>the average unionized worker is not very kind: lazy, non-productive, selfish, self-important, over-paid, unfairly protected, de-humanized, and more.
I could not agree more. Unionized workers make my life hell anytime I'm in Vegas or Philly -- With Philly being an order of magnitude worse.
The first time I worked in Philly was a rage-inducing experience. We were forced to pay an "A/V" guy $40 an hour to sit in a room all day and do absolutely nothing. I set everything that needed setup the night before the conference, but because we were filming in one of 'their' rooms, we were legally obligated to hire a local guy. And since there was nothing for him to do, that fucker would show up in the morning with his laptop, sit down in a corner, and play fucking games all day.
For the full 5 days of shooting, we only asked him to do one thing -- one -- and that was to bring us a handheld recorder we left in one of the rooms. Could he? "No, I technically can't because it's the end of the day".
Though, over the years I've learned that sending them to a corner all day is ultimately the best option. The are lazy, unreliable, and FAR too technically incompetent to perform the work asked of them.
We are often tasked with recording entire conferences. For really large events, in the area of 25-30 concurrent sessions per hour, it is generally expected that out of the hundreds of final sessions, one or two will be lost due to gear failures or non-compliant speakers. 2 out of 400 is not bad. However, using local union help? That number balloons to unreasonable. We've at times lost upwards of 30% of the sessions slated to be recorded. Which of course makes us look incapable of doing our job, which affects repeat business. It sucks.
It's infuriating as a small business to be forced to hire people that will only damage our business. It's completely anti-competitive.
I could not agree more. Unionized workers make my life hell anytime I'm in Vegas or Philly -- With Philly being an order of magnitude worse.
The first time I worked in Philly was a rage-inducing experience. We were forced to pay an "A/V" guy $40 an hour to sit in a room all day and do absolutely nothing. I set everything that needed setup the night before the conference, but because we were filming in one of 'their' rooms, we were legally obligated to hire a local guy. And since there was nothing for him to do, that fucker would show up in the morning with his laptop, sit down in a corner, and play fucking games all day.
For the full 5 days of shooting, we only asked him to do one thing -- one -- and that was to bring us a handheld recorder we left in one of the rooms. Could he? "No, I technically can't because it's the end of the day".
Though, over the years I've learned that sending them to a corner all day is ultimately the best option. The are lazy, unreliable, and FAR too technically incompetent to perform the work asked of them.
We are often tasked with recording entire conferences. For really large events, in the area of 25-30 concurrent sessions per hour, it is generally expected that out of the hundreds of final sessions, one or two will be lost due to gear failures or non-compliant speakers. 2 out of 400 is not bad. However, using local union help? That number balloons to unreasonable. We've at times lost upwards of 30% of the sessions slated to be recorded. Which of course makes us look incapable of doing our job, which affects repeat business. It sucks.
It's infuriating as a small business to be forced to hire people that will only damage our business. It's completely anti-competitive.