^^^^^^^^^^^ This right here is EXACTLY what they’re all about. Couldn’t of said it better but I could add much more.
In my line of work, (project superintendent /bridge rehabilitation contractor ), I have to deal with the union trades once in a while. We are a non union open shop that does major projects throughout NY and the country for that matter. We are ALL iron workers, painters , operators , laborers and masons at any given time. Every once in a while a union rep will stop in on one my sites and give me a line of bullshit about how we can’t paint this or you can’t use this equipment or you’re stealing our work, blah blah blah. Some will falsely tell me I have to use union help to which my response is” no, I don’t, I need the job done right ,on time and safely! Now get the fuck off my job site.
In all reality,PLA’s (project labor agreements), are just one of the many reasons living in NY is astronomically expensive. These publicly funded heavy highway/bridge projects that have PLA ‘s attached to them are 2-3 times more costly because of the required union labor. A bunch of lazy entitled dickwads who don’t give a shit about craftsmanship and spend more time drinking and smoking in the job than actually working.
For example, last year we were bidding a very large project right here in NY and our number as a prime contractor was in the ballpark if $40million. Just before the bid, they turned it to a PLA project which means we could not bid it because we’re not union and don’t use union employees for the most part. They canceled the bid and just recently put it out to bid again with the PLA. Winning bid was for right around $65 million. Fucking shocker.
That’s my experience with the union
