Cedar Street Strike?

[lcmayer.livejournal.com]

Driving up Cedar St yesterday morning I noticed a small gathering of strikers protesting, directly across from the bike path. Their numbers had grown significantly this morning. I couldnt read their signs Anyone aware of their cause?

Comments

Most likely related to MaxPac development

[djethan.livejournal.com]

Certainly not the only source of info, but the following should help:

http://www.thesomervillenews.com/archives/13244
http://www.thesomervillenews.com/archives/12704
http://www.thesomervillenews.com/archives/10457

-Ethan

Re: Most likely related to MaxPac development

[lcmayer.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! Bringing them some well deserved donuts NOW.

Re: Most likely related to MaxPac development

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

I think I saw the same group in the same place this morning, except now with what appeared to be an enormous statue of a rat?

Re: Most likely related to MaxPac development

[mayabutta.livejournal.com]

Rats always mean someone's hiring non-union folks and the unions are pissed.

Re: Most likely related to MaxPac development

[ron_newman]

In this case, it looks like the developers agreed to hire Somerville residents as a condition of getting a building permit from the city, and then the developers broke the agreement.

Re: Most likely related to MaxPac development

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

This has happened in quite a few cities in the greater metro area within the last year or two.

Re: Most likely related to MaxPac development

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

In the 3rd linked article, it says:

"In one particular project, state law requires the developers to hire the lowest qualified bidder. A Transit Oriented Development grant will help fund the construction of a ramp connecting the development to the Lowell Street bridge and, in the future, the Lowell Street Green Line stop. Under state law, money from that grant can only be used to hire the lowest qualified bidder for the project. Union contractors will be encouraged to bid on the ramp construction, but Tobin emphasized that KSS has no control over who is hired for that portion of the project."

So, perhaps the unions aren't being systematically excluded, but instead underbid? It sounds like the jobs could still be available to the unions if they're the lowest bidder (which, admittedly, they aren't likely to be).

Sounds like the state cutting corners, and dangerously so if the low non-union bidders are hiring less skilled people working for peanuts.

Re: Most likely related to MaxPac development

[smoterh.livejournal.com]

That is actually very interesting point of view. Although, just because a worker is not in a union, it doesn't mean they are less skilled.

Re: Most likely related to MaxPac development

[somerfriend.livejournal.com]

This. I can understand why people wouldn't care about the perspective of the owners or the implications of caving to union coercion would have on our city's future or the cost of goods for everyone, because those are abstract concepts and require empathy and involved understanding of economic mechanics. But why don't people care about the non union workers that wouldn't get jobs if the union's public campaign is successful. Why should they be shut out of work? Do we not care about their ability to feed their family's? I don't think we should favor one class of people over another.

Re: Most likely related to MaxPac development

[ron_newman]

The picketers want the contractor to favor local workers over out-of-state workers. I don't think that lacks "empathy" -- not everyone who wants to work there can, no matter what selection criteria are used.

I can see a couple of arguments for favoring local workers: they may have more pride of workmanship because they're local, and they'll cause less air pollution getting here than someone coming from Nashua. Whether those two reasons are sufficient, I don't know.

Re: Most likely related to MaxPac development

[somerfriend.livejournal.com]

Is your source a union press release?

[somerfriend.livejournal.com]

I observed several instances of the men putting out their cigarettes on the ground. It's offensive to show up with your inflatable rat hold a sign that says jobs for locals and then litter on the ground. I also had a couple guys ask me for directions, obviously they were not from Somerville. A quick survey of all the extra vehicles in the area revealed a lack of Somerville stickers.

I thought this was supposed to be about jobs for Somerville people? It was clear form conversations they were paid to protest. It's fairly well known in industry that union guys are paid to picket, often under the table (so as not to impact their collecting unemployment).

I just ask everyone be analytical about the situation and not allow these guys to play the victim at our expense.

[smoterh.livejournal.com]

I think the general strategy of a union is to convince public that they have some sort of higher moral ground that usually protecting workers' rights. In reality, the goal of a union is the same as as that one of the corporation - maximize the shareholder/union member value. I can't really blame either one . However, the whole myth of a union's having more skilled workers or protecting workers' rights is utter bullshit

[shava23.livejournal.com]

I'd qualify that unions protecting workers' rights is sometimes bullshit. My dad was a union organizer, and was drawn into it because the plant he worked in offered a basin for the people working the machines to de-grease their hands when they went to the bathroom.

One day my dad, who had an associates degree (polytechnic HS, come out with diploma plus 2 years of college credit) in chemistry, saw the basin refilled one day with pure benzene.

Worried, he went to the guy who ran the plant. He wanted to tell him that benzene was ok for degreasing parts, but not people. But the guy who ran the plant knew. "Joe, you're a smart kid, you just take a few extra minutes on your breaks," he told my dad, "don't worry about these polacks. Most of 'em going to be dead in their 40s of drink anyway."

Saying unions don't protect workers is a little like saying that because there's systemic corruption in law enforcement, that law enforcement does nothing to protect residents of an area. It's easy to generalize that way, but the landscape of issues and history, interests and influences, is far more complicated than simple "bullshit."

If I could relate a personal experience....

[bobobb.livejournal.com]

Last job: non-union, dangerous work conditions detrimental to health, expensive health care (until my last year there), no dental, poor pay.
New job: union, healthy and safe work conditions, better pay, health and dental. Oh and vacation time too :)

I *heart* my union.

[somerfriend.livejournal.com]

I'm uncomfortable with lumping unions and corporations together. The problem with a union is that it's attempting to be a monopoly. A company has to compete for workers against other competitors and other companies that are not competitors and workers should have to compete against other workers. A union is turning the workers into a monopoly, when the company does not enjoy that benefit.

[pywaket.livejournal.com]

There's so much baloney in this statement, I don't even know where to start.

OH, pity the poor, powerless large corporations. They're so abused by their employees....

Never the other way around, of course :-/

Will the Right wing corporate powers that be ever get tired trying to make the workers of this country in to serfs?

As a wise friend of mine recently joked:
A CEO, teapartier & union gal have dozen cookies. CEO eats 11, says to teapartier, "watch out, union gal wants part of yr cookie"