[Mule]

Originally Posted by Superman

Yeah, I've heard the bit about Superman being arrogant. Whatever. The typed word is missing a great deal of information. 80%, they say. Nobody in my personal or professional life has ever accused me of being arrogant.

They weren't saying arrogant. It was ignorant!

Further, I notice there are people who see things in black and white, and those who only see shades of grey. Guess where I fall. I see only shades of grey. My answer to everything begins with "It depends....." Enough about that. You guys form your own conclusions. I think we can agree I am not thin-skinned.

I thought the color of Communism was red?

All generalizations are false. (I love that one) There are some very good non-union workers and companies. There is one company here in the Seattle area that is fairly large and non-union. The workers' pay and benefits are equivalent to union. But the most impressive thing to me, and the most important, is that those workers have never felt they needed union representation. I cold be persuaded to work for a company that takes its labor relations that seriously.

Here's an observation that will probably burn Matt's butt a bit, that's also an illustration of aspects of my input here: New Orleans. There was a hurricane there a while back, and the City is a mess. Big mess. Colossal mess. New Orleans is remarkably non-union. One of two things will happen to NO. Either it will remain a mess for a very long time, taking forever to rebound and become a noteworthy city again.....or union labor will rebuild it.

Pick a subject you know something about next time. Fewer people will think you're ignorant. The rebuilding of N.O. doesn't have a damn thing to do with unions. Those "union" carpenters drive a nail so much straighter than independents! And what exactly is "remarkably" non-union. Detroit is union central. Been there lately?

Prevailing wages there are a joke. So is, sadly, the work ethic. Recently, a construction union went there and recruited trainees. Hundreds turned out. From those hundreds, several dozen were selected for training. Training to become a trainee. After weeks of that, a call came in for trainees. They picked the eight most motivated, most skilled workers and sent them out. Two of them showed up at the job site.

So you got 2 out of hundreds? My bull***** alarm is screaming. Stay out there in the workers paradise. You'd probably be killed & eaten here anyway.

The best construction companies I have dealt with (the large, local non-union company I described above is not on my projects) wouldn't consider doing a project without close partnering with the local unions. Wouldn't be interested if they couldn't do it that way. One of them will come to my weekly meeting tomorrow morning with the union reps. They will lay out their schedule, agenda, plans, guesses, concerns, needs, expectations, worries.....etc. Labor will circle the wagons for this company. They will bend over backwards, if necessary. They will make this contractor successful. Guaranteed.

I have a great job.

You must have overlooked co.s like Boh Brothers, The Shaw Group, Brown & Root, J. Ray McDermott. Arrogant, who cares. Ignorant, times my social security number.