Are Labor Unions no longer necessary in today's globalized technology economy?
My union (Ironworkers) as well as others provide an apprenticeship where you get all of the required safety training and certificationsI went to school 3 nights a week for 4 years while workingWhen you become a journeyman, and are sent out on a job, you are qualified to do anything in the tradeIf you can't you are firedI can go on a job and be told change a cable on a 200 ton crane, welding on a bridge, connecting, tying rods, install curtain wall, or pre-cast, etcWe have osha 30 hour CPR scaffold erector certaerial lift cert rigging card TWIC card Welding certs in SMAW 1 4,5,6G, TIG, FluxcoreWould you want some hick off the street welding on the bridge you drive over, or some illegal installing the fire sprinklers in a high rise? Our accident rate is a fraction of the non-unionNon-union contractors bit at the same rate as union contractors, and pay 1/2 the wage, with no benefitsI have been on jobs where non-union were hired prior to us, and they were thrown off the job because every weld cracked! I saw a scab get his leg crushed trying to hook on a 2000lb beam.
