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"Lots of middle-aged folks now will have grown up with their only idea of the union as being the lazy teamster who does nothing all day except file grievances,

"Lots of middle-aged folks now will have grown up with their only idea of the union as being the lazy teamster who does nothing all day except file grievances, or the fabled electrician who won't plug in your power cord at a trade show because it's someone else's job." Or have had the actual experience of not being allowed to plug in your own electrical cord at a trade show and blaming in on the union - which is probably right. I'm not saying unions are all bad but in the US ones don't have a good track record. When the AFL-CIO asks for an exemption to the $15 minimum wage it doesn't help their image. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/12/los-angeles-15-dollar-minimum-wage-unions https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/12/los-angeles-...

Frondo 10y ago
Yeah, I dunno. I've done a ton of trade shows and never had that experience. There's the power strip, go nuts, that's how it's always been for me. But I've heard about that rigid union electrician since I was a teenager (and wandered, starry-eyed, around my first trade show). 20+ years later, the story never matched up with reality for me. But yeah, American unions often have a lousy track record. Better than nothing, though. I wish they'd make a comeback.
santaclaus 10y ago
> Or have had the actual experience of not being allowed to plug in your own electrical cord at a trade show and blaming in on the union - which is probably right. I'm not saying unions are all bad but in the US ones don't have a good track record. While in grad school, the heater in our lab was out during a cold-ass New York winter. We put in work requests for weeks, and no repairs were ever made. A fellow grad student finally got fed up, looked up the plans to the heater online, and figured out how to fix it on his own. Months later (it is spring time now) someone from facilities shows up, goes into a fit that someone non-union fixed the heater, and the fellow grad student got into some shit from the department and the deans office. Yes, this is anecdotal, but negative interactions with unions are a real thing. Edit: Also, the most vocal opponent of the smoking ban on campus was from one of the service worker unions.
- jackpirate 10y ago
  There are very real safety/regulatory/liability issues with having random grad students performing electric repairs. My guess is that this is the actual problem from the facility manager's perspective, and you (or someone in your chain of communication) are misattributing it to a union problem. Of course, it's inexcusable for repair work to take so long.

Frondo 10y ago

Yeah, I dunno. I've done a ton of trade shows and never had that experience. There's the power strip, go nuts, that's how it's always been for me. But I've heard about that rigid union electrician since I was a teenager (and wandered, starry-eyed, around my first trade show). 20+ years later, the story never matched up with reality for me. But yeah, American unions often have a lousy track record. Better than nothing, though. I wish they'd make a comeback.

santaclaus 10y ago

> Or have had the actual experience of not being allowed to plug in your own electrical cord at a trade show and blaming in on the union - which is probably right. I'm not saying unions are all bad but in the US ones don't have a good track record. While in grad school, the heater in our lab was out during a cold-ass New York winter. We put in work requests for weeks, and no repairs were ever made. A fellow grad student finally got fed up, looked up the plans to the heater online, and figured out how to fix it on his own. Months later (it is spring time now) someone from facilities shows up, goes into a fit that someone non-union fixed the heater, and the fellow grad student got into some shit from the department and the deans office. Yes, this is anecdotal, but negative interactions with unions are a real thing. Edit: Also, the most vocal opponent of the smoking ban on campus was from one of the service worker unions.

jackpirate 10y ago
There are very real safety/regulatory/liability issues with having random grad students performing electric repairs. My guess is that this is the actual problem from the facility manager's perspective, and you (or someone in your chain of communication) are misattributing it to a union problem. Of course, it's inexcusable for repair work to take so long.