Temp worker hired as Fabcon strikebreaker ends up in emergency room

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Workday Minnesota

By Steve Share

SAVAGE - A temporary worker hired as a strikebreaker at Fabcon’s Savage manufacturing plant suffered burns from exposure to lime Monday and sought medical treatment in the emergency room at the Fairview University hospital.

Fabcon began bringing in strikebreakers Monday to cross picket lines established by members of Laborers Local 563, who went on strike April 5 after rejecting proposed wage cuts.

The temporary worker, Michael Martinco, reported that he was “wearing only tennis shoes with rubber slip-ons that were slightly ankle high” while shoveling wet concrete and standing in a six-inch deep mixture of water and concrete. “Since I was standing in a puddle deeper then my boots, the water was filling into my boots,” he said. “My feet started burning badly,” he wrote in a letter to Fabcon, documenting his experience.

Martinco notified his supervisor that he was in pain, he said, but said the supervisor “told me that lime burns ‘were no big deal.’”


Read more: http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_4437

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A photo supplied to the Minneapolis Labor Review shows the burns to Michael Martinco's feet.

Published late last night.

Previous stories on this strike in LBN: Striking laborers set rally for Thursday as Fabcon brings in strikebreakers: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4341291

House Speaker praises strikers for taking stand for fair wages: http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_4427

[mdmc]

1. solidarity

[POAS]

2. In my experience

this is typical corporate behavior. Screw the working man, we can get anybody off the street to do the job for less money!

Last time I was on strike the company had supervisors running the machines and in a week they were all broken down or out of tooling and nobody with the skills to repair or replace the tooling. Fortunately nobody got hurt but it could easily have happened.

[dotymed]

14. I just answered an e-mail ( from this board) from a non-union contractor.

I guess he inferred from one of my posts, that I was "dissing" the carpenters Union. I was not. I worked for 15+ years as a non-union carpenter. After joining, my life and that of my family, improved dramatically. Sorry no anti-union propaganda here. Sadly, in our present economy, I have been forced (before disability) to work alongside "temps." They were so unqualified and dangerous because of their lack of training. A non-union company can underbid a union company, but you get what you pay for. Every union carpenter in my state, goes through four years of apprenticeship, earns an associate degree and works on jobs 3/4 of the time, classroom instruction the other 1/4. They earn their money or get laid off. The competition is fierce because so many people will work for low wages and the non-Union companies exploit that. Our dress code includes steel toed work boots and many other safety precautions. The union workers are paid professionals who work much harder than most professions. They get it done right or ( i have) report contractors who put profit before safety. The way it should be....

[POAS]

17. The local I'm in (UAW) saved us from:

Massive increases in our health insurance premiums as well as cutbacks in coverage.

A 10% across the board wage cut on top of a 25% reduction in hours.

An unwarranted contract freeze for an extra year.

All this in a corporate division that never lost a dime in the recent downturn.

[Recursion]

3. Heh. The headline made me imagine a different scenario

Ah, for the good old days of beating the #(*$ out of scabs...

[Brickbat]

4. I was expecting that too!

Those were the days, my friend...

[Odin2005]

48. Scabs = Class Traitors. They deserve to have the shit beaten out of them.

[boppers]

50. Learn from history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead_Strike

Violence means the Union loses.

[boppers]

49. And Labor wonders why their roles are dropping?

Behaving like thugs is a great way to ensure greater checks on Union power, and more blind eyes turned to corporate abuses.

[girl gone mad]

52. Unless you work on Wall Street..

where behaving like a thug is rewarded and subsidized with trillions of taxpayer dollars.

[boppers]

54. Buying and selling stocks equates to lacerating skin?

I'm sorry, I think we may have a disconnect between:

"Thug: Using money to shore up weak financial divisions"

and

"Thug: Physically injuring other human beings with intimate violence"

[Threedifferentones]

56. Thug: exploiting others to benefit yourself.

Thugs are everywhere.

[Brickbat]

5. What? You mean a scab isn't going to know the safety regulations and equipment recommendations, and

when he whines about being hurt, his supervisor doesn't give a damn?

Well, imagine that.

[Daemonaquila]

15. Lime burns are "no big deal?"

How about dunking that supervisor in the mix...

It's a hard lesson, but I'm guessing this guy is never going to play the scab game again. He'll either get into another line of work, or join the union.

[Citizen Worker]

6. The fate of scabs

During a lockout many years ago one young scab lost three fingers on one hand while working a hydraulic press break. Another was crushed by a falling anchor. The problem, none of the old hands were around to teach them how to be safe, and supervision didn't give a damn.

[Brickbat]

7. I'm sure, though, that since he's a self-made man, he had himself all set up with insurance and

everything. Right? Or, you know, the company gave him some insurance out of the goodness of its heart.

You get it now, asshole? Any company that hires scabs doesn't give a damn about scabs. So get yourself right or go home.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

35. "Any company that hires scabs doesn't give a damn about scabs."

Like the old saying goes ... "If they'll steal WITH you, they'll steal FROM you"

[Brickbat]

36. So very, very true.

[No Elephants]

8. That headline sure could have been written differently. And should have been.

[guitar man]

9. Boo hoo

Scab will get no sympathy from me. :grr:


When I read the headline I thought one of them got his head busted crossing the picket line...that would have been fine too.

[SkyDaddy7]

10. Violence is the answer?

Then you can't cry like a little baby when the Tea Baggers are calling for violence...What comes around goes around!

[mbperrin]

11. So it's okay with you if a scab wants to kill your children and drink your

blood by taking away your livelihood?

Hmmm.

[joeglow3]

13. Illegal Immigrants did that to my father

He was a drywaller, the number 2 employer of illegal immigrants behind farming. Do you feel the same about that?

[Javaman]

16. When one willfully becomes a strike breaker, then they have to put up

with everything that goes along with it.

I do not advocate violence, but given our nations history regarding corporations doing everything they can to kill union workers in our past, retaliation against strike breakers comes as no surprise.

And in the end, I will always side with the union.

[mbperrin]

21. Hard to think how that could happen. I did drywall for over a decade

and nobody locally could touch our quality, and here in west Texas, there's plenty of competition.

But no, illegals are not scabs. Scabs know that they are undermining someone else's written contract and benefits in order to help the company break a union.

Illegals are just trying to make a living.

No one swam across the Rio Grande and took my teaching job last night, either.

[joeglow3]

29. That makes NO sense

"Illegals are just trying to make a living."

-But a "scab" really doesn't need to make a living and is just doing this to fuck with unions? You cannot honestly believe that.

"No one swam across the Rio Grande and took my teaching job last night, either."

No one said they did. Or, are your saying that since illegals don't equally effect EVERY profession, the problem doesn't exist for union laborers in fields they DO effect?

[mbperrin]

30. I'm saying a scab has other ways to make a living other than to help

break a union, a union he or she could join if they really wanted a job with decent pay and benefits.

On the other hand, I'm quite sure that most of the hysteria over illegals is greatly overblown, especially in the context of the whole economy.

[joeglow3]

31. Using your logic, illegals have no reason to break a union

They could enter plenty of other professions that are not unionized. Or, they could refuse to work for wages under the standard union wage.

[mbperrin]

34. Yes, exactly. Any problem with that?

That's how I see it.

[joeglow3]

40. That was my point

Illegals are just as bad as scabs and also depress wages.

[Nihil]

58. Heh ...

>> "Illegals are just trying to make a living."
> But a "scab" really doesn't need to make a living and is just doing
> this to fuck with unions? You cannot honestly believe that.

You've been doing an excellent job there to highlight the hypocrisy
of that poster ... well done!

:toast:

[boppers]

51. Obama wants to kill your children and drink your blood?

Sheer Teabaggery.

[guitar man]

18. Fuck a bunch of scabs

They go there to take a job that doesn't belong to them and get their heads cracked, too bad. How would you react if somebody were stealing from you?

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Bradical79]

27. I hate to say it

But you're right. In my abhorrence of violence I forgot my history. Unfortunately, murder, vandalism, and intimidation have all been pretty effective tools for unions for a long time, and even legally protected actions at times. I'm sorry I called you an idiot, you clearly aren't. Can't say I agree with your morality, but yeah, your reasoning still makes sense.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

57. Murder and intimidation work well for management, too

and keeps a lot of people from organizing.

Mostly intimidation, not so much murder on either side of the table these days.

[zogofzorkon]

19. No, violence never works.

Bending over w/o vaseline is what makes Unions strong, because Management rewards good behavior. Dressing well also helps.

[Bradical79]

20. Agree 100%

Can't say I feel much sympathy for a union worker if their answer is to beat the crap out of someone. If a union started condoning such things, they would lose all support from me. Brainless pathetic animals like that give union workers a bad name.

[mbperrin]

22. That puts you in good company with the Chinese government, as well

as the government of the former Soviet Union.

Okay to kill strikers, bad for strikers to call names.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvPHQb-acCE

[Bradical79]

25. Been to China

This aint China. Beating up people doesn't work there either. Though a violent revolution against capitalists did result in an oppressive authoritarian government.

[tburnsten]

37. Who said anything about killing strikers?

[mbperrin]

38. Anti-union governments and companies have been killing strikers for

centuries now.

Anyone aligning themselves with the anti-union movement must accept the methods of the anti-unionists, which includes murdering strikers.

Thanks for asking.

[tburnsten]

39. You understand that the union struggles of today

are not 1:1 the same as the struggles of one hundred years ago right? There are no corporations keeping their unionized workers in trenchtowns, refugee camp-like conditions, and violence has not been a major part of union vs non-union interactions for at least the last three decades right?

[mbperrin]

41. Sorry - you need to come to west Texas to find plenty of violence

in attempts to unionize parts of the oilfield. Good friend of mine had his back broken when he was thrown off the substructure of a rig by the company reps. This was in 1999.

Ask any roughneck or roustabout what they think about unions (ask away from the job out of earshot of anyone else), and they will tell you that talk like that will get you hurt.

Glad to hear your part of the world is more civilized.

[tburnsten]

42. Yeah, we have shipyard strikes up here from time to time

But to my knowledge (grew up in Bath, home of the greatest shipbuilders in the world) and to my knowledge there has never been any violence during any of the strikes that they have gone through.

Oil just seems to be an agar for trouble doesn't it?

[tburnsten]

43. Also sorry to hear about your friend,

I hope it hasn't prevented him from leading a normal life after the rehabiliation. When I was fifteen I was out in Utah at a wilderness program, a guy was climbing a cliff face against our staff members' instructions, fell off it, nearly crushed me with a small boulder and himself in the process, and broke one of his lumbar vertebrae when he landed.

He recovered well, to the best of my knowledge, but it was a terrible accident.

[teknomanzer]

44. Here is a good read for anyone who doubts you...

Take it all in... you all might gag on that next bottle of coke.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20010903/roston

I'm more than sure a good Google search will bring up many more examples of the brutality and violence perpetrated on union organizers the world over by corporations all of us probably purchase goods and services from on a daily basis.

[SkyDaddy7]

26. Thank-you!

I was beginning to wonder out of all the replies to my comment if there was actually a voice of reason out there! Thank-you!

[Bradical79]

28. Hmm...

Well, I agree with you from a moral stand point. I HOPE that violence isn't the answer, and generally don't feel it can accomplish much lasting in today's day and age. I think there are plenty of other legal avenues to gain public support and influence over our corporate overlords. But as I realized in another subthread, violence has been pretty effective at times (at least from what I now recall of history). I don't have to like it or accept it as a valid method today because it worked decades ago, but violence leading to improvements down the line is part of our history. And a bit inevitable when you get enough angry people together. I still would not support any union worker committing an act of violence again another human being today though, and I think they'd be less likely to get away with it in today's political climate (though I could be wrong).

[zogofzorkon]

32. Damn those brainless pathetic animals,

if they would only pull the load while we pull the profit.
Yes, their answer should be to work harder for less, just emulate the scab. That would be so much nicer for the big brained admirable bosses. Don't go causing any trouble now.

[devilgrrl]

33. What violence are speaking of? The scab was injured on the job. Gee, wonder why they're on Strike?

Doesn't sound like a safe work environment to me.

[NashVegas]

59. Scab Did This To Himself

As scabs tend to put their short term needs above all.

[zbdent]

12. good luck with the "workman's compensation" attempt ...

[dflprincess]

46. Minnesota has some fairly strict Worker's Comp laws

so he might be able to get compensation.

[mike_c]

45. scab....

:grr:

[Odin2005]

47. Serves the fucker right! Scabs are scum, I have NO sympathy for them. NONE!

[boppers]

55. No sympathy for workers?

Good luck with that.

[Love Bug]

60. Right now for every open job in Minnesota there are 8 applicants

This scab was just trying to pay his bills. Yet some here are expecting him to starve rather than break a strike. Why don't we put the blame where it belongs, like with the COMPANY that is not willing to negotiate with it's striking workers? Why are they on strike in the first place? Maybe we should look at that rather than pile on one lone worker who was injured.

[Omaha Steve]

53. My family knows violence on both sides of the picket line

I don't have time to write it up until tomorrow.

OS