525 Clinton Avenue Fallout: Rats and Findings of Fault
When a non-Union worker was killed in a scaffolding accident three weeks ago at 525 Clinton Avenue, it didn’t take long for the rat to come out to play. “Untrained and unskilled workers lead to an unsafe workplace, shoddy workmanship and a lower quality finished product,” reads the flyer handed to us by the Local…
When a non-Union worker was killed in a scaffolding accident three weeks ago at 525 Clinton Avenue, it didn’t take long for the rat to come out to play. “Untrained and unskilled workers lead to an unsafe workplace, shoddy workmanship and a lower quality finished product,” reads the flyer handed to us by the Local 79 organizer tending the rat from the comfort of his pick-up truck. Turns out the guy might have a point: DOB is announcing its findings today that, in addition to lacking a permit, the supported scaffold (i.e. one built from the ground up) was not designed to code; in addition, the scaffold company has yet to provide documentation showing that the workers who assembled the scaffold had the proper training. On a related note, DOB is announcing this morning a new initiative to focus on scaffold and sidewalk shed safety.
BREAKING: Worker Killed at 525 Clinton Avenue [Brownstoner] GMAP P*Shark
Development Watch: 525 Clinton Avenue Check-In [Brownstoner] DOB
Development Watch: 525 Clinton Avenue [Brownstoner]
525 Clinton Avenue Looking Good [Brownstoner]
525 Clinton Gets Its Glass On [Brownstoner]
Tower Rising at 525 Clinton Avenue [Brownstoner]
The age of Malinvestment. Keep building Condos!! Build build build!! Build places that no one can afford. Keep loaning money to people that can’t pay it back. Keep fraud going in our financial markets. Just keep the bullshit going.
When it blows up maybe, just maybe things can go back to normal.
The What
Someday this war is gonna end….
The only problem, 8:55, is that a lot of union members never see their pensions.
In response to 7:53 –
My carpenter dues are about $60 per month. For this, I get representation, steady employment, safety training, classes at the hall, over $40 per hour in wages (straight time) plus an annuity invested in a 401(k), a traditional pension, a supplemental pension, health and dental insurance and about 4 weeks vacation pay. My dues are more that justifiable – it’s a downright bargain! They run about $15 per week or 1.5 % of my take home pay.
As far as whether my union is obsolete? Since when is preserving the middle class obsolete?
And, as to your comment that my wages are padded by bogus costs – theyre padded by benefits, something every worker is entitled to and certainly not bogus.
Live Better…Work Union.
Unions are obsolete. They rip off the members with unjustifiable dues which get the workers nothing. Union wages, which are padded by bogus costs, artifically inflate the cost of production. Let the market determine the price, not the mob.
To the open-shop hater:
It was the windiest day in the past couple of years, and the wind could care less if you’re a card carrying member and pay your dues… wish you where on that rooftop that day…
What about the 2 firefighters who died at the Deuthche Bank building or the Trump Soho building??? those construction companies were full union.
It just shows that there’s an element of risk no matter the circumstances are. In construction, the odds are that there will be deaths at some point in time. It’s no different than driving a car.
Here’s hoping everyone gets hit with a massive fine: developer, general contractor, and sub-contractor alike. Accountability!
If non union workers were properly trained, properly compensated, and properly prepared with safety precautions, it would cost the same to hire them as union workers.
Of course sleazy developers aren’t going to offer them training, or protect their interests. It would be easier and probably cheaper to just go Union. But then they wouldn’t be sleazy.
The Fifth Avenue Committee uses non-union labor on their affordable housing sites.