Shame On You!

[bigdtottown]

Cannon Fodder that's brilliant...

[Gold]

quote:Originally posted by cannon_fodder

Will there be beer and lawn chairs at said Shame the Shamers rally?  I'm in.

Perhaps.  Though, open container laws might be a problem.  Beer afterwards might be a good idea.  The main thing is to get a good chant going about rats (the folks in front of Mayo are usually chanting about "the rats").  "Rights for rats now."  "Hey hey, ho ho, rat haters are very po."  "Pay these protesters more!  Orpha's upped their prices!!!"

[cannon_fodder]

QT cup filled with Jack and coke then?

[Conan71]

You seriously have my devious mind working now on some propaganda to hand out to the protesters to "organize" them.  They should demand $15 per hour, insurance, a pension.  That would be rich to see these people picket the carpenter's union.  It'd almost be worth spending a few hundred bucks to get some of these people to flip and do it.

What should the union be called?

International Brotherhood of Protestors?

[Gold]

Seriously, if you guys want to do this, I'm all for taking a long lunch on a day with nice weather and making a fool of myself and their "employer's" agenda.

The name should have something involving the words "shame" and/or "rat" in it.  All the signs say "shame on" something.  They are always chanting about rats.

If we could also take the socially responsible step and get some prospective employers to set up a table, or at least give us permission to hand them job applications, I think it would make it sting a little more.

At first, I thought that it wasn't my place to question their right to protest.  I still think they have the right and I totally respect it.  But the merits of this thing don't exist.  There is no law requiring the use of union labor.  There protest has gone on long enough and they have gone after too many people.  Someone needs to stand up and do something to at least highlight the absurdity.

If you're really down, PM me and we can coordinate.

[RecycleMichael]

What do we want?
TULSA!
When do we want it?
NOW!

Repeat.

[sgrizzle]

SHAME ON BANNERS

[wordherder]

So the protest in front of Crowne Plaza continues... er, kinda.

Twice this week I've seen people sitting in the usual protest position... though the banners were rolled up and the framework was disassembled.  You couldn't tell who you were supposed to shame or that you were even supposed to shame anything.  The guys were there at 9 and still there at noon, both times with the banner rolled up.  

Maybe the union protest is falling victim to stereotypical lazy union work?

[cannon_fodder]

NEW ONE!

I went by Southern Hills over lunch today and outside they were holding the familiar signed this time emblazoned with:

SHAME ON DAVID HANNIGAN.

Sheesh!  What's the deal.  Are they going to protest everyone who doesn't use their labor?  To me, they just keep advertising that most big jobs use other laborers.  The IBC bank turned out great.   Tulsa's new stadium is awesome.  What are they trying to convince me of?  That the cheaper competition does a good job.

[stymied]

NEW ONE!

I went by Southern Hills over lunch today and outside they were holding the familiar signed this time emblazoned with:

SHAME ON DAVID HANNIGAN.

Sheesh!  What's the deal.  Are they going to protest everyone who doesn't use their labor?  To me, they just keep advertising that most big jobs use other laborers.  The IBC bank turned out great.   Tulsa's new stadium is awesome.  What are they trying to convince me of?  That the cheaper competition does a good job.

For those that don't know, David Hannigan is the president of Green Country Interiors here in Tulsa.  They are the largest drywall and metal stud framing contractor in Oklahoma.  They have been protesting at Southern Hills, Hillcrest, Crowne Plaza, IBC, TU, and the Mayo - all Green Country Interiors projects.  They have even been protesting in front of his house.  Locally the carpenters union solely supports Midwest Drywall out of Wichita.  So when you see the local carpenters union protesting around here, it is Midwest Drywall behind it.  I know firsthand that Midwest Drywall has bid nearly all the projects mentioned above and others they are protesting as well not mentioned above that were awarded to other contractos besides Green Country Interiors(in front of St. Francis), and THEY WEREN'T FREAKING LOW BIDDER.  Get over it already.  Get better not bitter.  They have been successful ..well, er maybe not successful, but low on other projects.  Anybody drive by the Creek Casino on Riverside?  Is it open yet?  After 3 years that thing still isn't open, and everything I have heard it is because of Midwest Drywall falling on their faces and unable to perform.  So rather than protest all around town over the jobs you haven't gotten, why not go finish the ones you have?  If I was an owner, I would not want my construction manager to allow Midwest to bid because if they aren't low and I hire someone else, they are going to piss and moan and make my life miserable for months or more.

[sgrizzle]

Thank you for the enlightenment. Makes a lot more sense now. (Still stupid, but at least I understand why they're being stupid)

[wordherder]

For those that don't know, David Hannigan is the president of Green Country Interiors here in Tulsa.  They are the largest drywall and metal stud framing contractor in Oklahoma.  They have been protesting at Southern Hills, Hillcrest, Crowne Plaza, IBC, TU, and the Mayo - all Green Country Interiors projects.  They have even been protesting in front of his house.  Locally the carpenters union solely supports Midwest Drywall out of Wichita.  So when you see the local carpenters union protesting around here, it is Midwest Drywall behind it.  I know firsthand that Midwest Drywall has bid nearly all the projects mentioned above and others they are protesting as well not mentioned above that were awarded to other contractos besides Green Country Interiors(in front of St. Francis), and THEY WEREN'T FREAKING LOW BIDDER.  Get over it already.  Get better not bitter.  They have been successful ..well, er maybe not successful, but low on other projects.  Anybody drive by the Creek Casino on Riverside?  Is it open yet?  After 3 years that thing still isn't open, and everything I have heard it is because of Midwest Drywall falling on their faces and unable to perform.  So rather than protest all around town over the jobs you haven't gotten, why not go finish the ones you have?  If I was an owner, I would not want my construction manager to allow Midwest to bid because if they aren't low and I hire someone else, they are going to piss and moan and make my life miserable for months or more.

Really?  Hmm, I knew they had a beef against Green Country Interiors, but I didn't know they had a beef against, well, nearly everyone else.  And if you're right, this proves that they haven't been harmed one whit. 

If only they used all that logistical organization and money to do actually decent work...

[Hometown]

Interesting hearing all these average joes parroting corporate higher ups carrying their anti-union message.  You know, when I read stuff like that it makes me think that Oklahoma deserves what it gets.  To my knowledge, I've never crossed a union picket line in my life.  I'm a worker and I'm not confused about who best represents my interest.

[cannon_fodder]

Interesting hearing all these average joes parroting corporate higher ups carrying their anti-union message.  You know, when I read stuff like that it makes me think that Oklahoma deserves what it gets.  To my knowledge, I've never crossed a union picket line in my life.  I'm a worker and I'm not confused about who best represents my interest.

You always poke your head in and quip this line.  Almost exactly the same each time.  But you never offer to extrapolate on it.

The out of state company in question has a reputation of poor workmanship and missing deadlines.  The solution being utilized is to hire a local company to do the work instead.  The local company doesn't use union labor.

So the union laborers protest. Arguing that the non-union labor should all be out of a job so they can work in their place.   No one is crossing a union line, no union contracts are being violated, there is no union line to be crossed (unless anywhere they decide to picket becomes a union line, which would mean unions them have the authority of telling people where they can work and when).  Explain to me the logic in your argument?

Basically you are saying:
If you work for a non-union company and a union company bids on the project, you should quit in an attempt to cripple your company in hopes that a union man takes your job.

Really, I don't get it.  If people were marching into GM to fill the line after a union walkout you might have an argument.  But it simply doesn't apply here.  Ignoring the entire discussion of some unions pricing their companies out of competitiveness in the marketplace.   Automakers, airlines, steel . . . industries with a strong union are the places that are providing all the good jobs lately - oh wait, they are the ones laying off millions of workers over the last couple of decades.  When the unions were fighting for safe working conditions and reasonable hours they enjoyed widespread support, when their focus shifted to more money the 'cause' lost momentum (hard for me to argue I should pay more for the same product so a guy in Detroit with a high school education can earn twice what I do).

I've said it a hundred times:  a union can do a ton of good for its workers.  A company can do a ton of good for its workers.  A company that is too stingy will lose the good workers to a better company or suffer from poor performance.  A union that is too forceful will beat the golden goose to death.  With or without a union labor has to be a two way street or both parties will end up failing.

/not arguing against the right of collective bargaining.  The ability to walk off the job and otherwise stand up for what you think you are worth should always be protected.  Likewise, my right to have a job and not join a union or a company's right to fire anyone who doesn't show up for work should also be protected.  Freedom is a two way street and the consequences are not also what you hoped for (says the company who then hires unskilled workers and can't produce a damn thing, or the worker who can't find a job as good as the one he had).

[Hometown]

Stand in the middle of Manhattan and say that and then run for your hotel room and hide.  New York City, now that's a union town.  I remember my first law firm on Park Avenue (two blocks down from Tiffany's) and the first document I processed for attorneys.  It was a memo on how to bust unions.  Some client had one of the best law firms in the United States cooking up a union busting strategy for them.  These days Labor is so outgunned by management.  Cannon, I'm going to do what the big guys do and look out for my interests.  I'm 100 percent pro union.  And that's not a quip, it's a statement of my long-held belief.  Look around you and see what being anti-union has done for our lovely state.