Not totally on topic, but related. This is an incident that happened to me yesterday that reinforces the idea that many of the public have that unions are totally self-serving, are feather-bedders, and have no sense of public opinion.
I had to get a plumber out to my house yeaterday to repair a problem with the hot water tap in the kitchen sink. As part of the process I had to turn off the main water inlet to the house. The plumber & I discovered we had a far worse problem then than the faulty kitchen tap - namely that the main inlet value started to leak once turned and appeared to be close to failing. The main inlet is 18 years old and never been turned off before. Should that valve break, the basement would immediately flood as there would no way to close off the city inlet line; short of turning off the city valve outside the house (which requires a special handle/key). In order to do this, in this town, the City Works dept must be called and they come out and do that. The independent plumber cannot turn off that valve on risk of fine; notwithstanding that it is a simple operation, takes 30 seconds, and every plumber has the same handle/key that the City uses. BUT, the City is a union-shop and they do not commit to any timeframe on their arrival plus they quit work prompltly at 4PM and will not take a job that may make them miss their 4PM quit time. The plumber called the City about 3:15 to get a City worker out to turn off the City valve so he could replace the main inlet valve in the basement. It was a serious problem as the plumber was no sure how long the inlet valve would last in it's leaky condition. There is a lot of water pressure behind that valve. One cannot call the Works ppl directly, not allowed by the Union, the Union has a dispatcher who contacts the workers. There is NO FEEDBACK to the client (the plumber I hired and am paying $85/hr for as he sits on his butt waiting for the City to come). After one hour, at well after 4PM, we together decided the City was not coming that day, and we waited long enough. The plumber used his key, turned off the City valve, fixed the main inlet problem and was gone within 30 mins after that. The City guy showed up as the plumber was leaving (nearly 2 hours after we called), and was pissed off that the plumber had "touched" the City valve. The plumber now figures he may get assessed the "fine" by the City for acting as he did.
So, I paid over a $100 in increased plumber fees (for the wait time trying to comply with the City rules), and the plumber has the City worker pissed off at him, plus he may get fined.
This is a prime case of feather-bedding in order for City workers to have a job to do, and a case of the union rules costing me money directly. Additionly, it reinforces the idea that the union is only out for itself, the public be damned.
Just an example.
