Public employee union goes after boy scout

[osprey4]

Union troubled by Eagle Scout project in Allentown

In pursuit of an Eagle Scout badge, Kevin Anderson, 17, has toiled for more than 200 hours hours over several weeks to clear a walking path in an east Allentown park.

Nick Balzano, president of the local Service Employees International Union, told Allentown City Council Tuesday that the union is considering filing a grievance against the city for allowing Anderson to clear a 1,000-foot walking and biking path at Kimmets Lock Park.

Balzano said Saturday he isn't targeting Boy Scouts. But given the city's decision in July to lay off 39 SEIU members, Balzano said "there's to be no volunteers." No one except union members may pick up a hoe or shovel, plant a flower or clear a walking path.

You know, he's got a point. Think of all the stimulus money that could have been spent on this project!

[ShyguyXPC]

That's just messed up... the city needed to make cuts anyways, at least this way they got some extra work done for free. if they were supposed to have these employees do the work, the city would of probably just told them not even to bother with the jobs, lay them off anyways, and be in the same situation anyways, as far as employees out of work and cuts.

Greg Weitzel, head of the Parks and Recreation Department, which lost 17 full-time employees as a result of the layoffs and retirements, said the low staffing levels will require more outsourcing of labor and a greater reliance on volunteers.

Good luck on that, see how many volunteers they'll have if they know they'll be targeted for a grievance filing by the cities union... by them raising hell over this, they may be shooting themselves in the foot, by reducing the likely hood of volunteers and have to focus more on outsourcing than they have had to otherwise...

[Chuckiechan]

When I was a kid, (around 90 years ago), I spent a lot of time in the rice and agricultural industry.

My buddy and I got the idea of opening up a roadside fruit stand selling tomatos. We went into a picked field and did a "third picking*" back in the days when we produced "table tomatos"** in Marysville, CA.

Well the Del Monte representative came to our fruit stand and shut us down. "Your dad owns the land, but we own the crop and it violates the contract to sell those tomatos. You have to dump them and squash them."

Great.

So, he pulls a twenty dollar bill out of his wallet and says: "But since you are nice kids, I'm going to buy your tomatos if you promise not to do it anymore."

We agreed, and he paid us off and that was the end of our tomato industry. We actually enjoyed squashing them.

I'll always remember how thoughtful he was. It's lession that remained with me to this day - never shaft a kid trying to do the right thing.







*fields were usually picked twice by hand and then tilled under.
** Now they grow mostly for processed tomatos (tomato paste, catsup, etc.) since they are picked mechanically. Table tomatos mostly come from south America.