Couldn’t Make It Up: the Non-Union Picket Line

Michael Ezra at Harry’s Place has spotted a fabulous story in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal. A union in Washington DC, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council of Carpenters, is paying non-union members to picket a building in protest against work being carried out there by non-union workers. The non-union picketers are paid the minimum wage to chant, “Low Pay! Go Away!”

Some of the details in the story arre simply sensational:

“For a lot of our members, it’s really difficult to have them come out, either because of parking or something else,” explains Vincente Garcia, a union representative who is supervising the picketing.

So instead, the union hires unemployed people at the minimum wage—$8.25 an hour—to walk picket lines. Mr. Raye says he’s grateful for the work, even though he’s not sure why he’s doing it. “I could care less,” he says. “I am being paid to march around and sound off” …

While many big unions, including the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, frown on using non-members in picket lines, “we’re not at all ashamed,” says Jimmy Gibbs, director of special projects for the Southeastern Council. “We’re helping people who are in a difficult situation.”

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