ABC - Full of Feline Feces
This entry was posted on 5/31/2006 9:07 AM and is filed under Building Trades.
The Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) had a press conference
outside of Huntington Town Hall to protest apprenticeship programs and
unions. Some of you may have seen the photo of a blow
up orange cat in Newsday or the L.I. Business News. ABC hates unions,
they are made up of small corner cutting contractors who are frustrated
that they cant make millions on big jobs because they are neither
equipped, educated or licensed to do so. Most legit contractors are
approved by the NYS DOL, certified by OSHA. They pay their sales tax,
they tax their labor, license themselves and their workers, they
protect their workers safety on job sites and usually they know their
employees by name. Legit good contractors close shop on the weekends,
they work hard during the week, they keep their job sites clean and in
order and they build Long Island safe. Basically, they build better,
they build safer, and they build union. Good employers who play by the
rules and do the right things should get public contracts. No matter
what the size. And why not? I wouldn't want my child stepping foot in a
school or my grandmother receiving care in a Nursing Home whose
electrical wiring was constricted by an unlicensed handy man. Its not
safe, and its not right.
ABC (the unlicensed handy man) is
frustrated that they can't compete with legit contractors. But I know a
way they can compete! Instead of spending thousands on hiring a
worker-hating failed political figure to do their public moaning and
press releases, maybe the handy men should spend a couple of bucks on
getting a NYS Approved Apprenticeship Program. Maybe pay their workers
a living wage....and here's a stretch; Give your workers a weekend off
and some safety training. ABC values its workers no greater than their
shovels, their roofing nails or their paint thinners. Workers to ABC
contractors are tools. No better, no less.
ABC is a stain on our
Society. They are an enemy to all that working people have worked and sometimes
died for. We should all be grateful that the bulk of their political
and social support only stems from a lousy press hit on Newsday's page A45.
If they want a Newsday photo, fine! But stay the hell out of my kids
school and my grandmothers nursing home!
