Warner Brothers Construction (non striking) crew on Triangle Street 11:30 AM
BREAKING NEWS: Strike has been settled. Machine operators will be back on the job tomorrow morning. (An early Christmas present).
"Work" resumed on the town's Triangle Street road project, albeit s-l-o-w-l-y as the International Union of Operating Engineers Local Union 98 are still on strike, and they are pretty much the skilled heavy equipment operators.
Laborers from a different union doing basic manual labor on Triangle Street
Thus Warner Bros is trying to finish this job using less than optimal work procedures . For instance using a non-union job foreman, in this case John Baronas, to run the roller.
John Baronas in white helmet (obviously not a Hollywood Western thing)
Mr Baronas was not overly happy about having his picture taken, as he came over to me and said somewhat sternly, "If any of my men come to harm, I will hold you personally responsible."
I of course pointed out the Amherst police officer within spitting distance of the work site. And that we are standing on a public street and he is using public tax money to break a union, um, complete the project.
Scabs!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHope your karate can fend off baseball bats and pickup trucks.
ReplyDeleteBetter be careful Larry, these aren't college babies your playing with.
This has been my week for threats.
ReplyDeleteWhat's next Larry, publishing the names of rape victims?
ReplyDeleteThere was no newsworthy reason to print his name. He might even have daughters, like you do. Think like a parent for a minute....
I think that you could have made your anti-union point merely with his picture. And as someone else posted, these aren't college kids you are playing with -- and the NRTW is a law firm a few dimensions beyond the UM LSO...
Larry, are you sure the laborers they brought in are union? Richard Marsh
ReplyDeleteAnon 3:09pm. It seems to say that Baronas is a non-union foreman for the company. If that's the case, there is no real conflict in him working, unlike hiring outside workers (scabs). Richard Marsh
ReplyDeleteRichard: I believe they are from another union who I think supported the strike on Friday but that was about it.
ReplyDeleteYes, Mr. Baronas is not in a union and free to do as he pleases.
Yes, Mr. Baronas is not in a union and free to do as he pleases.
ReplyDelete""free to do as he pleases"??? Evidence thereof???
As one who was not in the AHA's union (and badly wanted to be) would it not be a quite relevant fact if his position was not ELIGIBLE to be IN the union?!?!?!?!
If he is not in a unit, he is an "At Will" Employee -- he either runs the roller or he isn't working anymore. At all...
Maybe not even for a competitor -- and maybe not even at the lowest rung/salary either, not just what he is getting now. (And he may have a family...)
Larry, you do a big disservice to everyone/everything if the guy didn't have a choice and you neglect to mention that -- "management" often is FORCED to -- as you wrote -- "break strikes" that THEY MAY ACTUALLY SUPPORT!!!
It's like the cops ordering a car to be towed -- you blame the cops and not the guy driving the tow truck. He/she/it doesn't have a choice.
Unions usually exclude supervisory personnel -- memory is that the UMPD's Sgts/LTs belong to a DIFFERENT LOCAL (albeit of the same "union") for this very reason.
Think about this for a minute -- a patrolman wants to file a grievance (legitimate or not), against whom is he/she/it going to file it? Whose action is the patrolman grieving -- more likely than not, that of the Sgt or LT -- the Chief well may have been home in bed at the time.
So Patrolman's union backs him/her/it, the supervising officer's union backs the supervisor and both enjoy union advocacy. (And the supervisor may be concurrently filing his/her/its own grievance against the chief -- or a lawsuit like the UMPD offices did regarding the illegal recording devices in the station.)
But each union guy (or gal, or otherwise) has the advantage of a union advocate whose sole job is to devend/advocate on his/her/its behalf -- hopefully within ethical guidelines and if it is, say, shouldn't have a badge anymore, negotiating the best options for that so the cop doesn't get screwed. (This is a good thing...)
Otherwise the union gets into a nasty conflict-of-interest mess -- and that happens a lot in UM Housing DisServices where the supervisor is in the same unit as the supervised (and often badly mistreated) employee.
The laborers are part of local 596 and have been WB employees all year. The 596 laborers have a verbal agreement with local 98 (striking union) that they will not operate any equipment and in part will continue to work.
ReplyDeleteSEIU 888 thanks you for your service! Guess what? Heard a rumor WB settled! Strike over due to a few vigilant people! Hooray! Thanks again Larry couldn't of done it without you!
ReplyDeleteGood news indeed.
ReplyDeleteBrought me w-a-y back to my Teamsters roots.
Unions are a fact of life, even if they occasionally hold up the show. Municipal projects demand HUGE money, and where there's big money, there can be a union. It's part of a free market system (Warner Brothers), and I thought a free market system was something this blog was tolerant of.
ReplyDelete"I thought a free market system was something this blog was tolerant of"
ReplyDeleteHa, It's Amherst where socialism lives, capitalism is frowned on and an idiot drives a beat up truck that says "Nuke Wall St". A large percentage of the Amherst population is in fact union since all teachers and the like are Union. I support laborers unions and I know many others do to.
Well put (from Walt Graff). That's almost something I could have engraved on a plaque and put on my wall (the first sentence).
ReplyDeleteBut the truth, is that it's not necessarily the young people, it's the older ones firmly entrenched in their homes that are payed for, members of town meeting, mucking up our political progress. Because of Amherst's affluence, the hypocrisy is so thick you could cut it with a knife.
I rely on this blog for all my wisdom needs.
ReplyDeleteUnions are the most corrupt, outdated and useless things. MOst of what unions say they protect are written into labor laws anyway. Want to keep costs reasonable? Free market.
ReplyDeleteYeah, so we can go back to 12-year-olds working endless hours producing garments in death trap buildings.
ReplyDeleteReally Larry, you couldn't get a kid today to work 8 hours at just about anything. If you really want to be cruel just make them work without an electronic device for a day. or even drive without one.
ReplyDeleteYou mean more corrupt than a political party who shuts down a government?
ReplyDelete"I'm here from the government, and I'm here to help." Yikes!
ReplyDeleteThe level of discussion on this blog is always consistently elevated.
ReplyDeleteEd,
ReplyDeleteYour use of bold type is an excellent improvement. Until now, I didn't know when you were yelling at us. It helps me to pay attention.
If Virginia weren't so damn hot, I'd be there. They have no unions. They don't have firetrap buildings or anything else. Things work there.
ReplyDeleteAnd it was OBAMA & Harry Reid that shut down the government. And it can stay shut down for all I care.