Union Hired Non-Union Workers to Protest Hiring Non-Union Workers!

Need picketers to goose up your protest? You can hire picketers - yes, demonstrators-for-hire that march wherever you want them to march and chant whatever you want them to chant.

That in itself may be a smart solution, but when you're a labor union protesting the hiring of non-union workers, then that's just a whole 'nother level of irony:

Billy Raye, a 51-year-old unemployed bike courier, is looking for work.

Fortunately for him, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council of Carpenters is seeking paid demonstrators to march and chant in its current picket line outside the McPherson Building, an office complex here where the council says work is being done with nonunion labor.

"For a lot of our members, it's really difficult to have them come out, either because of parking or something else," explains Vincente Garcia, a union representative who is supervising the picketing.

So instead, the union hires unemployed people at the minimum wage—$8.25 an hour—to walk picket lines. Mr. Raye says he's grateful for the work, even though he's not sure why he's doing it. "I could care less," he says. "I am being paid to march around and sound off."

Jennifer Levitz of the Wall Street Journal reports: Link


Comments (19)

Newest 5
Newest 5 Comments

The real problem is that your big companies that generate all the jobs have shipped them overseas and there aren’t any jobs left in this country. We’re left to fight amoungst ourselves trying to place blame. It was not enough for the big business to make a good profit, they had to get greedy and try to make more by outsourcing our jobs overseas. Now what’s left? No one employed or able to buy their product and the manufacturing capabilities of the US down the tubes. Whether you are union, which I support, or non-union, the good paying jobs are just not there anymore. Our middle class has disappeared.
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Has Neatorama tipped to the right? Better post an article about how stupid Sarah Palin is, to appease the left.

I agree with Kalel. Unions are a blessing and a curse. Sometimes companies will screw you over without the union, though. Government unions are the worst, keeping incompetent people doing nothing in well-paying jobs, and making them feel entitled, all at the expense of people who can't afford their taxes.
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Alex I support you in the posting of this. I found it ironic and even more so given that the union is paying these people because it is too "difficult to have them come out, either because of parking or something else" to fight for work that they claim to want.
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It would only be ironic if there were such a thing as a picketer's union, and the carpenter's union was going out of its way to avoid hiring unionized picketers.

But that isn't what's happening.

The real story is that unions, including the carpenter's union in this case, are hiring people to protest entities that don't hire unions. Nowhere is it written that picketers must be members of a union to picket on behalf of union causes.

Again, if this were a case of unions giving preference to non-union picketers over unionized picketers, THAT would be ironic. But this isn't ironic: it's a union hiring the unemployed for PR work. That's all.

The problem I have with you and the WSJ reporter is the way you've twisted this non-story to make the carpenter's union appear hypocritical and unprincipled. You call it "irony", but an honest reading of the facts does not yield such an interpretation.
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So what does tradition say about a bouquet that is not caught, but is instead sucked into the engine of a plane? Will none of the women get married? Will the marriage end in a divorce? It makes worrying about a ceiling fan seem pitiful.
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That's why you don't skydive? I was going to say the only thing you should ever fling off an airplane is yourself. There's a method to that madness, not this tripe. This is a tale of Italian extravagance, and nothing at all to do with the joy of skydiving. Just for the record, Him, when you jump, you're behind the engines on the plane.
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Beats me why people do this sort of thing at weddings. Isn't getting married to the one you love enough? Why add frills and thrills to what's already the best day of your life?
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What a bunch of old ladies we have here. Why add frills and thrills? That's why I don't skydive? (afraid of getting sucked into an engine, are we?) And the best... Serves them right. You know, it probably could have been planned better, but who the he11 are you to judge what a couple wants for their wedding? You just wish your wedding had been half as exciting.
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@7 OK - who the hell are you to judge me for having an opinon? ~(removes tonge from cheek, insert smiley of choice here)

See - that just leads to playground taunts. We all have opinions, and many of us voice them. No one is immune to criticism and we all have the right to judge other people, that's what holds society together. If no one were allowed to voice criticisms anyone could do just anything they like - that's not a great place to live.

Where did this attitude that it's not OK to judge people come from, anyway? Why can't I say it's silly? I don't mind other people saying things I do are silly - if we were only allowed to be nice to people we'd soon have someone complaining that we weren't being nice /enough/ or were nice in the wrong sort of way.
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wow... someone got really hurt out of this and everyone wants to be a comedian... someone wanted to have fun at their wedding and you all beat her down verbally for it. shame on you all.
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Weddings should be fun. Why make it the most stressful day of your life?

The turkey give-away episode of WKRP was the funniest sitcom episode EVER!!!
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Hey that is a real classic. That will never happen again ever.Uh life is good and God has a snese of humor. Maybe the Bride should go out for baseball. That is a good one. Should have been there brings a whole new translaton to it . No one will ever forget that day as long as they live. Feel for the Birde lol. hey a good move there Bride. She will not ever live that down.
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Oh thats great, so now it is Italians who are excessive instead of just human egos, huh? What about the AMERICAN couple who spent so much money on their zero-gravity wedding that they admitted they would probably be paying for it for the rest of their lives? What about all of the stupid couples on those "reality" shows like Bridezillas and Wild Weddings, ect. Humans from all over the globe are excessive and ego-driven enough to put on these kinds of ostentatious displays at their weddings, don't try to characterize Italians as the ones who are excessive.
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People should do exactly what THEY want at their wedding, not what some of you think they should do. This is incredibly sad and tragic, strange time to criticize someone's taste.
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I am retired wedding photographer and never saw a bouquet from a plane. 30 years of traditional weddings and the most I ever saw was a drunk groom pass out. Fell like a tree.

But then I was a blue collar photographer not many extravagant weddings in my portfolio. Sorry someone got hurt but it's still funny, just not as funny as wkrp and the flying turkey.
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