Headline o' the month (O'ahu): "Cement strike positions harden"

[KamaAina]

Couldn't make this stuff up if I tried...

http://starbulletin.com/2004/02/08/news/index1.html

Whoever wrote that one should immediately apply for work at the New York Daily News (never the Murdoch-owned Post!). "Cement". "Harden". Get it?

Of note here: This is the same Teamsters local that shut down the island's bus system for one whole month last fall. That one finally ended shortly after Teamsters regional VP Jim Santangelo came to town.

Guess what? Santangelo's back in town.

http://starbulletin.com/2004/02/09/news/index1.html

Teamsters attorney Michael Chambrella said Jim Santangelo, vice president of the union's Western region, attended Saturday's negotiations to provide "moral support." Santangelo also came to the islands last year, just days before the month-long city bus workers strike was resolved.

Gee, I wish Mr. Santangelo had gotten here this quickly last fall. He did an outstanding job of cleaning up the mess that Local 996 head Mel Kahele had made of the situation. Why do I get the feeling that the aggrieved parties here (homebuilders and the University of Hawai'i, which is building a new medical school) are perceived -- by all parties, labor and government alike -- as being much more important than us miserable peons who ride the buses?

Oh, and why exactly are unions such a good idea, again?

Hawaiian Cement Vice President Michael Coad has said his employees make $67,000 to $116,000 on average annually, depending on their seniority. The company's striking workers are mixer truck drivers and quarry workers, he said.

Some of these guys are thus making three times what a certain cubicle rat makes. Imagine -- a living wage, under the Bush* regime, no less! I don't suppose it's possible to organize a nonprofit with about 30 employees statedwide, though... (sigh)

[Rainbowreflect]

1. I love those bad pun headlines.

We have a small town in Nebraska named Colin. One day there was a great headline "Gas leak in Colin". I bet the reporters loved that one.

[cybildisobedience]

2. saw a cute one over the weekend:

It had to do with the Atkins diet:
"You don't bring me flours anymore."

Of course, it doesn't top my all-time favorite, written by a NY Times editor about a botanist:
"With fronds like these, who needs anemones?"