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IBEW out of touch

7K views 38 replies 18 participants last post by  TGGT 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I live in a city within this local’s territory that is doing 5 billion dollars in new construction and 0% of it is union. To make matters worse, the Democrats have been the party in control for decades here yet every Election Day my union endorses Democrats.

The membership (if you ever visit any job site) do not support these Democrats.

Wake up.






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#3 ·
I like that you think the Union is only out of touch with politics...

😂😂

The irony being the large non union shops like Berg and Helix are staunch republicans... much like you say the membership is.

My guess... it’s way more complicated.
 
#4 ·
I live in a city within this local’s territory that is doing 5 billion dollars in new construction and 0% of it is union. To make matters worse, the Democrats have been the party in control for decades here yet every Election Day my union endorses Democrats.

The membership (if you ever visit any job site) do not support these Democrats.

Wake up.




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I don’t know much about politics in the US, but if the past 4 years have been run by the republicans federally, and there is no union work right now, how will voting for them again this election help the union work situation?
 
#5 · (Edited)
The truth is neither republicans nor democrats have done much for organized labor at the state, county, munipal, or federal level for a long time.

The problem is organized labor keeps rewarding this non-support with blind endorsements for democrats at all levels year after year. By doing so, labor squanders its political capital.

It's not hard for me to see why, in this political climate, this would be especially hard for the membership to swallow: the local's leadership are issuing an endorsement for a candidate the majority of the members strongly oppose.

Good thing they have those curtains at the polls, the members can pull the lever for who ever they want.
 
#7 ·
Republicans have never been for the working man. They have always been anti-union, merit shop, right to work advocates. Plain to see that moving industry to cheap labor anti-union states makes money for Wall St but hurts the working man. Look at Sen Richard Shelby and what he has done. Used his position to get billions in Government contracts and subsidies. Problem is the Democrats do nothing but talk and make promises. NY State rejected Amazon, right or wrong, but what did it accomplish, they just built it somewhere else. The IBEW needs to put it's money where it will get action, not lip service. Maybe a change is needed.
 
#13 ·
I'm confused. I'm in Massachusetts and State financed construction work I think is awarded to the lowest qualified bidder. No one can control if union or non union companies get the job. How do politicians control who gets the work? I don't think Democrats are helping the situation when they advocate for non citizens.
 
#15 ·
We have projects going up in town. They advertise for electricians guys go in and find out it’s $12 per hour. The contractor makes a case to bring in foreign labor using H1_B. Trump hires Haitians using H1-B for seasonal workers at his properties claiming he can’t find people that speak French.
 
#18 ·
30+ year IBEW member. Personally I have never voted Democrat beyond the County level. Most of the blue collar people that I work with (union and non) on a daily basis vote Republican. Tradesmen with decent pay and benefits have much more to lose under Democrat high taxes and environmental policies than service workers. We make our real money on fossil energy and construction projects. The "Green New Deal" alone will kill the economy long after my, and my grandchildren's expected life time.
 
#20 ·
The green new deal will bring insane growth like we've never seen since the guaranteed jobs program after the new deal was passed and we had 8-10% growth.

We almost hit 3% growth under Trump.

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Historians and economists argue about the New Deal's actual role in recovery from the depression from 1933 to 1939, the extent to which it really sped the recovery. I know some of those New Deal projects, like for example the Hoover Dam - completed on time, under budget, an engineering masterpiece, paid for itself many times over - I sure wouldn't mind seeing more done like that. I just don't see it happening in today's world. The economy, the government, and the nation are so much different I would not draw any conclusions based on the effects of the New Deal. Deflation versus inflation the corporate influence on government, I just really don't think it will end well.

I think we really have to get our house in order with citizens united, anti-monopoly / anti-trust laws, basic regulation, before you can have confidence in the government running things like this successfully.
 
#27 ·
Biden would sign the PRO act if president. Almost every republican but 2 in the house voted against it. It needs to get through the senate next.


Stronger and swifter remedies when employers interfere with workers’ rights.
More freedom to organize without employer interference.
Winning first contract agreements when workers organize and protecting fair share agreements. (prevents bad faith negotiation or delaying first contract)
Protecting strikes and other protest activity. (legalizes secondary "sympathy" striking)
Organizing and bargaining rights for more workers.
(tightens the definitions of independent contractor and supervisor to crack down on misclassification and extend NLRA protections to more workers. )
 
#29 ·
There was a comic strip called Peanuts when I was a kid, really popular. There was a running gag where every fall Charlie Brown would ask Lucy to hold his football to practice place kicking and Lucy would pull it out at the last second and Charlie Brown would land on his ass. He would at first refuse, Lucy would bullshit him, and year after year he'd fall for it.

(To the kids - I know what you're thinking, but remember there were only like four channels on TV back then, this was entertainment.)

Anyway, Charlie Brown is labor, and the Democratic party is Lucy. They keep promising, and labor keeps falling for it. Biden's from Delaware, the corporate whore state. The blue collar roots and love of the working man is a fiction he uses in his campaigns. He's been a senator since he's 30. He didn't work at anything long enough to complete an apprenticeship for ****s sake. He worked for five years or so as a lawyer then bullshit his way into the US Senate and the rest is history.

 
#30 ·
There was a comic strip called Peanuts when I was a kid, really popular. There was a running gag where every fall Charlie Brown would ask Lucy to hold his football to practice place kicking and Lucy would pull it out at the last second and Charlie Brown would land on his ass. He would at first refuse, Lucy would bullshit him, and year after year he'd fall for it.

(To the kids - I know what you're thinking, but remember there were only like four channels on TV back then, this was entertainment.)

Anyway, Charlie Brown is labor, and the Democratic party is Lucy. They keep promising, and labor keeps falling for it. Biden's from Delaware, the corporate whore state. The blue collar roots and love of the working man is a fiction he uses in his campaigns. He's been a senator since he's 30. He didn't work at anything long enough to complete an apprenticeship for ****s sake. He worked for five years or so as a lawyer then bullshit his way into the US Senate and the rest is history.

It's not just about Biden, it's his appointees and gaining control of the senate.

We know what Trump will do to labor which is install anti worker cabinet members into the department of labor and fill the courts with anti union judges. I don't have to speculate that he might do it, he has done it. He'd pass a national right to work bill if he got a Republican house and senate. OSHA investigations are at an all time low and they're ignoring COVID complaints as a workplace issue.

Hell, I filed a charge against a former employer for wrongful termination and they used a precedent that was similar to my case that ruled in favor of the plaintiff as a reason to rule against me. This is the bizarro DOL under Republican rule.

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#35 ·
I’ve noticed more large jobs in our territory, NYC to Fairfield, CT, are being done by out of state contractors with a few of their electricians and the rest of the workers are “labor source” unskilled workers. Perhaps this is the wave of the future. But just like illegal immigration it will drive down wages and price out professional companies employing electricians.


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