How Desperate They Are For Members…

It is no hidden fact that I hate unions with a dead level passion.  At one time they had a purpose but honestly if you dislike your working conditions, quit and go work some place else.  No one is holding a gun to your head to work there.

Well it seems that some union shops, in an effort to gain more members, are using the fallout and suffering from hurricane Sandy to intimidate others into either joining or no helping.  You think I’m lying?

The hurricane-ravaged east coast has been receiving north Alabama help, but crews learned they could not help out in New Jersey unless they affiliated with a union.

These guys drove up from Alabama to help and were greeted with a join our club or !@#$ off.  But people are without power, power that many need to survive.  In the end though their own neighbors don’t care.  If the outside assistance doesn’t want to join their coercive club to funnel money to a political party the group offering help might disagree with the locals would rather their neighbors freeze and starve.

You know what, I’d drive my ass back home too.  Screw ’em, if that’s the attitude you have towards helping in a time of an emergency I say let Darwin weed out a few more of you bastards.  Maybe the people will find out exactly what you did and they’ll run you and your union out of town on a rail.  I would like to point out I spend a lot of my own time and money volunteering to help, but by god I don’t need to be treated like that when I volunteer to help.

Now my coworker said they should just shoot the bastards who are telling help to turn around and leave over not being unionized.  My only issue with that is that it shouldn’t be the people trying to help getting their hands dirty, it should be the people who’s suffering is being used for political leverage.  Seriously, those who are without power need to be beating the hell out of these men who are prolonging the emergency unnecessarily.

Unsurprisingly you didn’t hear about any government officials telling the unions to STFU and do what’s necessary to get the job done.  This isn’t the first time unions have used tragedy to further their position.  My suggestion is if you live in New Jersey, start yelling at utility workers for refusing help.  Even if it isn’t the same utility, put the pressure back on them for not keeping their brothers in check.

h/t Bitter.

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About TMM

TMM is the owner, editor, and principal author at The Minuteman, a competitive shooter, and staff member for Boomershoot. Even in his free time he’s merging his love and knowledge of computers and technology with his love of firearms. Many know his private name and information however due to the current political climate, many are distancing themselves due to the abandonment of Due Process.

2 Responses to How Desperate They Are For Members…

  1. seraf says:

    Barron, I was just pointed to this article – the Ala crews turned around in Virginia.

    http://www.northjersey.com/news/bergen/Non-union_power_crews_welcomed_in_NJ_to_help_restore_service_state_says.html

    “The clarification comes after a utility company from Alabama said a six-man crew was headed to New Jersey on Wednesday, but turned back in Virginia after they said concerns were raised about whether New Jersey would accept help from the company’s non-union utility crew.”

    A bit of he-said, she-said. The fact they turned around in VA makes the AL teams sound like they weren’t as intent on helping as I’d thought.

    • Barron says:

      If you read the article I linked. Yes they turned around in VA because that’s where the emergency staging areas were.

      If you’ve ever been associated with disaster recovery resources are staged outside the disaster area and then dispatched in. Most utilities would move their equipment out of the disaster area as well in advance of the storm to ensure it won’t be damaged.

      As for not being intent to help out, get real. They drove how far burning how much fuel in utility trucks that don’t get fantastic gas mileage to just turn around and drive back?

      Only one side can benefit from this story and that is the union. The union doesn’t want a bunch of already employed scabs coming in and taking their jobs, thus decreasing the amount of overtime they’d be able to work.

      This is about money plain and simple. The unions want their cut of all the overtime hours that are going to go into this disaster recovery. The may be willing to accept work but obviously someone from the union approached them, and did so in a manner as to cause offense. Again, people going to help with the relief should NOT be treated in such a manner and even broaching the subject of them being union or non-union is outside the realm of being necessary to get the job done.

      Those crew members aren’t going to be reimbursed for travel time so the idea that they weren’t committed to helping is tenuous at best.

      Also of note:

      The crew attempted to look for work in other areas but because a resolution could not be reached, they made the decision late Thursday night to return home.

      I don’t know what their range was but at the same time trying to find an alternate staging area could have been difficult. My guess is this was some union schmuck that decided to cause a ruckus. Again the subject shouldn’t have even come up and that why I am doubly pissed on this one. The mission is to get power restored, period, end of discussion. Unionization has nothing to do with that mission.