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New York, New York err… New York…. New York…..
- del.ico.us
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- Last edited: 10:52, Jul 13 2007
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Okay, okay, I’ll stop writing about New York soon - but I loved it so much! First I need to write one of those boring ‘and then’ posts before I forget what I did.
Due to the amount of stuff that I did in New York, I will have to be content with triggering my memories with the great whacking list at the end of this post; but I will still wax lyrical on a few things…
New York Unions
Meeting New Yorkers whilst staying at places with ‘international’ in the name is quite difficult - the first real New Yorker I met was in a pub in Brooklyn. I was told quite the story regarding unions.
I shall call him Alan (because I can’t remember his name) worked in the television production industry as a labourer or such role. He had lived all of his life in the Bronx, but happened to be drinking with his mate in Brooklyn, and was planning on moving to L.A. where it is much easier to get into the union. “Why?” I asked and his reply was twofold. Firstly the industry is bigger and younger in L.A. so it is easier to get into the union. Easier meaning, to get into the New York union required a: being vouched for by seven registered union members, b: completing an entrance exam at your own expense which costs USD$600 and most people fail on the first attempt, and finally c: passing an interview with a panel where if only one member vetoes, you are out.
The advantages of joining a union are huge. You can work for union registered businesses, there is medical insurance - a must in the U.S. - the pay rate is 1/4 again higher than for non-registered members, union businesses have exclusive contracts with corporations and government organisations at all levels. Non-union businesses in New York struggle to win contracts and make money, let alone non-union individuals trying to make their way. This immediately made me think ‘wait a minute, something’s not right with this picture’. In New Zealand (and Britain), corporations try and break the unions, why on earth would it be any different here.
The analogy Alan gave was about the rubbish collection union. A couple of years ago the union went on strike demanding better pay/conditions/etcetera. To break the strike the local authorities did what all good paymasters do and employed scabs. The first week the scabs came and got hospitalised by striking union members with baseball bats. Of course the scabs stopped work and because the unions are intrenched in all corridoors of power, the local authority had to cave. New York, based on this one anecdotal account and much reading of local papers, appears to have organised crime models for unions, corporations, governements and well, organised crime. This city is the Sopranos.
