IDBillzFan Posted April 16, 2014 Posted April 16, 2014 Several years ago at a trade show in Chicago myself and another person were setting up a booth. The booth had 2 clip on lights, each with 1 small bulb that plugged into standard 110V AC. A union representative walking the floor informed us that we would have to comply with venue rules which required a union electrician to perform any "electrical work". That included plugging in the light fixtures. We were presented with a work order form which we filled out and gave to the representative. Some 30-45 minutes later an electrician arrived, plugged in our 2 fixtures and we were billed the minimum charge (I believe $90) for the work. Unions have essentially negotiated their way to irrelevance. Scott Walker pounded one of the final nails, and by the time Wisconsin got done blowing all their money only to find Walker winning by a larger margin in the recall than his original campaign, you knew it was the beginning of the end of the purple people beaters. They still rule some cities, like San Francisco, but that won't last much longer. Companies downtown are tired of having to pay such ridiculous fees for any construction services, and will continue to find their way to Santa Clara to set up shop. One day SFO will be little more than tree huggers, gays, homeless people, and Nancy Pelosi.
Chef Jim Posted April 16, 2014 Posted April 16, 2014 (edited) Unions have essentially negotiated their way to irrelevance. Scott Walker pounded one of the final nails, and by the time Wisconsin got done blowing all their money only to find Walker winning by a larger margin in the recall than his original campaign, you knew it was the beginning of the end of the purple people beaters. They still rule some cities, like San Francisco, but that won't last much longer. Companies downtown are tired of having to pay such ridiculous fees for any construction services, and will continue to find their way to Santa Clara to set up shop. One day SFO will be little more than tree huggers, gays, homeless people, and Nancy Pelosi. Throw techie hipsters in that lineup and that day has arrived. Edited April 16, 2014 by Chef Jim
3rdnlng Posted April 16, 2014 Posted April 16, 2014 For those of you who still live/work in WNY, Niagara Falls has to be the most corrupt town. Who knows what's worse, the corrupt city officials or their unions? No wonder that city is a schithole.
Koko78 Posted April 16, 2014 Posted April 16, 2014 Several years ago at a trade show in Chicago myself and another person were setting up a booth. The booth had 2 clip on lights, each with 1 small bulb that plugged into standard 110V AC. A union representative walking the floor informed us that we would have to comply with venue rules which required a union electrician to perform any "electrical work". That included plugging in the light fixtures. We were presented with a work order form which we filled out and gave to the representative. Some 30-45 minutes later an electrician arrived, plugged in our 2 fixtures and we were billed the minimum charge (I believe $90) for the work. I would have been tempted to just plug it in myself, and when they bitched, simply told them some guy came by, said he was a union electrician and plugged them in.
IDBillzFan Posted April 16, 2014 Posted April 16, 2014 I would have been tempted to just plug it in myself, and when they bitched, simply told them some guy came by, said he was a union electrician and plugged them in. You just can't do that at a trade show without knowing the union guys are always less interested in doing their job than they are ensuring you don't do their job. The show I referenced earlier was a very large show with hundreds of exhibitors, many of them with large booth spaces. I was against a wall, in the back, in one of the lousier floor spaces. No one had any reason to pay attention to me or what I was doing. And yet there they were...just waiting for me to put up my own signs. I recall at a different show with a larger booth; the show was over and we were waiting for our empty crates to show up from drayage. The guy pulls up to our booth with some crates elevated on his forklift. He starts to lower them down when the horn blows for break. I asked him nicely: "Look, any chance you can drop those down so we can start packing?" The answer was "Of course note." And he sat there for 20 minutes. Because when it comes to the laziest of the lazy, nothing beats a union worker at a convention center.
Chef Jim Posted April 16, 2014 Posted April 16, 2014 You just can't do that at a trade show without knowing the union guys are always less interested in doing their job than they are ensuring you don't do their job. The show I referenced earlier was a very large show with hundreds of exhibitors, many of them with large booth spaces. I was against a wall, in the back, in one of the lousier floor spaces. No one had any reason to pay attention to me or what I was doing. And yet there they were...just waiting for me to put up my own signs. I recall at a different show with a larger booth; the show was over and we were waiting for our empty crates to show up from drayage. The guy pulls up to our booth with some crates elevated on his forklift. He starts to lower them down when the horn blows for break. I asked him nicely: "Look, any chance you can drop those down so we can start packing?" The answer was "Of course note." And he sat there for 20 minutes. Because when it comes to the laziest of the lazy, nothing beats a union worker at a convention center. I've done several shows in SF and have never had anyone tell me they had to set up my booth. Never even offered to lift a finger to help.
keepthefaith Posted April 16, 2014 Posted April 16, 2014 You just can't do that at a trade show without knowing the union guys are always less interested in doing their job than they are ensuring you don't do their job. The show I referenced earlier was a very large show with hundreds of exhibitors, many of them with large booth spaces. I was against a wall, in the back, in one of the lousier floor spaces. No one had any reason to pay attention to me or what I was doing. And yet there they were...just waiting for me to put up my own signs. I recall at a different show with a larger booth; the show was over and we were waiting for our empty crates to show up from drayage. The guy pulls up to our booth with some crates elevated on his forklift. He starts to lower them down when the horn blows for break. I asked him nicely: "Look, any chance you can drop those down so we can start packing?" The answer was "Of course note." And he sat there for 20 minutes. Because when it comes to the laziest of the lazy, nothing beats a union worker at a convention center. Part of union culture is !@#$ing with non-union capitalist pigs.
IDBillzFan Posted April 16, 2014 Posted April 16, 2014 I've done several shows in SF and have never had anyone tell me they had to set up my booth. Never even offered to lift a finger to help. The few shows I did in SFO, and they were years ago, required that if we hired people specifically to build the booth, a percentage of the staff had to be union. That's different than the local sales guy rolling in a pop-up. I'm talking about the large booths. But again, most of my issues were in Chicago, which was a mess every time.
IDBillzFan Posted April 29, 2014 Posted April 29, 2014 Here's one of my favorite union stories yet. Media Matters -- about as far left as you can get without being Bernie Sanders -- is fighting to keep their employees from joining a union. Unions for thee, but not for me.
GaryPinC Posted May 1, 2014 Posted May 1, 2014 One of my favorite experiences was working for an oil company's pipeline maintenance gang on my summers off from college. We were out in Western PA at an oil tank farm (depot) and our group set up an overhead aluminum canopy in 3 days to cover the fueling pumps for the semis. Roughly similar to what you might find at any gas station. Well the local union saw that and forced their way onto the job site. Made us dismantle it because it wasn't our job to set it up so of course we did it wrong. It was over 3 weeks before those union experts got it set up again.
IDBillzFan Posted September 4, 2014 Posted September 4, 2014 In today's Purple People Beater news, crazed fast food workers take to the streets in NYC to demand a raise to $15/hour. Can you imagine having to pay $15/hour to an adult whose career peaks at a McDonald's drive-thru window? SEIU is going to regret the day they thought this was a good use of it's time.
DC Tom Posted September 4, 2014 Posted September 4, 2014 http://www.businessw...side-of-welfare American tax payers pay $7 billion a year on public assistance for fast food workers. How much more are tax payers going to pay when the price of fast food goes up to pay a $15/hr wage?
IDBillzFan Posted September 4, 2014 Posted September 4, 2014 http://www.businessw...side-of-welfare American tax payers pay $7 billion a year on public assistance for fast food workers. Yes, but that's a number the average American doesn't care about...the same average American who thinks their tax refund is extra income. And let's be honest...public assistance needs an massive overhaul much more than the burger guy needs $15/hour.
Chef Jim Posted September 4, 2014 Posted September 4, 2014 How much more are tax payers going to pay when the price of fast food goes up to pay a $15/hr wage? I say let them have it. Hell make the minimum wage at all fast food outlets $25 per hour. That's one way to get the country healthy. Make **** food unaffordable.
KD in CA Posted September 4, 2014 Posted September 4, 2014 How much more are tax payers going to pay when the price of fast food goes up to pay a $15/hr wage? Duh...they're just supposed to take that out of the CEO's bonus!
drinkTHEkoolaid Posted September 4, 2014 Posted September 4, 2014 (edited) Duh...they're just supposed to take that out of the CEO's bonus! Just sell their fleets of lear jets, put the money in escrow and use that to give raises. Hoorayyyyyyy! If everyone just got paid their fair share. And evil mitt romney has a horse Edited September 4, 2014 by drinkTHEkoolaid
Doc Posted September 4, 2014 Posted September 4, 2014 How much more are tax payers going to pay when the price of fast food goes up to pay a $15/hr wage? I heard that FF workers make up 4% of the work force. The bigger impact will be when ALL unions start using the new min wage to demand a hike of their salaries.
B-Man Posted September 5, 2014 Posted September 5, 2014 Nothing says I deserve a raise like quitting work, harassing customers, and blocking business. #StrikeFastFood Meanwhile, back in the land of common sense… .
TakeYouToTasker Posted September 5, 2014 Posted September 5, 2014 I say let them have it. Hell make the minimum wage at all fast food outlets $25 per hour. That's one way to get the country healthy. Make **** food unaffordable. !@#$ you, leftist.
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