Posted by Billy NY on May 05, 2009 at 06:12:37 from (74.67.3.238):
In Reply to: Union loyalists posted by BJones on May 04, 2009 at 08:42:33:
A tough subject to debate, especially with manufacturing and similar industries.
I've run and operated contracting business's with union construction trades in NYC, all 5 boroughs, and have dealt with most of the unions, their B.A.'s, delegates, journeymen & apprentice members. I can't say it's a bowl of peaches at all times, however, it's a lot different than the manufacturing scenario. Unions are long established in NYC, it is part of the cost of doing business, though there are many decent non-union companies, but some of those are not worth a bucket of spit. I say that because I did a building 1/2 union and 1/2 non union after the superstructure was up. Non english speaking, improperly trained, lacking skill and knowledge, is just what you don't want on a high rise job, I'll take unionized labor hands down, too many headaches and having to babysit trades makes for a real pain in the @ss job. On that same note, there are good non union outfits further upstate and west, most important is having skilled and experienced trades with good foremen and superintendents.
I've dealt with all kinds of union issues, from jurisdictional disputes, sitdowns, harrassment, pickets, as well as having a peak high of 60 + ironworkers, + other trades on the payroll which was $150,000/week with several jobs going concurrently. I've dealt with real pain in the @ss crane operators from IUOE #14 and others who were top notch. In summary, it's the cost of doing business, you just need to know how to negotiate the curves, jobs are profitable, though labor rates are a premium, it's all reflected in the cost of the job, just takes a good manager to make the job profitable, and you need an ability to get along with your union labor, key people like foremen are important in regards to quality and production.
The only real pains in the @ss are the standby trades, master mech, teamster on site, and job stewards, etc. all depends on who is in those positions, they can be your best friend or your worst enemy. I've had jobs with 14 or so ironworkers and no steward, why ?.... because of my relations with that union, foreman, etc. no steward, saved the company money, would not have been that way if they did not know me and my reputation for taking care of the men.Same job I needed a forklift on site, but not operating it full time, just as needed, operating engineers want you to hire a full time operator, that costs the job big time, so instead of butting heads in situations like this, you get both union B.A.'s to understand the situation and work out a reasonable solution, often times they will understand that if you hurt a company too much or repeatedly on situations like this, it can cause them to go out of business and many other union jobs, like I said, you just have to know how to negotiate the curves, sometimes stand your ground depending on what it is. That job with the forklift, another company rep used to bring an envelope to keep the O.E. quiet after the master mech left the site, so you have dirty tactics for guys like that, which I would have no part of, just forwarded the information and told em he's on the take, you do what you want I just need that forklift when I need it, that O.E. could have also lost big time if exposed, like Shultz said, "I see nothing, I know nothing" when it comes these tactics.
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