Let me say this, when a B.A, thug from a union hall gangs up on a job, that I am running for an owner, that would have directly cost, how many days pay, depending on the union contracts involved, ie; operating engineer is guaranteed 40 hrs, once on the job, until such time he/she is laid off, equipment terminated on site etc. and lets say the 30 bricklayers, + the mason tenders, who if honored the picket, their company would have hit us directly with a back charge for the cost of all the idle trades they were responsible for paying but performed no work.
This was 608 DC carpenters, with no presence on the job, was still in the superstructure phase. So they decide to start trouble on my job, literally show up only because they have a beef with the sidewalk bridging company because they re-organized, which has nothing to do with me. I as the project manager have an obligation to an owner and the project to maintain production, the schedule and the budget, and I'll do what I must to perform and make sure those 3 main components are not compromised.
I supervised union ironworkers for several years, and one thing was certain, they were paid top industry pay, with full benefits, under no uncertain terms did any of them not produce, or play any games. I have terminated a few, I instilled upon these people that we play no games when it comes to production, they were well treated, and realized that if they pulled any crap, it hurts the company, if the company cannot get contracts, that's one less company needing people from their hall, their union. I rarely had trouble on jobs I ran, when I did, if I terminated someone it was for cause and it was backed up. My jobs were profitable only because they were managed with a firm hand. I never had trouble putting together crews, most of the 580 guys who knew me, would seek work on my jobs, many had worked for me before, went on to some really large projects, when those finished, I'd always get a visit, checking to see if I needed people, and often times I did.
I do not see how that would drive any industry out of NY, the construction industry is unique when it comes to union trades, and it takes a firm hand with the knowledge and fortitude to negotiate the curves in the business, you can't cut it, they will roll right over you, never happened on my jobs, I've had some real hoods try and pull crap on me, none of them ever got up early enough to get an inch on me.
Proportionally, owners do pay a lot more for union work, but given what developers do, they always make money in the end with buildings, we play by the contract rules and appease the B.A.'s, stewards, and delegates, by the same token, we still have enough mobility to maintain leverage.
I had a crane operator pull some real crap on a job, he was full of himself, "I'm the engineer on the job", he cost me a 25 person crew a days pay, each costing the company over $100/hr for 7 hours each that day, he claimed the wind was too much, it was not, and if it was, I'd have called the day and given 2 hrs show up time, you have a certain amount of time to do that. He thought he had me, busted my chops about the stamps in the envelope, I personally went to the hall with a certified check, on my time to appease this jerk, yes most companies lag a little with stamps because they are a hassle, but we paid our bills, the hall knew that, they don't let the line out too far before something is said or done, but this guy was rude and obnoxious, thought I could not get him off the job, was going to keep blowing holes in our labor budget. I had 2 cranes on site, but since he was first on site, he would be last to leave, so I had enough, cancelled both cranes, sent them back to the yard, lost a bunch of production time, the G.C. was all over me about it. I then brought the cranes back, and informed the crane outfit I will give all my business to your competitor if I ever see this guy on any of my job sites again. He was gone, and my production picked right up, that lost time was buried with real production and the company made 20% profit on the base bid contract, and a real nice chunk of additional profit with an addition to the contract. If you think people who manage jobs correctly drives industry out, you may need to re-think that philosophy.
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Today's Featured Article - Listening to Your Tractor - by Curtis Von Fange. Years ago there was a TV show about a talking car. Unless you are from another planet, physically or otherwise, I don’t think our internal combustion buddies will talk and tell us their problems. But, on the other hand, there is a secret language that our mechanical companions readily do speak. It is an interesting form of communication that involves all the senses of the listener. In this series we are going to investigate and learn the basic rudimentary skills of understanding this lingo.
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