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Union Shortages
Once
again Richard L. Tucker and his friends with ABC have missed
the bus when it comes to this supposed “skilled-labor
shortage” as written in “A Measurable Plan Can Improve
Labor” (ENR 09/1 p. 47). The truth is, there is no shortage
of workers, only a shortage of pay and benefits.
I worked nonunion before I was
organized into the International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers. The difference was black and white. I am not an officer
of the union, but a blue-collar, hard-hat wearing worker.
When I worked open shop, the pay was dismal. I had to pay
for my health insurance and had no retirement whatsoever.
In the union, I make $22.00 per hour, have paid health insurance,
13 paid holidays, three weeks paid vacation and a pension
into which I don’t have to pay.
Keep in mind I make all this
in the heart of ABC country, in the right-to-work-for-nothing
state of Texas. Even in San Antonio, where I live, many of
the skilled trades are union. Go to any union hall and see
if there is any shortage of applicants. Most unions only take
applications once or twice a year because of all the people
trying to get into the trade.
Until the contractors are
willing to increase pay and benefits, and stop this race to
the bottom with pay, they will continue to claim there is
a shortage of skilled labor. Contractors need to learn they
are not going to keep good help by throwing a barbecue once
a year. The new baseball hat at Christmas is nice to a nonunion
worker, but he would rather have decent benefits and pay.
Don’t Forget
As
we reach the second-year commemoration of the terrorist acts
of Sep. 11, 2001, I continue to sit in amazement of the press
and television coverage and remembrances (ENR 9/8 p. 12).
While the World Trade Center attacks killed more people than
the other terrorist targets—Flight 77 at the Pentagon
and Flight 93 in Pennsylvania—it is as if none of those
other events occurred.
The heroism of those on Flight
93, surely saving many lives, and those who continuously entered
the flaming inferno of the Pentagon are not remembered and
essentially continue to be unnoticed.
The efforts of those 4,232
patriotic and heroic “hard hats” and military personnel
who rebuilt the Pentagon under the Phoenix Project mantra
are ignored, as if their efforts were expected and were non-efforts
compared to the World Trade Center.
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