Many years ago, I took a labor relations course from the professor who
later became a federal judge. He gave a sage perspective: "Any company who
has a union labor force has, at one time or another in their history,
deserved one."
30+ years later, I've seen this confirmed time after time. If an activity
is resulting in preventable injuries, perhaps that activity needs to be
regulated to the extent that laws which are on the books can be enforced.
There are many occupations that require government certification to
safeguard the general public. For example, you wouldn't want just anyone
hanging out a shingle advertising brain surgery without some certification
that the person has exhibited competence in the area. The same is true of
lawyers and people in the professions - PE's, electricians, plumbers,
contractors, etc.
Historically, we've seen that a modicum of regulation is necessary to
safeguard the public. It isn't any different with tower work - how can we
be sure that a worker won't drop a 300 pound tower section into a parking
lot or an occupied building? Or, more esoterically, forget to torque
structural bolts properly?
Although you hear many evils about unions, organizations like the steel
workers, electrical workers and others have done a lot to make things safer
for all of us by providing standardized certification and training for
their members.
I am a management employee and have been one most of my career, but trained
and safe blue collar workers have made America safe for several
generations. If you simply disparage unions, you're really missing the
point and have a misunderstanding about the role of unionized workers in
the safety and consistency of work and workplaces in America.
73,
Mickey N4MB
On Mon, May 28, 2012 at 8:43 PM, Jim Brown <jim@audiosystemsgroup.com>wrote:
> On 5/28/2012 4:38 PM, Gene Fuller wrote:
> > I don't like having the gov't tell me what I can or cant do when I'm not
> > endangering others.
>
> Jim Lux got the point. You did not, and neither did several others. The
> TV news program was NOT about individual liberty, nor was it about
> government over-reaching, nor was it about anything political. It was
> NOT about government regulations, it was NOT about you and me climbing
> our towers, or hiring someone to do it. It was NOT about broadcast tower
> work. It wasn't even about traditional 2-way tower work.
>
> It was about BIG companies screwing over little people who were out of
> work, down on their luck, so desperate that they will take really
> dangerous jobs for $10/hour. And it's about those big companies using
> various legal tricks to avoid their responsibility for those people they
> take advantage of DYING. And it was about the government NOT doing
> anything to protect them.
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
> _______________________________________________
>
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