[SML] Boston Mayor's aides convicted of demanding music festival hire union stagehands.

[Lou Poppler]

On Sun, 2019-08-11 at 11:11 -0400, Dave Vick via Stagecraft wrote:
> On Sat, Aug 10, 2019 at 9:14 PM Dale Farmer via Stagecraft <stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:
> 
> > and yeah, I have been threatened by union thugs for being a non-union
> > worker on jobs they were trying to take over.  This was after I applied to
> > the union and never got a response to my repeated inquiries.  So I have
> > little sympathy for the union.
> 
> 
> S’okay; we’re quite used to being the non-union world’s boogeyman. It’s always our fault, isn’t it...

Under the hood, "The Union" turns out to be many little local workers'
democracies.  In some places, in some times, the result can be an 
"Us vs. Them" fear of undeserving non-members trying to steal "our" work.
In other places or times, the members can look at the same non-members and
view them as underpaid and exploited potential colleagues, who could be brought
into the family, and gotten raises and benefits.  There is all kinds of history,
good and bad, that can be pointed to.  The US Attorneys occasionally take an
interest on one side or another, depending on how baldly partisan is the then
current administration in Washington.  The IA sometimes tries to influence
outlier locals.  But in most cases, that Union Boss is just some sound guy or
some AV tech who got him/her self elected in the local union.

The best way for The Union to "take over" jobs currently filled by non-union
workers, is to convert those non-union workers into union workers working the
same jobs, only now with union-scale pay rates, working conditions, insurance,
retirement, training, etc.  The same workers, just better conditions, and an
option to become union members if they want to.

Many of you reading this are already voters in these little workers'
democracies.  (I have been a member of 3 locals, and now hold a retired card out
of local 363).  I urge you members to guide your locals toward the inclusion and
recruitment I described above.  Other people doing the same work as we do, are
not the enemy.  Sometimes they are the exploited victims of unfair employers.
We have plenty of prima donna members, as well as the prima donnas who don't
want to be members.  Even those prima donnas who don't want to join, will still
be happy to get a raise and vacation and insurance and retirement.

[Sorry, re-lurking now.]