For the last 3 hours of the day, there was no water for the guys on the second tier of the job.

[midnight]

my husband is a union electrician. His union crew got hired to work for a local contractor who is anti union. They call the job "Code of excellence". They have a "3 strikes you are out" policy. (knowing full well that 250 guys sit the bench). They use this to their advantage. This week the heat index in Omaha has been over a 110-115 every day and this will continue through Friday. My husband is building a multi million dollar ball field with tax payer money while we are laying off teachers and policemen and taxing every thing we can. My husband is glad for the job, but yesterday, the contractor failed to get water to the second tier where my husband was working. They also refuse to buy carts so the electricians can carry their tools with them instead of running back and forth from the job box. So for the last 3 hours of the day, there was no water for the guys on the second tier of the job. Do you know who you tell when this happens??? and 250 guys sit the bench? No one. You keep your mouth shut and hope and pray you can drink enough water over night to stay hydrated. The climate has changed and clearly a worker is just a body.

The economy is stalled precisely because of a lack of jobs, medical and health care costs, POOR medical care and medical errors, with absolutely no recourse for middle america when the corporate world makes a mistake. It seems to me, that while your administration has put a bandaid on my gaping 10 inch surgical wound, you have done very little to treat the underlying problem that corporate America has too much control over our lives. We want to see you fight corporate America…not bloody the eye of the left wing liberal and then kick us to the curb calling us drug addicts if we complain.http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/64335

If there was ever an example of disconnect between those who have and those who don't this piece will clarify. And how Mr. Gibbs responds to the plight of those who do not have any voice, Drug Test them, in this matter harms the Obama administration. It's as callous and out of touch as Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity.....

[valerief]

1. Slavery is alive and well. WTF is OSHA? nt

[lillypaddle]

3. I agree

WTF is OSHA???? Can't someone make a call, at least anonymously?

[Enrique]

2. and imagine how it is for the non-union workers

if you're in a union, you can at least go to the steward and complain. Even if they say there's nothing we can do, at least there's someone looking out for you. If there's no union, who do you go to? HR?

[kiva]

4. The Hoover Dam was built during the Great Depression.

Men worked in 130 degree temperature against the canyon walls (115 ambient temperature) and workers, as well as their families living in squatters camps down the road, died from the heat.

The men were expected to work within tunnels with gas-powered equipment running - the fumes caused massive headaches and other ills for the workers. When the state of Nevada protested that this was illegal, they were told that this was a federal project and state law was overridden.

When the Wobblies tried to organize a strike, it was ruthlessly crushed.

The dam builders tolerate this because they thought the situation was fair or healthy, they did it because there were thousands of men who would take their place in a heartbeat.

So no, I'm not surprised that your husband and his co-unionists are expected to work under unsafe and unfriendly conditions - unhappy, but not surprised. Good luck to your husband and to all of us exploited by the current economic crisis to work is these situations.

[iamtechus]

5. My first job action

Your post brings back memories of my first union job and the first "job action" that I participated in.

It was in the 50s and I was 17 yrs old. I had lied about my age to get a job as a laborer on the missile sites being built in Kansas. The temperature was going over 100 every day at the time and the work was brutal but the pay was good.

We arrived at work one morning to find that there was no fresh water provided so our steward called a walk-out. We walked off the job and went home while our union negotiated a solution to the problem: I (me, the kid) was to start one hour early each day and drive a company pickup to town for fresh iced water for the day. I thought that was a hell of a deal ... for a couple of days.

Then the Teamsters filed a grievance because I, a laborer, was driving a truck. So, I went back to swinging a shovel and a Teamster got the job of fetching water daily.

It was then that I decided unions were definitely the way to go. You don't have to take shit from irresponsible employers. Incidentally, I retired last year from my last union job. I belonged to the Teamsters union.

[midnight]

6. Congratulations on your retirement. I hope you received

some good benefits.

[midnight]

7. Here is a follow up piece that explains the harm the

Mr. Gibbs brings to the Obama Administration with his comments:


Does anyone remember that the House reconvened today to help states pay for teachers, police, and firefighters today? Or that funds were appropriated for Medicaid assistance? Of course not, mostly because Robert Gibbs chose to indulge himself in a disrespectful rant full of the drama the White House claims to hate.

http://crooksandliars.com/

The rest of the article is good and I recommend reading it, but these two sentences sum it up nicely. America can do better than to kick those who are down and struggling.