Comments on: Philly: Last Union Town

By: Sigivald

Sigivald — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:15:51 +0000

Thatcher was right, but not far enough.

Bust the unions, the lot of them.

By: rightwingprof

rightwingprof — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:33:02 +0000

After we moved here, I was astounded at how much time it takes to get any construction done here. Then I realized I no longer lived in a right to work state, and all was made clear.

By: Doctor S.

Doctor S. — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 02:40:50 +0000

I was shocked to learn that in our small town such tactics took the following form: the local mill workers agreed to NOT unionize as long as they kept the blacks out of the mills.

By: Regolith

Regolith — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:54:43 +0000

In June, a thousand union men showed up in Valley Forge, wearing hard hats. They trampled over the chain-link fence and began what the state Supreme Court later called “a virtual military assault,” using color-coded smoke bombs to designate targeted areas, along with firebombs and — incredibly — hand grenades.

I wonder what would have happened had those union workers been met with volley fire, instead of being allowed to run amok. Probably all the poor bastards who took part would be in jail for murder, but this is one of the best examples of why it should be legal to shoot to protect property under certain circumstances that I can think of.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 21:24:21 +0000

Unions have come full circle and are now the thing they railed against.

Also a large factor in outsourcing. Remember back a few months, or maybe a little longer, the bill they were trying to push through about eliminating the secret ballot for unionizing. Countertop’s comments are why that should never happen.

By: countertop

countertop — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:09:26 +0000

right after graduating college, I took a job working for APC (the power surge battery backup folks) in headquarters doing marketing work. This was in Rhode Island, as Union of a place as your likely to see.

Now, APC wasn’t a union shop (or at least, i wasn’t in the union) but I had a project I was working on. We were running behind schedule and had a deadline of that evening to get things done. So to make sure it go done, i stayed out on the shop floor (we were putting this together up above the factory floor) and worked through lunch.

Well, that didn’t go over well with the locals. I was immediatly asked to help someone lift something, and being a helpful guy followed this older fellow around the corner. Next thing I knew I was surrounded by some of the other employees, and an older guy (former shipyard worker) explained to me that I was young and didn’t know any better, but that even though this wasn’t a union shop it was a union state and that I should think twice before working through lunch because it made my fellow workers look bad and that if we wanted to take back the shop then we all needed to stick together.

It was an eye opener to say the least. . .and sadly one guy against union thugs in a union state is pretty powerless. I ended up leaving the company shortly afterward and made my way to DC.

By: Brad

Brad — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:55:52 +0000

I read that article when it was first published in print form in Philadelphia Magazine. Missing from the piece, if I remember correctly, was an example from a high school girls’ volleyball tournament & tour that was held at the convention center in the mid 1990’s. At other locations, three of the girls would set up the nets on their own, and it would take them under hour. At the PA convention center in Philly, it would take maybe 4 unions guys 90 minutes to do the same job.

I first read that article and I was depressed, but the PA primary two months ago gave me hope when Johnny Doc was sent out on a rail in his bid for the Democratic nomination for PA senate. I think Philadelphians are starting to see the corruption in their public figures and maybe they’ve turned the corner. Michael Nutter, even if he is a ninny, is clean. If he can rein the unions in, I’m willing to put up with his ninny-ness.

By: Alan

Alan — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:17:47 +0000

When I was working on a project in Philly, goons from local 98 used to camp out in front of our office so they could follow the work crews around and harass them. They were upset because of the city’s minority owned business requirement meant that there wouldn’t be any union electricians on the job. They held up work at a couple of locations because union crane operators refused to do the job as long as local 98 was “unhappy”.