Thugs all over the place. ( Sarah Burris

just 40 percent union labor

Here's an interesting case study in what goes on behind stories constructing the image of the union thug. A Philadelphia labor dispute has drawn some media attention focusing on alleged violence by union members angry that a large construction project is being done withnon-union labor after the small number of union workers initially on the project pulled out in protest—a major departure in a city with lots of skilled union construction workers. But while the media focus has been on what union protesters are supposedly doing, Raging Chicken Press's Paul Williams, Jr. shows that's not all that's going on.

Matt and Mike Pestronk and their company, Post Brothers, have a history of pushing out "mostly Black, elderly, fixed-income, disabled" tenants on short notice. Now, at a site where they're transforming an old factory into an apartment building, the Pestronks have hired a major security force—to protect their project from union protesters, they claim, but, Williams reports, their idea of "security" has been more than a little aggressive:



Some examples of the security staff’s actions include: shouting at the demonstrators, flashing weapons, threatening and assaulting protesters and bystanders, and arguing with Police. I would like to highlight a few examples. A demonstrator was walking alongside the jobsite and one of the security guards started to shout at him. A police officer repeatedly told the guard to stop yelling at the passerby, but the guard refused to relent and was eventually arrested taken away in a police car for the verbal abuse. The second has to do with the personal bodyguard of the site Superintendent, Al McVicker. One day, Mr. McVicker was leaning on a work van that didn’t belong to any of the companies associated with the Goldtex site, when the operator of that particular vehicle, who was working in the adjacent building, asked McVicker to not lean on his company van. McVicker started to shout obscenities at the worker, who then proceeded to shout back. This is when McVicker’s bodyguard stepped in and laid his hands on the worker. The man pushed back on the guard in self-defense and the bodyguard proceeded to go after the worker. Police stepped in and gave the guard a written citation, because he took it upon himself to escalate the exchange to physical violence. This man attacked was not one of those protesting, he just wanted to do his work and was accosted for asking McVicker to not lean on his work van.

But, you know, violent union protesters!

A fair day's wage

State and local legislation

A ballot initiative that would put collective bargaining rights in the Michigan constitution took another step toward actually getting a vote when the Michigan Court of Appeals ordered the state Board of Canvassers to put it on the November ballot. But that's not the final word—opponents of the measure will be appealing to the state Supreme Court.

Miscellaneous