To Union or Not to Union

I worked for a steel fabricator and erector for about a year (before I was politely asked to leave for reasons of which I am still unsure) who does the majority of their work in Philadelphia, New York City, and Atlantic City - all union towns. I once asked one of the old-timers at the company what would happen if we started erecting steel in one of these towns with non-union iron-workers. He looked at me like I just asked what would happen if the sun burnt out tomorrow. He replied, "You would not build a job non-union in Philadelphia."

I wonder if some thug named Joey would track you down and kill you? I'm certainly not going to find out. However, I am in a little bit of a quandary about a job in Philadelphia that I am bidding. The job is small so there is a chance that I could fly under the radar of the union, and honestly the chances of getting "taken care of" by the union is pretty slim. However, since this is a publicly advertised job, the chances of getting at least some picketers or something is relatively high given the number of union workers that are "on the bench". I've been advised to, "not worry about it".....gulp.

The other option of course is to hire a union contractor to do the job, which honestly isn't that bad of an idea, since the city has prevailing wages that must be paid to worker regardless of their union status. This is to ensure the competitiveness of the union. The union iron-workers that erected steel for me during my brief but eventful stint with the steel erector were good and certainly in the same league as any non-union iron-workers I've worked with.

The problem is that as a new company, subcontractors aren't jumping out of their chair in hopes of bidding one of my jobs. This is the disadvantage of not having a strong network of contacts in the area when starting a business. However, I must play the hand I am dealt.

I'm actually in favor of unions. Perhaps they push too hard at times, but if they were not there everything would be built by illegal immigrants whose bodies are disposed of in the nearest river after the job. This is a shame that human beings would do this just to make money, but it is unfortunately the case. A union provides a worker some security from fluctuations in the construction market that inevitably come along. If they are not working at the moment, they are still paid (I'm not sure if it is 100% or not) and they are given health and vacation benefits through the union instead of leaving it up to some stingy business owner that will probably just hire them on a temporary basis.

Unions absolutely give workers some security in their life so they can focus more on the task at hand and less about whether or not they will have a job tomorrow. As a construction manager I was constantly concerned about what was going to happen when we were finished the job I was working on and this absolutely affected my performance. I would ask where I'm going to go after this job, and they would skirt the question or make up a lie. This made me angry and anxious and it certainly didn't make me want to work harder for the organization. I eventually quit this company because they couldn't give me a straight answer on where my next job was going to be when we were nearly finished the one I was on. I decided to take one in the hand rather than something that may or may not be in the bush. Maybe I'll start a construction manager and project engineer union.

So for this small job I'm bidding, I'm hoping that I can find a union contractor, and if I can't, I may have to do some smooth talking to a picketer, but regardless, unions have their place and I've got no problem with them.

To Union or Not to Union