Ah Jaysus, Mary & Joseph. Again?

So we find ourselves again on the unemployment line again. This time they say fall/winter, if at all. Some of the superintendents like me, others not so much. It's hard to read with some. It's a network of what other journeymen tell the lead man who then tells the foreman, who then tells the super who then feeds that on up to the project manager to the head of the company. By the time I got laid off I doubt there were about twenty guys working for the company total. For some it's about production, for some its about being the wrong skin color, and for others it's about being too young (I kid you not) and for some it's just the way you rub them. The day before my layoff we had our company wide safety barbecue and let me tell you there were alot of empty tables. Remember the concrete company while technically a part of larger general contractor is still its own company. But that hardly matters, we're all fucked. General, concrete subcontractor it's still the same shit sandwich. I was more than ready to go when the time came because I knew it was coming since the end of Febuary when the super took me into the trailer with my partner who was getting transferred with and told us to expect this right about now (mid to end of April). He spoke to me the at the barbecue and voiced again his displeasure at what he termed, "losing core people". Perhaps I should explain this one a bit, at least for my edification. In construction, competency is a minimum. Whether or not you fit in goes beyond that. For the general side being a white boy is a plus. On concrete, pretty much the opposite. Having family in the upper office will help you but not save you, though having a daddy whose a big time supeintendent will. Crawling under the right desk to suck some fat...well you know will carry you for quite awhile and can potentially set you up for life, but only if you crawl under the right desk...Any other desk might just leave you with two checks and some sore knees to boot. Though rest assured and I confirm this myself, all of the sons of superintendents are still working and are being promoted at their due rate. Sound kind of fucked up? Well that's the good part. My company is one of the better ones (aside from the nepotism). I'm about as pale as they come. I don't have any family in the industry and I don't crawl under desks (much to my detriment). I'm sick of Pabst Blue Ribbon, it tastes like piss. But it's the cheap beer I'm willing to drink (I stopped drinking malt liquour when I was 18). So that's about it, except for one tiny thing.

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Lockout

I was laid off on a Thursday. Our contract ended Saturday. The lock out started Monday. Now mind you it's not a total lockout, some contractors have signed a 120 day extension to keep talking. Talking about what you may wonder. Well it started with an eight dollar pay cut, which the union refused. It then moved on to a cut in out total package by a third and a freezing of payments into our health and welfare fund (our health insurance) as the contractors said that it was currently solvent and hence didn't need any additional funding. So out of our five Association of General Contractors (ie the big five contractors with whom we do most of our business) four and half walked (the half was a joint venture by one of the company, but as a joint venture counts as its own). Some have also severed their ties with the Laborers union. They were in the same boat as us but chose to sit with their thumbs up their asses until the bosses came down and told them, "that as of tomorrow we no longer have a contract with the laborers" period. While those fuckwits may take that kind of shit we don't. Every single contractor who walked has been hit with a petition for an NLRB election for union representation. One of the concrete contractors already walked and was also hit with an election. We won 46-26. Others have wised up and tried to thin out their ranks so that only company men will be left. The elections will take place in early June, but even if we win the election the contractors are only bound to one year until a new election. Don't even doubt for minute that we won't be doing this again and more come next year. Even it only gets as nasty as elections it will be good. This could turn real ugly, real fast. So here we stand. For our families, for our union, for our class.

The working class and the employing class have nothing in common...