Labor Dustup in Midtown Manhattan

A dispute between union and non-union workers at a hotel construction site on 48th St. and 8th Ave. in Manhattan got heated yesterday afternoon when fifty members of local unions appeared to protest the contractor's use of non-union labor. The Daily News reports that a non-union worker driving a cement mixer backed into a group of the protestors, lightly injuring a few, although the article has a picture of an amputee sprawled on the street with his prosthetic leg standing nearby.

Dozens of cops swarmed to the scene in order to prevent the dispute from getting more out of hand. In the confusion, one pro-union protestor allegedly was trying to puncture the tires of the cement mixer with an ice pick, but he ran off before the cops could arrest him. The News quotes a woman from Georgia who saw the whole thing and thought the truck incident was unintentional, but was still shocked: "It happened right in the middle of the crosswalk."

Seven union and non-union workers were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing governmental administration. The union protestors are arguing that the site's contractor is cutting corners by hiring non-union laborers at the expense of safety.

(59 on 59, by edEx at flickr)

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By Dave Hogarty in News on June 30, 2007 10:50 AM

Comments [rss]

ed_Extinct

dave!

thanks for publishing the photo!

guest

How is protecting employees rights which were passed by the U.S. goverment and providing a safe place to work bad for people? Not to mention having the ability to bargain a contract which provides Benefits and a Pension.Unions are the only answer to Coporate power getting out of control. Corporations spend billions bashing unions every year because they no if workers join unions they can't get away with any non-sense. Local management on my job just lost there pensions and benefits from a coporation that pulls in 88 billion a year. How is that fair? Maybe they should replace them with illegals?

galvo

unions are good, safety is important.

you non working stiffs don't realize how little one gets paid if they had a serious injury from workers comp, it is nothing compared to regular liability and law suits.

as a employee if you can hurt on the job even if it is due to the company negligence , even if th company was notified of the hazard, you get squat. you can sue your employer.

with a union bargained disability benefits you stand a chance to survive .

this country needs more unions,

doctors should get unionized to stop the outsourcing of the radiologist work .

mocanlagunas

I have a good little lefty hat, but that doesn't mean I agree with everything a union says or does is ok ("union thuggery" for example)

guest

I don't care if they're right or left union leaning but I won't accept thuggish bullying behavior and that's what this was.

that and they're white trash, not white trash in whitey but white trash as in white trash.

threetoedsloth

Holy cats, everyone around here wears their good little lefty hats right up until they hear the word "union," and then they suddenly turn into a big pile of fascists!

guest

i passed by those rats.... i mean hard working union protestors yesterday.

shame they are one of the biggest reasons new housing is hard build affordably these days.

guest

You get these type of Union white trash together and this is what happens.

no news here.

mocanlagunas

I'm fairly sure that the union people stood behind the truck on purpose, that's why nothing else happened as Peter says...

And the stunt with the icepick and the tires, please! What morons!

Spirit of 76

Union thuggery. So what else is new?

Peter

Unions have gotten soft. A few "minor injuries," so lightweight. A few decades ago, a scrap like this would've kept the coroner's office busy for days.