- God Save Me From Union Labor

The purpose of a labor union is to increase costs and reduce quality. But the truth is, that high level description doesn’t do justice to the ‘boots on the ground’ story of coping with unions. We’ve all heard of the ridiculous work rules, opulent pensions, and adolescent retirement ages but that that stuff is really all about the cost side. When it comes time to actually get union labor to do something, it’s the poor quality that makes all the difference.

Regrettably I’ve been exposed the union labor in a few places recently. My gun club used union electrical workers to rewire the 5 skeet and trap houses over this past summer. Myself and two friends went there today, a full three months after the work was due, to try to sharpen our skills a little for our December 10th Pheasant hunt. But thanks to union electrical work, when we got to the club only one machine was working and it was being used by a particularly rude guy who was claiming that he'll be there the rest of the day. So instead of being able to shoot today, we got to listen to a long list of excuses.

But even closer to home (in fact in my actual home) the developer I chose to repair the damage from hurricane Irene used union labor as well. This has been a much more serious and painful problem for us. We’re still sifting through the wreckage so we'll probably have to make additions to this list, but here’s the tally of issues we've had with them so far:

1. They utterly destroyed three separate, free standing shelving units. There is nothing left of them but kindling.

2. They used several metal shelving units as a place to scrape clean their spackling trowels... not once, but dozens of times. The shelves were covered with a plastic tarp, and had dry goods on them at the time. They simply tore through the tarp and used the corners of the shelving.

3. They unplugged our fully stocked freezer and left it unplugged – for two weeks.

4. They left mounds of spackle the size and consistency of dog turds on every floor, including the ones that were carpeted. They then proceeded to track it everywhere, including rooms which weren't being spackled. In the meantime, they managed to get almost none on the few tarps which were spread over some of our more sensitive gear.

5. They destroyed one bathroom sink which will have to be replaced. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the sink until they arrived, so it wasnt' just a case of neglect.

6. They left nails, scrap drywall, dust, and general filth in spectacular and truly breathtaking amounts, on every surface in the bottom half of our house.

7. They damaged an expensive magnifying lamp, and coated several of my tools and gunsmithing gear with spackle.

8. They destroyed and disposed of the shelving in all our closets, and when we called their attention to it, then cut up the free hanging shelves that used to be mounted on the walls, and used the wood to replace the shelving destroyed in the closets.

9. They blew a circuit breaker by leaving an electric heater plugged in over night. Nothing caught fire so this wouldn’t have been a big deal except they had sealed off any access to the circuit board by piling an indescribable mound of wreckage in front of it. About 1/3 of our house was on the same circuit, so we had to use flashlights where necessary until they could come back and dig the circuit board out.

There is certain to be more damage – my guess would be much more. But my wife is too upset to go down there and look too carefully. I don't blame her.

What really bothers me about this whole thing is, I wasn’t dismissive of these guys. I was as courteous and polite with them as I could manage. The only demand I made of them was that I asked them not to let the dog out the front door when they went back and forth. I even offered them coffee while they worked (which they occasionally accepted). With the exception of having them actually do work, I treated them like guests in my home.

And to be totally fair, the general contractor is profoundly sorry about what he's seen from them. He was here until nearly 10 last night personally vacuuming dry spackling off my carpets, scrubbing the floors, and apologizing copiously for the general level of disaster. In his mind, he's as much a victim in the whole thing as we are, having had his reputation dragged through the union muck. So he's doing his level best to make things right with us personally.

Anyway, I’ve been anti-union for as long as I can remember. But after this debacle, I’m unashamed to say that I will never hire another union man again, under any circumstances. It’s sort of a hard and fast rule with me that I won’t deal with you anymore after you’ve made my wife cry.

In NJ, Latin American illegal aliens are taking over the building trades, and it’s easy to see why. It’s not just that they’re cheaper, they do a much better job. In my experience they treat the people who pay them with a measure of respect and go to what efforts they can not to do more damage than they are there to fix. It's a shame we couldn't get the same treatment from Americans.

The Organized labor movement is really in rapid decline, in spite of what the Obama emection might have indicated. There are too many people out there whose experience is similar to mine for them to explain it away. so every day there are fewer and fewer people who are willing to put up with them on any terms.

And if you think this is bad, just imagine what the unionized teachers are doing to our kids.