39 Replies to "What's that noise? Loud labor protest south of The Junction"

• Kayleigh February 27, 2009 (12:41 pm)

  Could they please pick a more obnoxious sound? Those kazoos or whatever just aren’t annoying enough.

• Tim February 27, 2009 (1:21 pm)

  Might be more subdued this afternoon. Just walked past there and they were getting out of their trucks from lunch, followed by the fresh smell of weed.

• Tim February 27, 2009 (1:25 pm)

  I find it very hard to be sympathetic towards their cause while they keep making that racket. Their beef is with the scaffolding company not with us, so why do they think it’s ok to torture us with that noise?

• B February 27, 2009 (1:42 pm)

  Apparently these guys are not watching the news and the latest unemployment figures!

• Dave February 27, 2009 (1:53 pm)

  They are making sure that I do not use union carpenters for any upgrades, since they are making noise outside my building instead of the owners of the company they have a beef with. Isn’t the unemployment rate high? They might want to get some help on marketing do’s and don’t s

• Neighbor February 27, 2009 (5:55 pm)

  What is wrong with you people? How is it that the unions have lost our support. These people are using the tools the have to make their cause heard. Shame on you for being so self absorbed that your support of people working in conditions that are safe and earning pay that is just is contingent on whether or not your put out by it. Why not call Berg and ask them to support their workers. Complain to the person who hired the company and ask why they are using a company that doesn’t support their workers. It matters even more now that workers rights are protected instead of allowing the current down turn to weaken unions. We are all in this together.

• rbj February 27, 2009 (8:08 pm)

  Good for you Neighbor. Spot on.

  Folks around here sure like to cower behind their cheap bourgeois “progressive” politics but never bother to walk the streets. There’s more going on that requires a response larger than driving a prius and reusing grocery bags.

  And if you think that the noise those workers are making is torture you should probably get a life and/or move out of the city.

• agree with time February 27, 2009 (11:40 pm)

  I believe you have a responsibility to know what you are consuming (i.e. buying a building/property from people with poor labor practices), and you should do your best to not support those businesses. However, I agree with Tim–it really should be taken up with their employer, not the street traffic. Unless it is a problem for you or someone who cannot defend themselves, you don’t necessarily have the responsibility to fight the fight. We do what we can, but if we fought every “injustice” we would never have time to go to work (for those of us not protected by unions).

• agree with time February 27, 2009 (11:40 pm)

  but I agree with Tim, not time.

• Tim February 28, 2009 (1:07 am)

  Neighbor – the unions have not lost my support, I am pro-union. I am anti-being annoyed. I’m sure that you’re not suggesting that the sole criteria for garnering my support should be the tenacity to bang a drum and toot a kazoo for 3 hours straight. You seem clever, you can’t think of 10 more effective ways they could have brought attention to their plight that wouldn’t require that kind of annoyance to the neighborhood? In your mind there is absolutely no other way that they could have aired their grievance?

  RBJ – You really have a bone to pick and I’m not quite sure who with. I neither drive a prius nor care about grocery bags. I’m sure if I were to compare my crappy car to yours that you would come out ahead. Does that now make you bourgeouis? I don’t know why you’re dragging your politics into this, maybe you drag it everywhere, who knows. Here’s how it boils down: if you think it’s enjoyable to be awakened to the sound of drums and kazoos on your day off and you think it’s fantastic, just a great time, to have to listen to that for the next 3 hours, then you rbj, should be the one to get a life.

  Gentlemen ( or ladies ) I have to end this conversation here, I’m about to enjoy a late night snack but unfortunately my french fries are a little cold and so I’ll be outside tonight with my drum and my kazoo making sure you all know about it.

• rbj February 28, 2009 (6:27 am)

  Sounds like we both have a bone to pick Tim.

• Kayleigh February 28, 2009 (7:24 am)

  Neighbor, RBJ, I’m envious of your ability to psychically know my politics based on one statement about what can only be described as truly obnoxious noise.
  .
  How about asking rather than assuming?

• dd February 28, 2009 (12:07 pm)

  how about an update, WSB, on why the carps are picketing? i have worked with Berg many times in the past. always had good service with good well paid workers. do the Berg workers have an issue with Berg?

• Neighbor February 28, 2009 (12:29 pm)

  Kay-I cannot presume to know your political leanings but you sure made your compassion and humanity known all by yourself.

• mar3c February 28, 2009 (12:35 pm)

  my employer also works with berg from time to time, and i’m in laborers’ 242. i know that carpenters were trying to take scaffold erection away from laborers’ and hod carriers’ scope of work. i have to say that this is a horrible idea. commercial masonry already involves two trades, we don’t need a third.
  .
  it would help if the picture was clearer so that we could read the picket signs. they’re usually pretty succinct.

• Kayeleigh February 28, 2009 (1:08 pm)

  Neighbor, yes I have made my compassion and humanity known by the years I’ve worked in health care, nonprofits, and advocacy organizations. To say nothing of hours of volunteering with animals and children. I’d be happy to tell you about my ten+ hour days helping the homeless while you were doing….what? Insulting people on the Internet? Playing a kazoo? It obviously wasn’t working for the Dionne Warwick Psychic Friends Network.
  .
  You really sure you want to compare resumes for compassion and “humanity?”

• WSB February 28, 2009 (1:45 pm)

  mar3c – we never did hear back from Berg on our request for comment, FWIW.

  as for the signs, the specific complaint (I wrote it down off the video, which Patrick shot, and sent it in my note to Berg):

  “not paying area standard wages and benefits”

• WSB February 28, 2009 (1:47 pm)

  Meantime, to other commenters, please stop with the snipes/countersnipes here. They are close to out of bounds and any further ones will be pruned – that is NOT what this site is about. Lots of other sites out there that will let comment threads deteriorate into personal jab/counterjab. Criticize the comment if you must but not the commenter. Thanks.

• rbj February 28, 2009 (4:22 pm)

  Ohhh WSB! SNAP!

• rbj February 28, 2009 (4:27 pm)

  I just want everyone to know that I love them. I love you all!

• WSB February 28, 2009 (4:28 pm)

  We have very few rules. We expect that they will be respected. If you choose not to respect WSB rules, we understand that you’re saying you prefer to make comments on a website that does allow you to insult other people. Not this one. Thanks – TR

• rbj February 28, 2009 (4:29 pm)

  We’re all so sensitive here.

• rbj February 28, 2009 (4:40 pm)

  I’ll take that as a “no”. :)

• rbj February 28, 2009 (4:42 pm)

  What if I rephrased the question without using the word draconian?

• rbj February 28, 2009 (4:44 pm)

  :(

• rbj February 28, 2009 (5:00 pm)

  That’s just pathetic. Pick and choose WSB but you always lose…

• WSB February 28, 2009 (5:07 pm)

  You’re done in this thread, unless you have something to say that actually addresses the topic here and respects the rules – which also disallow overt trolling/provocation. Thanks.

• rbj February 28, 2009 (5:09 pm)

  I’m pro-union.

• sam February 28, 2009 (8:39 pm)

  “Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters members say they have a beef with a scaffolding company ”

  I wish I knew what the beef was. It seems like unions enable people to make more than is really necessary or warranted.

  I mean, come on ! the prevailing wage rate (for public works projects) in King County, for a journey level drywall taper is $ 46/ hr, a journey level flagger is $ 32/hr.
  I’m sorry but that is ridiculous. My husband got laid off, has a master’s degree, and IF he could find a job in his field, he’s paid less than a flagger ?

• sam February 28, 2009 (8:41 pm)

  http://www.lni.wa.gov/PrevailingWage/jwages/20091/co17.asp

  everything listed under “carpenter” is $46 / hr.
  If they are employed, I don’t know what they are complaining about.

• sam February 28, 2009 (8:43 pm)

  then again, I don’t know whether the protesters are protesting a public or private project, so who knows…

• Or is it just easier to whine?.... March 1, 2009 (12:00 pm)

  If you have a problem with the noise, why not contact the union and ask them to find a different tactic? It only takes a few minutes…

  Regional Council Headquarters Office: 25120 Pacific Hwy S, Suite 200 Kent, WA 98032
  Phone (253) 945-8800 • Fax: (253) 839-4908 • Toll Free: 1-800-573-8333
  Email: nwcarp@nwcarpenters.org
  Printer Friendly Page

• Union Bashing! March 1, 2009 (8:20 pm)

  I own a construction company and have 4 full-time carpenters! No Union employee’s as the Union boys seem to think they don’t have to work as hard, disrespect non-journeymen trades people and show an overall disregard to there fellow co-workers.
  
  The trade Union’s are a joke . . . how many union carpenter’s does it take to screw in a light-bulb. Two Journeymen, One Apprentice, One foremen and one full-business day with better-then-good work conditions!
  

• mar3c March 5, 2009 (6:47 am)

  yeah, yeah, u.b.
  .
  we work as hard or harder than non-union guys, and we have wages, benefits, and pensions to show for it.
  .
  the real reason you’re non-union is because you have a tiny business and can’t afford to pay wages that support a middle-class family. it’s not an insult; i’m guessing you won’t be getting any new construction work in high-rises unless it’s tenant improvement.
  .
  and can someone tell me why plumbers and electricians and bricklayers and carpenters shouldn’t be well-paid? i trust tradesmen just as much as i trust lawyers and doctors, who have fancy diplomas.
  .
  it takes union and non-union companies to cover the construction industry. smaller contractors tend to focus on residential work and are predominantly non-union. commercial work is usually awarded to union companies. but it’s not a hard and fast rule.
  .
  so let’s not bash unions. in return, i won’t call i.c.e. to enforce immigration laws at your job sites.

• Mythbuster1144 March 11, 2009 (10:10 am)

  I sympathize with the comment about being unemployed with a masters degree and making less than a flagger- it’s not fair, nor is it good for the economy to pay workers less than a living wage. Anyone check to see how much it costs to live in King County? The county did a study in 2005 and found that the minimum wage for a single income household with a stay at home parent and two children was 26$ an hour! That is providing the family with the bare essentials, rent (no home ownership) and having an emergency fund. It’s no secret that wages for decades have not kept up with the cost of living. Well paid workers are assets to society, not debts. Construction is a dangerous craft and workers are compensated as such.

  The statement about Union Carpenters being less productive is a myth, spread by company owners who pay their workers non-family wages. Any general contractor that has had both Union and non-union carpenters on jobs can pull the data which shows productivity rates. Company’s that participate in State Registered Apprenticeship programs and on the job training win hands down.I heard the Carpenters Union spent $150 Million in training in 2006 or 2007. By the way, the punchline to that joke is actually “Zero, that is Electrician’s work!”

  I also know that carpenters have always erected scaffolding and the statement by the Local 242 member is also a myth spread by the leadership of his local and actually the opposite. Laborers usually are “tenders” to the carpenters, just check the L&I website listed above. By the way, why is it that at the Laborers Training Center in Kingston that they are teaching electrical and plumbing work along side carpenter work? Who is trying to steal who’s work?

  Back to the original news story: It appears the Carpenters Union is expressing their First Amendment rights. Good for them for getting out and actually speaking out about it. Most of us would rather not get up off of the couch and continue to watch the Middle Class Americans shrink. True, the noise is annoying- but they were not breaking any laws and given the choice of putting up with noise or protecting your craft or job’s working conditions from erosion, I choose the American Dream- owning your own home, earning a wage which allows you to provide for your family, healthcare that is affordable, and a dignified retirement. That my friends is the definition of the Middle Class.

• sam March 11, 2009 (11:08 am)

  yeah- the other joke is-
  when the architect walks on a job site, they become the lowest paid person there. that’s super funny.

  does that living wage calculation include paying off student loans for grad school?

• Mythbuster1144 March 11, 2009 (11:21 am)

  No, that was not in the presentation I saw. Depressing one job classification effects the rest, like the domino effect. The word “competitive” is code for “we’ve lowered the wages of our employees to erode the industry further”. Every middle class job has been turned into a race to the bottom. It is shameful that people have invested so much time, dedication, sacrifice and money in an education only to realize it doesn’t pay the bills.

• Tonya March 11, 2009 (12:49 pm)

  “What is wrong with you people? How is it that the unions have lost our support.”

  Because they are usually corrupt politically motivated machines that do nothing but line the pockets of the fat pigs who run them by picking the pockets of the hard workers.

• Mythbuster1144 March 11, 2009 (3:24 pm)

  If the pockets of the hard workers are picked, why is it that Union workers take home much more money that unrepresented workers and their benefits are also superior? The dues pay for representation and membership service. The above comment is a well know cliche taking a few minor examples of unlawful activity and saying it applies to everyone. Isn’t that the definition of prejudice? How many non-union construction workers (not company owners) do you know that have a dignified retirement, not including any inheritance or some other windfall? I came from a very anti-union state and I can honestly say I have never met or know one. But don’t worry, those people will be taken care of by your hard earned tax dollars funding homeless shelters, hospital write-offs and other welfare programs. Well paid workers, like I stated before, are “assets” to society, not “debts”. If workers can pay their own way and actually have some to give back through charity work, etc. our taxes would be lower.

Sorry, comment time is over.