Keeping some in labor
Jun 27, 2009
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Everyone agrees that workers on public works projects should be paid a fare wage. And with all due respect to ditch diggers . . . solar and wind farms--or any renewable energy projects for that matter-- don't just need brawn. They need brains. Installing solar panels and other analogous jobs requires special training, which is surging right now at trade techs and community colleges across the nation.So what's more important: speedy ramp-up of non-fossil fuel based energy projects so we can gain energy independence, or getting bogged down in details making sure certain workers get a few more bucks per hour or concessions? I say the former. Organized labor's shenanigans once again show why unions are becoming less and less relevant--and less respected, in the USA. Some may say the dispute over these energy projects is simply labor's last attempt to flex the few muscle fibers they have left in their biceps. I say unions are pulling cheap stunts to increase their coffers by extortion--from an industry that right now, just can't afford it.
Before I get nasty-grams saying I'm blindly anti-union, remember the UAW did a nice job opposing federally mandated mileage standards for years--and we see the results now with the sad state of the Big 3 while many Americans like me decided to buy Japanese, German, and now, even Korean. In these labor-capital disputes, I'm on capital's side.
