southsider2k5 Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Art...s/International I guess they need to work for Wal-Mart to get insurance now You've heard the panhandler's common refrain, "Will work for food." How about: "Will picket for food?" In Washington, Baltimore, Atlanta and elsewhere in the United States, union organizers are scouring shelters and recruiting homeless people to man their picket lines, paying just above minimum wage and failing to provide health benefits. The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, which broke from the AFL-CIO four years ago in a dispute over organizing strategy and other issues, is hiring homeless people to protest at non-union construction sites. "We're giving jobs to people who didn't have jobs, people who in some cases couldn't secure work," said George Eisner, head of the union's mid-Atlantic regional council in Baltimore. The carpenters who belong to his union, Mr. Eisner explained, are already working. With homes and offices being built or renovated and real estate still booming in many urban areas, he said, the union carpenters are too busy to join the picket lines. "Work is good, and our members are working," Mr. Eisner said. "This is just the best thing for us to do at this point." But the new strategy of placing homeless people in picket lines disturbs some labour experts. Neil Bernstein, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis who specializes in labour law, said unions that use such a tactic are guilty of practising a double standard. "They're basically doing what they're criticizing the employers for doing -- getting the cheapest people to do the job," he said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 And that made sense to someone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex Kickass Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 That is so wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NUKE_CLEVELAND Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 Organized labor has sunk to another new low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mac9001 Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 Hypocrisy at its finest, unions are becoming a joke in this country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilMonkey Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 The carpenters who belong to his union, Mr. Eisner explained, are already working. With homes and offices being built or renovated and real estate still booming in many urban areas, he said, the union carpenters are too busy to join the picket lines. "Work is good, and our members are working," Mr. Eisner said. "This is just the best thing for us to do at this point." So if the union guys are too busy to picket, wouldn't they also be too busy to take on new jobs? Should people needing work done be forced to wait until the union guys finished other projects BEFORE they could start their own? :banghead Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mreye Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 QUOTE(EvilMonkey @ Jan 25, 2006 -> 06:51 AM) So if the union guys are too busy to picket, wouldn't they also be too busy to take on new jobs? Should people needing work done be forced to wait until the union guys finished other projects BEFORE they could start their own? :banghead Exactly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YASNY Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 QUOTE(EvilMonkey @ Jan 25, 2006 -> 06:51 AM) So if the union guys are too busy to picket, wouldn't they also be too busy to take on new jobs? Should people needing work done be forced to wait until the union guys finished other projects BEFORE they could start their own? :banghead If, and only if, they want want a high quality job done by skilled craftsmen. Otherwise, not so important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilMonkey Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 QUOTE(YASNY @ Jan 25, 2006 -> 04:52 PM) If, and only if, they want want a high quality job done by skilled craftsmen. Otherwise, not so important. Did you mean for that to be green, or are you saying that only union craftsmen are skilled? I hope you meant green. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 QUOTE(YASNY @ Jan 25, 2006 -> 10:52 AM) If, and only if, they want want a high quality job done by skilled craftsmen. Otherwise, not so important. Are you refering to the homeless being better picketers or the union carpenters being better skilled? Either way, I agree with you. If you take all the Union guys in one group and everyone who claims to be a carpenter in the other, I'll take the average of the union group before the average of the non-union group. Evil, that's not to say that there aren't some very excellent carpenters and other tradesmen without a union card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_genius Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 I'm suprised the Union didn't just pay them with a pint of Dimitri Vodka. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YASNY Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 QUOTE(Texsox @ Jan 25, 2006 -> 01:37 PM) Are you refering to the homeless being better picketers or the union carpenters being better skilled? Either way, I agree with you. If you take all the Union guys in one group and everyone who claims to be a carpenter in the other, I'll take the average of the union group before the average of the non-union group. Evil, that's not to say that there aren't some very excellent carpenters and other tradesmen without a union card. That was exactly my point. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 I'm starting the Homeless, Indigent, Professional Picketing & Information Enterprise for these people. Starting next month HIPPIE will be out in force whenever and where ever we are needed. If you need someone to stand outside a job site and picket for days on end, call HIPPIE. We have nothing else to do. Too busy working to complain about the poor Bush economy? Call HIPPIE. To busy pulling that ski boat behind your SUV to protest high gas prices? Call HIPPIE! Tired of just sticking cause magnets on your car? Call HIPPIE. Let us do the picketing. Additional charges may apply for hard to rhyme slogans, poor weather, weekends, or Republican causes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YASNY Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 QUOTE(Texsox @ Jan 26, 2006 -> 07:08 AM) I'm starting the Homeless, Indigent, Professional Picketing & Information Enterprise for these people. Starting next month HIPPIE will be out in force whenever and where ever we are needed. If you need someone to stand outside a job site and picket for days on end, call HIPPIE. We have nothing else to do. Too busy working to complain about the poor Bush economy? Call HIPPIE. To busy pulling that ski boat behind your SUV to protest high gas prices? Call HIPPIE! Tired of just sticking cause magnets on your car? Call HIPPIE. Let us do the picketing. Additional charges may apply for hard to rhyme slogans, poor weather, weekends, or Republican causes. I'm going to unionize your labor force. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 QUOTE(YASNY @ Jan 26, 2006 -> 07:13 AM) I'm going to unionize your labor force. That's part of my plan, we will be unionized. And if some other union uses non-union picketers, we will picket their picket line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mreye Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 QUOTE(Texsox @ Jan 26, 2006 -> 07:59 AM) That's part of my plan, we will be unionized. And if some other union uses non-union picketers, we will picket their picket line. Holy s***! You're going to tear a hole in the universe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YASNY Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 QUOTE(mreye @ Jan 26, 2006 -> 08:01 AM) Holy s***! You're going to tear a hole in the universe. No. Just a warp in the space-time continueum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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