How much sympathy would you have for a group of protesters if you knew they were actually local homeless people being paid to picket?
The picketers marching in a circle in front of a downtown Washington office building chanting about low wages do not seem fully focused on their message.
Many have arrived with large suitcases or bags holding their belongings, which they keep in sight. Several are smoking cigarettes. One works a crossword puzzle. Another bangs a tambourine, while several drum on large white buckets. Some of the men walking the line call out to passing women, “Hey, baby.” A few picketers gyrate and dance while chanting: “What do we want? Fair wages. When do we want them? Now.”
Although their placards identify the picketers as being with the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council of Carpenters, they are not union members.
They’re hired feet, or, as the union calls them, temporary workers, paid $8 an hour to picket. Many were recruited from homeless shelters or transitional houses. Several have recently been released from prison. Others are between jobs.
“It’s about the cash,” said Tina Shaw, 44, who lives in a House of Ruth women’s shelter and has walked the line at various sites. “We’re against low wages, but I’m here for the cash.”
Carpenters locals across the country are outsourcing their picket lines, hiring the homeless, students, retirees and day laborers to get their message across. Larry Hujo, a spokesman for the Indiana-Kentucky Regional Council of Carpenters, calls it a “shift in the paradigm” of picketing.
Political groups also are tapping into local homeless shelters for temps.
I remember when I was a kid in Illinois, we would drive by these huge manufacturing plants, and at the front gates were always union members picketing about something (usually wages and benefits). It was like it was their job to picket; they were always there, rain or shine. However, what made me laugh at them, and ultimately pay little or no attention to them, was the fact that they were all usually sitting down in lawn chairs, sometimes under a giant umbrella to shade them from the sun or rain, radio playing in the background, drinking beverages, playing cards, and letting their picket signs lean up against their chairs. I just couldn’t reconcile the fact that these guys were just sitting around all day doing nothing while complaining about not getting paid high enough wages, all the while living it up on fresh sandwiches and beverages, no doubt provided by the Union. There was no apparent anger or passion; just a bunch of guys who looked too bored to do anything like protest. I guess my total impression was that these guys didn’t seem to care enough about whatever it was they were mad about to even walk the picket line or chant any slogans, and if they didn’t really give a darn why should I?
Luckily, even some Union people realize the irony of all of this:
Supporters of the practice consider it a creative tactic in an era of declining union membership and clout. But critics say the reliance on nonunion members — who are paid $1 above minimum wage and receive no benefits — diminishes the impact and undercuts a principle established over decades of union struggles.
“If I was a member of the general public, and I asked someone picketing why they were there, and they said they don’t work for the union and they were just hired to stand there, that wouldn’t create a very positive impression on me, nor would it create a very sympathetic position,” said Wayne Ranick, spokesman for the United Steelworkers of America.
Union supporters, of course have their own ideas about why they are doing this. However, they are keeping that information to themselves as they evade interviews and requests for comment. However, one Union official said this:
Hujo said the Indiana-Kentucky council has been hiring homeless people, retirees and college students as picketers for about two years.
Carpenters unions in Indianapolis, Atlanta, Baltimore, Miami, San Diego and Columbus, Ohio, also hire picketers, including the homeless, largely because the union members are busy working and aren’t able to leave job sites, he said.
“People say it’s not normal,” Hujo said. “But this is a quality-of-life issue. This is not a union versus nonunion issue.”
So, let’s look at this one step at a time:
- Union wants businesses to hire more Union labor, so they decide to strike;
- However, when it is time to picket and protest, Union doesn’t have enough members to picket because they’re all working;
- Union membership has been declining for decades, yet they still have enough money to pay homeless people to picket for them.
Sounds to me like there is enough work to go around for everyone. So, if there is plenty of work to go around, why is the Union doing all of this? Easy: it wants to force everyone who works in certain trades, like drywall or other building jobs, to join the Union so it can deduct dues from more people to sustain itself perpetually. All Unions care about these days is sucking as much cash out of their members’ wallets to give to liberal politicians for election campaigns.
I have to admit, though, that I am a little surprised. I thought that Union people would be a lot more aggressive with the picketing, since the whole issue revolves around money.
