New Haven Independent

Posted by: westvillecharlie | October 10, 2007 6:03 PM

Look where the unions have gotten the usa today, hardly any manufacturing jobs left, pensions that have bled once healthy companies and school systems dry. this is not a public project, so why can't the owners hire who they see fit?
These people are bullies.

Posted by: Underrock | October 10, 2007 6:30 PM

Interesting that Austin Street project is unionized. Though should not be a surprise given Giordano's history with NHPS and HANH and the CHFA tax credits and HANH Sec. 8 going into the project. I think, in fact, the project is subject to oversight from the Commission on Equal Opportunities.

Wintergreen, however, is a private development on land bought from a private party. They owe nothing to the City and nothing to the unions. Consider this picket in the light of a union picketing a non-union shop, not in the context of City sponsored development.

"Alabama", as I shall call the developer, exhibited for Paul the same kind of fly in, do the job, fly out, approach that he gave neighbors with concerns about the impact of construction on our lives. (Such as heavy equipment noise and vibration before 7am, and 18-wheel diesel trucks using residential sidestreets as staging areas.) In two multi-day efforts to contact Alabama, I got no call back. I never actually went and knocked on the trailer door -- kudos Paul.

To the people of New Haven and Connecticut, however, Capstone does owe obedience to laws and ordinances including wage and employment. Has the cash, no benefits, arrangement been verified? Are there complaints from active employees? Perhaps the Dept of Labor could accomplish more than the union.

Wintergreen is (very likely) just one more example of the prevelance of undocumented workers in our City. As a society, do we want "Illegals" paid $10 or $15 cash from which they support their families, here or back home, and with or without a City ID card? Or do we want "CEO Trainees" paid $13.33 plus benefits which we can be pretty sure gets spent in our local economy? I ask, ya'll answer.

Posted by: Oh please | October 10, 2007 9:33 PM

The carpenters' union in CT is run by a group of people who operate on lies, laziness, physical intimidation and deception to ensure that they as organizers have jobs.
These are the kind of people that will put their foot under a truck tire to make a claim against a company.
If you have any thought that this union is helping people, have a conversation with Ms. Conable...I assure you will be unimpressed.

Posted by: Stephen H | October 10, 2007 10:57 PM

I live a block away from the Wintergreen of Westville. So far they only have 6 units leased in the entire complex. I also hear from neighbors that the owner is having trouble paying bills and contractors.

It won't be long before it starts looking like "The Cage".

Posted by: Solidarity | October 10, 2007 11:22 PM

Don't blame the unions for lousey management and the the poor investment made in manufacturing. Don't blame the unions for the lousey job the government and politicians are doing to create a favorable atmosphere for business and labor (the two are not mutually exclusive of each other).

Unions are important for the wellbeing of our country. The decline of union membership has resulted in low wages and the decline of the middle class. Attacking unions is a old tactic by the wealth to justify their further consolidation of wealth and power. Sadly, some not so wealthy people are tricked by these erroneous claims and they themselves become the bullies, often times harming themselves and their neighbors.

One of the new poverties that is the result of globalization (as created by those trade agreesments), is the poverty of relationships. The more people are isolated the more powerless they are to transform oppressive structures and institutions. Unions are one form of mediating institutions in our society that are important for the common good.

However union leadership needs to be changed. Professional union organizers, college graduates, while laudable young people working for justice, often "tell" the workers what they need. These union organizers and supposed professional union leaders fail to develop the rank and file to be active, integral participants, and responsible in and for their union. In New Haven, we have one of the worse examples of top down union leadership with the Connecticut Center for a New Economy, aka CORD (Community Organized for Responsible Develop, most notable for their shameful lost to the Yale Cancer Center).

Inspite of a trend to professional union leadership, the poor development of rank and file leadership, I remain ever committed to unions, as for many generations, my family has benefited from having our bread winners part of a union.

Posted by: new haven | October 11, 2007 7:29 AM

Given the choice between hiring union or non unions, I would take non union any time.

Posted by: Paul | October 11, 2007 9:48 AM

Sure, go non-union and help keep real wages stagnant in this country, that's a brilliant plan.

Wealth distribution is as unequal as it was in the 1920s and you seriously want *less* organization and protection for working people? I guess the New Gilded Age is treating you just fine.

Posted by: Alvin Dailey | October 11, 2007 4:54 PM

Wait.

Should I prefer to hire someone who employs the third-world epithet "African" American, but who is probably 8 generations from any contact with Africa, and who would never get by in Gabon, or someone who is actually from the 3rd world?

Should I employ someone who is illegal, because it is ultimately "ethical" to contravene the law of the land, or someone who is legal, simply because of his skin color or "origin?"

Please tell me why we don't have an employment program on this site for Inuit-American carpenters who use native tools?

Posted by: JSJ | October 11, 2007 6:27 PM

Can New Haven really have it both ways? Can we provide a warm, welcoming environment for undocumented workers- while expecting employers to avoid the temptation of hiring them, paying low wages and providing no benefits? Even if you take away the union factor, the situation is still exploitative.

Posted by: Margaret Conable | October 12, 2007 10:15 AM

Yes, after talking with us several workers took their complaints to the CT Department of Labor, which is investigating. I'm sure they will find misclassification of employees as "subcontractors" (also known as tax and insurance fraud), unpaid overtime, and other substantial violations.