I have had it with the protestors by the Mayo

[RecycleMichael]

I respect the unions. I respect the right to free speech.

But they have now gone too far. They have stopped simply chanting stupid phrases to know blowing whistles and using clubs to beat on empty buckets.

Someone tell me how to stop them. Where do I go file a complaint?

Now I can hear them inside the walls of my business across the street. They block us from using the sidewalk at lunch. They have just gone from protest to a violation of our rights.

Please advise me, someone. There has to be a noise violation on the whistles. The drum sounds just echo through our walls.

I know longer have any sympathy for their cause and will file any paperwork necessary to stop them from obstructing with our office and our lives.

I will never use a union carpenter in this town again. The other trade unions are fine. It is the carpenter's hiring homeless people and destroying our work day that must be stopped.

[FOTD]

Who is Dave Hannagan and why is there a protestor placed in front of Southern Hills CC? He's been there off and on for months.

[Hometown]

Buy some ear plugs and be true to Democratic core values.

[cannon_fodder]

Buy some ear plugs and be true to Democratic core values.

lol.  Unions hiring non-union laborers for a sub-par scale in cash with no benefits to protest for them against people for not using union labor.  Hiring non-union labor to protest the use of non-union labor, brilliant!  Them's some fine core values.    Next week the Republicans are going to abort 13 fetuses to take pictures of in order to protest abortion (see, they'd be violating their core value in order to protest someone else violating their core value, so it's funny). 

The ENTIRE dispute is centered around the fact that these companies went with a different contractor.  There is nothing more to the dispute than the fact that the contractor went with a different company (read: not the one the carpenter's union wants).  That's not a labor dispute, it isn't a strike, it's just harassment.  They have a right to harass whomever they like, but pretending it is in support of some core value is either ill informed or ill conceived.
- - -

AOX:

This was addressed in your hiatus:

stymied wrote
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.

- - -

RM:

My best guess would be in looking into nuisance law.  My right to free speech can not infringe on your rights.  If my speech escalates from a message, to just trying to get attention by banging on drums, I may have crossed from protected speech to just being a nuisance.  Balancing the two is difficult, but there is little political value in blowing whistles and pounding on buckets all day (or there underlying protest IMHO).

Or, and this sounds more up RM's alley,   spend your lunch hour trying to organize the protesters.   Just bring a petition with you that says hired protesters should get paid a minimum of $20 an hour, get mandatory 15 minute breaks every 2 hours, paid holidays, health and dental.  Get the hired protesters (who are getting $10 an hour) to sign off on it and present it to the carpenter's union.

When the union laughs you off and says that card checks are not valid to form unions in Oklahoma you form a counter protest of the union for union busting the Local Protester's Union, Local 1.  Better yet would be if they fired the "trouble makers" who tried to fight for better wages and hired "rates" to replace them. 

This could really be priceless.

Another strategy would to pay them $11 an hour to protest the Carpenter's Union.  Hired protesters, one must assume, just protest for whomever pays them the most.  "We'll be here every day, each and every day, we'll be here every day, until the carpenter's union goes away."

I think there is a ton of irony here being unexploited.

[RecycleMichael]

Buy some ear plugs and be true to Democratic core values.

I wish I could. I am pro-union...whenever we have work done on our house, I try to always hire union workers. I still believe that union workers are usually better craftsmen.

But asking me and my entire office to wear earplugs?

What a stupid idea.

[Conan71]

I noticed that Tuesday RM.  I had some business at the courthouse and thought I'd have lunch at Topeca's.  Instead I walked to Billy's so I didn't have to put up with the cacaphony outside.  I seriously doubt I'm the only person who will avoid patronizing Topeca's because of the noise, and it is a little intimidating to walk up the north sidewalk.  When I left Billy's and headed back to the CH, AEP was working on replacing something under the sidewalk, so they had run off the protestors.  The "Labor Dispute" cretins were camped in front of IBC as well.  A more peaceful protest, but I think there were about 6 people on the payroll that day.  

Anyone else ready to launch a protest against the protestors on the south side of the street?  

IMO- any self-respecting member of the carpenter's union should shred their card after seeing this waste of their union dues, which could otherwise be in their own pockets.  Why on earth do they think companies are electing to use non-union shops.  It's not just saving $$$, why would anyone do business with such an obnoxious group?

[sgrizzle]

If you're gonna protest their, your sign should say:

HOLD THE MAYO
accountable

[RecycleMichael]

My best guess would be in looking into nuisance law. 

Give me a little more information. I will file any paperwork needed. Where do I need to look?

[Cats Cats Cats]

The protestors are working on me, I haven't spent any money there since they began protesting.....

[sgrizzle]

Got an idea to solve the problem, flashmob style

They are there because the sidewalk is public and you can't block the public from using the public sidewalk right?

What if it was already in use when they got there?

[RecycleMichael]

Got an idea to solve the problem, flashmob style

They are there because the sidewalk is public and you can't block the public from using the public sidewalk right?

What if it was already in use when they got there?

I like it.

I wonder about the details...how many of us would it take to commandeer the area...when in the day would we have to start...what day of the week could we get enough of us together, etc.

I think I could make up some blank picket signs and wear duct tape over my mouth, just for effect.

[nathanm]

Get the hired protesters (who are getting $10 an hour) to sign off on it and present it to the carpenter's union.

That's pretty good money for standing out on the sidewalk holding signs and making noise.

[sgrizzle]

I like it.

I wonder about the details...how many of us would it take to commandeer the area...when in the day would we have to start...what day of the week could we get enough of us together, etc.

I think I could make up some blank picket signs and wear duct tape over my mouth, just for effect.

I think we would need to have some big items or large activity to make sure we have the whole space to ourselves. Sidewalk art, large tent, something.

[Townsend]

I think we would need to have some big items or large activity to make sure we have the whole space to ourselves. Sidewalk art, large tent, something.

Sidewalk pretty smooth?  Beer can bowling is easy to set up and takes up considerable space.  Just need to drink some beers and have a cantaloupe handy.

[cannon_fodder]

That's pretty good money for standing out on the sidewalk holding signs and making noise.

I agree.  But it isn't enough!  They have no job security and no health care.  A protester can not earn a reasonable living working for the Carpenters Union.  This isn't about how skilled they are, what they can offer, or how the economics of it work out - it's about providing a living wage to people.
- - -

RM:

City of Tulsa, Municipal Ordinances
SECTION 103. NUISANCES AFFECTING PEACE AND SAFETY
The following are hereby declared to be public nuisances affecting public peace
and safety:

. . .

F. All noises, sounds, or vibrations of such a character or duration so as to be
unreasonably loud or disturbing to the peace and quiet of persons of ordinary
sensibilities, including but not limited to those persons inside a building or structure
used in whole or in part as a domicile, residence, or dwelling;

. . .

H. Obstructions and excavations affecting the ordinary use by the public of
the streets, alleys, sidewalks or public ground except under such conditions as are
provided by ordinance;

I. Any use of the public streets or sidewalks which causes large crowds of
people to gather, obstructing the flow of traffic and the free use of the streets or
sidewalks;

Available at:
http://www.cityauditorphilwood.com/ordinances/24NUISAN.pdf  (page 5 - 7)

For steps to take for abatement of a nuisance see page 8 on of the same document.  

State law also handles Nuisances (largely authorizing municipalities to remedy them) in Title 50 of the Oklahoma Statutes:
http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/Index.asp?ftdb=STOKST50&level=1


*** I have not researched the conflicts of law in this matter.  Their right to freedom of speech has to be balanced against your right to be free from unreasonable nuisance.  I am not advocating the use of this statute nor advising of the potential for success or possibility of repercussions of any such attempt.  

[edit]typo[/edit]