TheNessesaryEvil

I have been a union member since 1983, for years I loved being a union member. That was then, I was young and didn't know any better. Since then I have worked for many company's and even opened up my own labor shop in flooring. Now I see there true colors. They are EVIL. Unfortunately for many they are necessary. Or are they.
I will start with the example of the carpenters (since that's the union I was in) The scale for a journeyman Flooring Installer (carpenter) is $41.40 per hour. That is what the installer makes. The owner pays $41.40 + $21.50 for the benefit package. That puts the hourly rate at $62.90. That is what it costs the owner so before you turn a profit that is what you pay. Well not really I forgot about Workman's compensation and liability insurance. For the worker that's great, I know I was on that end for 25 years but now I am on the other side of the fence and let me tell you I don't know how the company's I worked for made a dollar. I did some figuring and I came up with this figure for a rough estimate to when you start to turn a profit running a labor shop. $87.50 let me repeat that $87.50. When I was doing a time and material job I would charge $95.00 per hour. Can you believe almost a hundred dollars for a flooring installer to smear floor patch on the floor. What are these guys Doctors or Flooring installers Give me a break.
The main problem in the installers themselves they don't earn that money. Of course on the T&M job ( time and material ) but what happens when the installer is installing vinyl base, or vinyl composition tile, of sheet vinyl ect...... If the guys don't produce you don't make money and where is there incentive to produce. A good way to describe this situation is this. I had an 8 man shop and I had 2 men that made me money on a consistent basis. If you bring this up at a union meeting do you think they care. What a joke they could care less as long as you pay that 20,000 dollar benefit package at the end of the month and as soon as you fall behind on the benefits they shut you down, and let me tell you that is one thing they love to do and that is thrown there weight around. Well after they shut my operation down (permanently). The worst part about it was I owed them $60,ooo.oo dollars and I was willing to come in the office that day and cut the bill in half, I was willing to give them a check for $30,000.00 but they told me they wanted it all or nothing. Needless to say I elected to pat them nothing since they were not going to let me stay in business.
Now that my owner days were over and my life savings was gone (100,000.00) basically everything my wife and I saved my whole life. It took a while to get my first job after my business shut down mainly because there wasn't that much work. When I finally did land a job (don't ask me how) they showed up in force not just 1 business agent but 3 of them. I swear on my children I had never seen 3 BA's on the same job at the same time in all my 30 years of being in the union. The most amazing part about it was it was the first day I had worked THE FIRST DAY. What are the chances. Ill bet you think they just came to wish me luck and to say hi. Not a chance, they came to totally harass me. It wasn't bad enough that my business failed and I lost everything I had worked for, for the past 30 years, no now they wanted me jobless. They felt since my company (an incorporation no less ) failed they wanted me to fail and they weren't going to be happy until me , my wife and my two small children were homeless and starving. One of the BAs hunted me down until he found me in the lower level. He started small talk. "where have you been working?" questions like that. Then started in on the real questions. Do you think it's fair that you owe the union $60,000.00 do you think it's fair that there are so many men not working and you are? Don't you feel bad that you cheated all those guys out of all that benefit money? Finally I cut him off and said "What do you want from me? Do you want me to leave, is that it? Then he started again with the comments, at this point I had no clue what he was saying, All I could see was red. So again I cut him off and said "Get out of my face, you want me to leave ,I'm leaving, What more do you want from me?" Then he got angry "Get out of your face, I'm trying to be a nice guy and that's how you talk to me?" he said "Nice guy? I would hate to see how an asshole would talk to me" I said. We went back and forth as I was packing my tools to leave.
So now not only did I lose my business and everything I had ever worked for but now they will not even let me earn a living at the only thing I have ever done. At this point I am ready to foreclose on my house and by the time it's all over I will practically be homeless. Thank God for unions huh.