Last August, we asked “why is there a noisy picket at Pine and Summit?” and told you this:
The noisy picket you see and hear on E Pine, we were told, is the local carpenters union letting people know about a sub-contractor on the People’s Parking lot development job site who the union says is paying sub-standard wages. The same picket was also seen earlier this summer downtown in front of Forever 21. The show of labor activity on the Hill is relatively rare these days. The rep we talked to said work at the site isn’t halted — the picket is only informational at this point. Informational and a little noisy, sure, but with noise comes attention.
We talked to the picket organizers again today. With a much larger contingent, the picket against Metier Construction at the Terravita development has police officers monitoring the situation but the effort, a rep for the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters tells us, is strictly a gambit to attract attention to the situation. We asked the rep what support they’d like to see from the community. His answer: Put up with the noise. “We have to make noise for attention,” the rep said. “[We’re] not asking people not to rent these apartments or anything like that.”
I support organized labor.
Has any of those carpenter guys sat down and had a decent conversation with the owner of Metier? If I believe everything I hear then I would believe that it is the carpenters union that is the problem. If anyone is reading this please type in “carpenter union corruption” “respectourcrafts.com” “independent carpenters local” “Union carpenters get a new tool: Voting rights” into your internet search. Be creative and type in all you want about the carpenters. The UBC [Carpenters] are the biggest crooks and the biggest problem the working man and woman face in our time.Remember that the ordinary carpenter worker is their easiest victim and has no real chance of a decent living wage by the time their leadership gets through with them.I think Metier is more union than the UBC.
So do I. Guess what pal, there is no solidarity left in the UBC bones.Them and maybe a couple others don’t make up for solidarity. A real union doesn’t cut back door deals that ruin the lives of their membership. Real leadership doesn’t sell out their members for personal gain. How much do you think the UBC
Your an idiot. And obviously have never been in the union. Its because of people like you that most people dont earn a livable wage in a city like Seattle.
A. Beachem: If most people in Seattle don’t earn a living wage, then why do they live here?
you people are so fvcking stupid you don’t realize the ONLY reason there’s a picket there is the union trying to BULLY somebody into paying into their mob-like bullshit. The contractors working on that site are ALL paying appropriate wages, they’re just not paying the money into the carpenter MOB’s retirement plan for them to squander on bullshit things like the apartment tower in Belltown. Remember that one? The one UNION labor built and is now being torn down because it was a shitty building job? Yeah, I thought youd’ ignore that.
run the fucking union off and tell them to take a leap.
I agree that Belltown hihg-rise teardown after a decade was unbelievable. You could be right about the mob-like bullshit also. Simple economics states that if they developers and contractors weren’t paying enough, then the building wouldn’t have enough labor and would be forced to pay more until supply and demand of builders on the site hits an equilibrium.
On the other hand, carpenters (especially mid to high-rise workers) are one of the few (in my opinion) careers today that actually might benefit from unions looking after the safety, working conditions and well-being.