Showing posts with label laborers local 665. Show all posts
Showing posts with label laborers local 665. Show all posts

Friday, November 7, 2008

Connecticut's New Speaker Much Like Jimmy Hoffa

Unions across the state cheered with the Obama victory, and much of those cheers were also extended to their new incoming Speaker of The House Donovan. Much like Jimmy Hoffa Donovan is heavily involved in unions and the organization of unions. These admirable skills once valued in America have become of little significance since the two party system instituted NAFTA and GAFTA and the global wage structure.

Most of the products we consume are built overseas by countries with inhumane laws that cater to human degradation and despair. An example of this is the slave labor in China as documented in Walmart The Movie. Americas addiction to low cost products has not only served to scare the American worker who is petrified of being integrated into a global wage system but also sent unions to the Connecticut legislature begging for protection.

The Global Wage System has been welcomed outside the U.S. and has served countries like Mexico and South America well. These countries, whose wages have been rising from pennies to dollars have been jubilant, but on the other hand it has been horrible for the American worker who has seen their wages shrink just to compete.

Harmonizing the American wage structure and banking system now appears to be the trend behind the bankers and global banking institutions in the world. They are calling for a "one world banking institution" and a "one world currency." Should this ever occur the curtains in America would rapidly come down exposing the U.S. economy for what it is a baseless system of credit where every major purchase is financed in lieu of small affordable payments. A nation who is entirely reliant on Inflation to pay its nations bills and create jobs not based on productivity of goods and services, but rather the bureaucratic expansion of the Federal Government that seems to never shrink.

My advice, should this message ever be heard, to Mr. Donovan would be for the Connecticut State Legislature to put forth a vote of "no confidence" in NAFTA, GAFTA, and all those global trade agreements that impoverished the American Worker, Destroyed our manufacturing, and cost us millions of jobs. My advice to Mr. Donavan is to call out and challenge all those American traitors who lied, and deceived the workers of America with the broken promises that these tyrannical trade agreements were supposed to accomplish.

It is today crystal clear, that there is no where for the American worker to run anymore, that they are now hopelessly in the clutches of our state governments. That the are using our state legislature as a desperate last resort, a measure that will offer them the protections that exist no where else but in the looting of the treasury.

While I understand the cry and the sincere voice behind the need for a living wage job, those cries are quickly fading as the unions close their eyes to those lying politicians who not only refuse to abolish unfair trade agreements, but continue to work toward a goal that is building a global wage structure that has only one possible outcome, THE DESTRUCTION OF AMERICAS MIDDLE CLASS, and an end to workers rights everywhere.

In conclusion I will ask that we quit treating the symptoms of employee globalization and start attacking the disease. Unions today have a moral imperative to do more than just selfishly protect themselves, they need to protect labor and wages worldwide or attack those politicians who favor their destruction by way of global trade agreements that rob jobs and open borders to supernational illegal workforces.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Laborers' Local 665 Takes Issue With Turner Construction













At about 8:00 A.M. this morning a bus and a contingent of about 100 union workers arrived at the Turner Construction Milford H.Q. on Wheelers farms road. The peaceful protest took place on the sidewalk adjacent to the street as indicated in the photo.

I asked Joseph Ambrosini what the nature of the protest was, and he was kind enough to have his associate provide me with a document titled the "Turner Construction Campaign Fact Sheet" dated 2/2/08. According to that fact sheet, one of the issues the Laborers' Local has with Turner Construction is its policies. To quote the document verbatim it states: "Unfortunately, Turner Construction has consistently been hiring construction sub-contractors which have hired undocumented workers, failed to pay the state of Connecticut for workman compensation dues, failed to follow and pay prevailing wage standards along with other various policies that are bad for Connecticut taxpayers and threaten the safety of projects throughout the state."

Another reason for their "open air" protest was to engage in a "public advocacy" and awareness campaign to inform businesses, the public, political and community leaders as to the alleged undocumented worker problems sanctioned by Turner Construction. At the time of my arrival between 8:30 and 11:30 it appeared that no other local public persons expressed any interest or participation, besides myself.

To get both sides of this story, I contacted the Milford Turner Construction office for comment, I spoke to the receptionist who answered the phone who had no comment other than to refer me to Chris McFadden at their N.Y. office. I contacted Chris for his comments on these labor issues he did eventually return my call at about 1:00 P.M. today in response to the allegations made against them.

McFadden started off by stating that "Turner complies with all laws pertaining to labor, state and federal taxation. He acknowledges that there has been an ongoing issue between Turner and its unions since January of this year citing previous state inquiries. Turner indicated that the dispute was likely due to the fact that a "Collective Bargaining Agreement" has not been signed and this was likely upsetting the union workers."

Mcfadden also said "that on every work site 90% of all workers are union members except in cases where they are acting as a consultant for their clients who often want to use their own sub-contractors for projects. Turner indicated that they have a strict policy of compliance and whenever they discover violations by their subcontractors they immediately demand they become compliant with all laws and company policies. However, he also mentioned that Turner cannot police every subcontractor as effectively as they would like. In such cases they rely on the advice and reports of other union workers who are free to contact their H.Q. with any job site concerns. In summary McFadden is of the opinion that Turner construction has done everything in its power to comply with the stated issues and concerns of their unions."

As a special note I would like to add that the people who attended the protest were receptive, very kind, knew the prevailing issues really well and spoke with humble concern and sadness for the middle class in America. They also provided an atmosphere likened to kindred family unity in support of one another. I thank all those there this morning for their hospitality, and offerings and wish them the best of luck in resolving their differences with Turner.

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Correction From:

"However, he also mentioned that Turner cannot police every subcontractor as effectively as they would like."

To:

"We work very closely with our clients and the contractors working on our projects to ensure compliance with all labor laws. Turner is compliant with all labor laws. The contractors with all labor laws as well."

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