten and are afraid to vote in a union.
I hope we will soon be able to thank Governor Walker for a revival of organized labor.
Sam Whiskey, if corporations shipped our jobs to china and everything is made in china then how are people supposed to purchase American? You are mad at the unions when it is the fault of our trade policies.
