LaborPains.org

Washingtonians have grown accustomed to the Carpenters Unions’ merry band of bums marching around in circles.

If you’ve never encountered them before, the local Carpenter’s Council pays about 50 homeless people minimum wage to march and beat buckets all day long protesting non-union construction companies. The con, of course, is that the average passerby thinks that the hired-homeless are actually striking carpenters.

None of this is new, except that yesterday I saw them marching in front of an AFL-CIO financed building in 15th Street in Washington, DC.

So while perusing The New York Times slide show on entitled “Buying in Bulk”, I ran across the an image that caught my eye.  And the caption read as follows:

“PUSHING THE CART Joe Ruggiero, 46, a maintenance technician for Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union, with his co-worker Robert Alfonso, 55

IN THE CART Multiple 20-bottle cases of Vitamin Water ($16.99 each)
AT THE REGISTER “Approximately $800″
We have Family Day, we have African American Day, Indian Day, Russian Day, Italian Day. We have cultural events, and that’s what these beverages are for. We keep it in stock and we get it from Costco.”

Are the Transport Workers Union in New York City perhaps trying to save money? Slightly out of character, I realize. This means at least one AFL-CIO affiliated union member recognizes the superior delivery mechanism in place at Costco that allows them to cut distribution costs and therefore pass along great savings to consumers.

Anyway, I just thought it was nice to see a union member darkening the door of a Costco, considering the accusations flying around last week against Coca-Cola and 7-11 and Costco working together to bring the same beverages to other customers more efficiently.

Image used at the courtesy of The New York Times.

When seemingly every New York City-based news agency saw fit to cover the impending doorman’s strike, “country folk” across the country were left scratching their heads. When the crisis averted at midnight last night, you could almost hear relief pouring out of the news agency’s offices. Twitter lit up with heartfelt relief.

I am not saying that if I had a doorman, I wouldn’t think the world of them.  I am saying that perhaps it’s an organized labor fight that doesn’t exactly help Americans outside of urban centers understand–or have any tolerance for–organized labor. It’s…..declasse.

Especially when The New York Times said this:

If the doormen and other service workers had gone on strike, residents of the affected buildings would have had to perform their own chores, like sorting mail, screening visitors, hauling garbage out to the curb and operating elevators. [...] A strike would have disrupted the daily routines of hundreds of thousands of middle-class residents from upper Broadway to Brownsville, as well as affluent owners of Park Avenue penthouses. Along with picket lines in front of many of their homes, they would have been confronted with the loss of the people who sign for their packages, carry their luggage and let the pizza deliverers and dog walkers into the building. Residents of many buildings had been asked to pitch in to sort the mail, announce visitors by intercom, operate elevators and haul garbage to the curb if necessary.

Or when Bloomberg explained:

“It’s going to be annoying because our building told us that if this does happen, there won’t be any collection of laundry, you won’t be able to pick up your packages at the front desk and you’ll have to throw away your own trash on the side of the building,” said Rajeev Sharma, a money manager at First Investors Management Co. who lives in the Atlas Building on West 38th Street. “It’s probably just going to be more stuff to do, more chores to do on the weekend.”

Even the Wall Street Journal couldn’t resist the urge to cover the resolution of the strike:

In reaching a deal, residents of about 3,000 city apartments and condos will see no change in their security, delivery and trash services, all of which would have been jeopardized had a strike occurred.

At least The New York Times was somewhat self aware as to how the whole thing sounded to “the rest of us”, prompting the piece “In Event of a Strike, How to Open the Doors“.

Image by Rennett Stowe.

Yesterday, SEIU Local 26 became the latest local in the country to create a local protest, highlighting big bank’s profits.

From the SEIU blog yesterday:

“To symbolize this loss, 14,000 little monopoly houses were dropped by “Mr. Moneybags” at the action site. [...] Both actions are part of a continued effort to demand that big bank executives–like US Bancorp and Wells Fargo–do the right thing to fulfill their responsibility to the taxpayers that bailed them out by supporting better jobs and a green future, and helping keep working Americans in their homes.”

So you can watch the video here, but otherwise, trust me when I tell you that the image to the right is the floor of the Wells Fargo once the protesters were done with the place. They throw monopoly game piece houses everywhere and printed up thousands of “Minneapoly” bills which were thrown out of money bags. Here’s their self-congratulatory post today on SEIU.org.

I hope no small children walked in during the protest given the choking hazard of those little houses. The SEIU should have a sign: “SEIU Protests and Rallies: Unsuitable for employers and children under the age of 8.”

I find this whole thing ironic because while they probably don’t mind that they created work for their SEIU compatriots who clean Minneapolis, the amount of trash they created–littering with paper and little plastic houses– doesn’t really gel with the SEIU’s other major agenda point in Minneapolis: Being environmentally friendly. Did you catch the “green future” quote?

It should not come a s surprise that the SEIU’s “green” agenda is more about additional things to hold against employers during negotiations and less about actually caring for the environment.

In December, I wrote that “[c]aring about the environment and conservation is great (a nice change from how unions used to be), and workers safety is paramount, but for the SEIU, it is also a REALLY convenient thing to use as a trump card in negotiations.”

I have a problem with a protest trashing a place of business, but like I said, I imagine unionized workers actually did have to clean up the mess. If the 300 janitors who marched in December for greener work places want to speak out for the environment, maybe they should say something about yesterday’s protest.

Following the news last week that labor unions are getting closer to extinction, a friend dropped me a note suggesting names for a few new dinosaurs. (I’m not saying this was my finest photoshop moment). Enjoy.

I just received this from the North Pole.  It’s almost unbelievable, given the spirit of the season . . . and the billions of children who would be affected. [See below]

In response to the strike notice, Santa Claus has made the following announcement. [See below]

It’s a little unclear what the NLRB’s jurisdiction is in this situation, considering the transnational border issues this brings into play….delivery to every country and territory will be affected if Santa and BCERAS do not reach an agreement.  It is also unclear how this incident may affect the FedEx vs. UPS  controversy–whether the Brotherhood of Elves, Reindeer, and Abominable Snowmen are legally able to strike, or whether they are instead subject to the Railway Labor Act (RLA), which would make it more difficult for something like this to happen– given that Santa’s sled travels over interstate boundaries.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from LaborPains.org.

You know what’s so special about the holidays? Everyone can get their true feelings out in the open. Even Vice President Biden.

The Delaware Online shares this little nugget:

For the probably thousands of Delawareans who recently received Christmas cards from the vice president and his extended family (virtually everyone in the newsroom did), there’s a couple things that jump out. First is the disclaimer on the back that tells the receiver of “joy” and “peace” that the card wasn’t paid for by a Biden. It was paid for by the Democratic National Committee. And the card isn’t considered a card at all, actually, it’s a “communication” that “was not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.” Not a very holidayish slogan for your holiday card.

But the most glaring omission from the card, something no god-fearing Democrat in Delaware would let happen, is the union printing bug. New Castle County Council President Paul Clark’s Christmas card has the union bug on the front. Tacky, to be sure, but at least it’s there. The vice president has no printers’ union bug on his card. But lest you think Vice President Biden has lost his collective union mind, the card does have the logo of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. No mom and pop union print shop for the veep. Go Teamsters!

As soon as I get my hands on the part of the card with the Teamsters logo, I will pass it along.

Image courtesy of Politico.

I just love a good Photoshop stick figure piece of art work. While this image appears to be used time and again in reference to the Ken Hamidi beating from last month, there are just so many different times when this image would be appropriate like here, and here, and here, that I have been unable to track down the origin.

Bottom line: If you haven’t been smacked around enough recently by a sputtering economy and unemployment, attend an SEIU meeting.

Image courtesy of who the h*ll knows.