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According to Philly.com, the city has experienced a 20% increase in hotel bookings directly related to improved work rules at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
Record scratch - what?
Check out the numbers in the article. They're impressive.
It's also a mind blowing no-brainer the Pennsylvania Convention Center should have grasped way back when it opened in 1993. But politics and the mentality of residents have changed. The only thing that hasn't changed, it seems, are the tactics of the dying trade unions. And they're not dying because of public perception, they're suffocating themselves by refusing to acknowledge a new millennium...already 14 years old.
How effective are their weekly protests at the Convention Center? Those of us annoyed by their routined rhetoric are local, while the vast majority of convention attendees are not. Conventioneers are simply returning home with a funny story about some inflatable "Fat Cat" they saw in Philadelphia. Their presence has little to no barring on any conventions. Hell, they're even offering up some good music at 12th and Arch.
Lately they've been picketing Boxers, a new bar in the Gayborhood...at 10am. You know when customers and employees aren't at bars? At 10am. One passerby even commented on the inflatable rat, "I don't get it, are they calling themselves rats?"
They're cluelessness would be sad if they weren't trying to strangle development in the city. Protests at Goldtex Apartments at 12th and Pearl were so misguided that the developers, the Post Brothers, actually highjacked their rhetoric and used it as a marketing ploy. But those acting out were too bent on chasing their waking dream that they didn't get it.
Here's how lost they are: When I was taking pictures of some picketers at an apartment development near Race and Camac one day, a protestor mistook me for someone who gave a shit and said. "Look, dey got den damn Mexicans working up there, you know dey ain't local."
I didn't even know how to respond. Not because of the racist nature of his remark, but because the racist nature of his remark was about two layers deep. The workers he was pointing at were Chinese...in Chinatown. So I just muttered something about all the New Jersey license plates illegally parked next to him and walked away.
These are organizations so deeply indebted to their own dysfunctions that they can't even recognize the fact that they need guidance. Philadelphia's sidewalks are a mouse maze of pedestrians staring at their phones and listening to Taylor Swift. The 21st Century cares about a union protest only for as long as it takes to post it on Instagram.
The best thing the more rigid unions could do would be to hire a public relationship manager well versed in marketing organ slimming pills during Real Housewives marathons. Someone who understands that the only causes the modern world cares about are those with a brand and sexy spokespeople.
But they're lost, buried beneath rhetoric that applied in an era when politicians turned a blind eye to the illegal and violent efforts that got unscrupulous results. But the truth is, politicians were never on their side. Politicians are on the side of what wins elections. And in a new world where picket lines are irrelevant, politicians who join, lose. And the delusions that keep fueling these aging unions' tactics have turned them into a nonsensical circus, and that's exactly why they'll vanish.
The inflatable "Fat Cat" has become a regular fixture at the Pennsylvania Convention Center's 12th Street entrance. The Teamsters and Carpenters at the picket line have brandished posters claiming a "lockout," that they signed an agreement with the center. But that claim leaves out one fatal detail, that they didn't agree to the new terms until after the deadline.
"Buh-bye," said the center.
Their most recent protest, at least the unions' most prominent recent presence, was during this month's Veterans Wheelchair Games. A motorcade of large vans circled the block spouting worn rhetoric about diminished wages behind a clan of $20,000 Harley Davidsons. Others shouted from megaphones while many simply mobbed the sidewalks making it difficult for wheelchair bound veterans to enter the convention.
After the protest came to a close, a police escort led the motorcade along Race Street, through Chinatown towards the Ben Franklin Bridge, ferrying the "local" workers back to their homes in New Jersey.
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| Progress |
The irony and hypocrisy is mind numbing. But the message and tactics behind many of the trade unions in the tristate area has become so routine that the numbed minds of many Philadelphians brush it off as white noise.
Buildings continue to rise, businesses continue to open, many without union labor. "Crossing the picket line" has no significant meaning to a Center City swapping Baby Boomers for Generation X, even Millennials. They snap pictures of inflatable rats and the union members cheer, clueless that the photo winds up on Instagram hashtagged, "WTF?" New Philadelphians didn't forget about the union protests at MilkBoy and Goldtex, they never cared to begin with.
Given the disconnect between the local trade unions and their target audience, the inflatable rat has become a sign of progress. Both MilkBoy and Goldtex weathered the frustrations of daily protests, and both are now successful businesses. Boxers, a new sports bar opening in the Gayborhood is one of the most recent targets, specifically the Sheet Metal Worker's Union. The popular Manhattan and Brooklyn nightspot is opening its third location in Philadelphia and opted for market rate labor. Few outside the trades industries seem phased, and it hasn't impeded development.
Back in the day, City Hall turned a blind eye to some of the unions' more nefarious tactics. But increased surveillance, social media, and evolving popular opinion have put protesters in a place where they can't overstep their First Amendment rights. Even some politicians have denounced the unions' unscrupulous tactics where they manifest, or simply remain quiet on the subject if it serves their interest.
Meanwhile the media, once largely sensitive to the trade unions, hasn't shied away from stories about illegal union activity. In February, ten Ironworkers Local 401 members were arrested by the FBI and the local media aired their dirty laundry.
When your sole clique survives on whores to public opinion, never underestimate their willingness to turn in favor of that public opinion. And that is the exact problem with the trade unions' overall operation. It isn't just outdated, it sidesteps a community perplexed by their message, it refuses to engage with the developers who cut their checks, and it solely functions as a bully with friends in high places.
Without a slick public relations representative or a fresh new image, trades unions in Philadelphia are DOA, resigned to collect the crumbs from developers that didn't get the memo, or can afford the luxury of a workspace free of an inflatable rat. A rat increasingly synonymous with a better, newer Philadelphia.
Walking by the main entrance of Philadelphia's lavish convention center, one might wonder when it's scheduled to open. Its escalators stand idle and unused, its doors locked. During conventions, signs direct conventioneers to 12th and Arch.
When the state decided to expand the center there were more jeers than cheers, concerns that have proven themselves valid. Even before the expansion, the Pennsylvania Convention Center had developed a reputation amongst those responsible for touring expositions. It was expensive and its unions slow and difficult to work with.
The desolate Broad Street entrance, often lined with sleeping homeless is a symbol of the center's epic failure. The hotels its expansion promised never materialized. New restaurants and stores along Broad Street should have been the end result of larger conventions and more business, but the center's decline has caused little more than a few new surface parking spaces along Vine Street.
The reasons are endless. The state isn't particularly savvy when it comes to predicting the future. In fact, the paper pushers in Harrisburg and City Hall are perpetually a decade behind. Convention facilities are in decline in general. Most still serve a purpose, but in ten years or less, technology and telecommuting will render inner city convention spaces useless for business conventions. They'll be left hosting Flower Shows and old car exhibits. Considering the PCC could never recoup its nearly $1B price tag by 2024, the expansion was a shortsighted investment.
What's worse, PCC management didn't resolve its customer service issues before agreeing to expand. They just blindly grew. If a homeowner can't pay a mortgage, the bank doesn't give them a Home Depot gift card and tell them to add another bedroom. The PCC's entire drama has been an example of the absolute worst kind of business and government oversight since it began in the early 1990s. The city already had a convention space: Convention Hall. But the state gambled on a new facility, and when the cards hit 22, they threw more money at it like an addict in Atlantic City.
But it looks like those in charge have finally decided to go to rehab. The center has drafted a new labor contract, one that grants conventioneers more freedom to construct their own exhibits, use electric screwdrivers and step ladders, and request drug tests. It's sad that any of that seems unheard of, but the Jerseyvania Triangle is a hotbed of union "muscle." So much so, only four of the six unions employed at the PCC have agreed to the new rules. Carpenters Local 8 and Teamsters Local 107 have declined the new contract and will likely drag out the inflatable rat.
However, the resistance of the two holdouts may prove to be an ultimate baby step. If the center can weather a few months or protests, the long term outcome could be a step towards the PCC recouping part of its investment, and more importantly, it's reputation. The four unions that agreed to the new terms are more than enough to carry the load. If the center's line is firmly drawn, there's no reason to continue working with unions unwilling to recognize who's the boss.
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| We all know it was Mona. |
After decades of terrorizing any developer, private or pubic, who dare screw in a light bulb without consulting a union, the city has remained silent. Despite public opinion, the region's trade unions reign is formidable and elected officials have routinely allowed them to operate within their own unofficial City Hall.
The Feds have another opinion. After ironworkers allegedly torched a Quaker construction site last year - you read that right, Quaker - the FBI has arrested ten members of Local 401 including its leader Joseph Dougherty.
The media is having a field day with the group which apparently referred to itself as "the helpful union guys," or T.H.U.G.S. But don't let journalistic romance, and its readers' short attention spans fool you. This is huge. The arrests coincide with the completion of Post Brothers' Goldtex Apartments, which succeeded despite an absence of union labor and leaders unwilling to compromise.
Federal attention on Philadelphia's notoriously difficult unions could be promising to a slew of proposed projects which otherwise intended to deal with the demons of doing business here. While developers in New York and Chicago are often backed with the funds to face unions, Philadelphia and Rust Belt towns are left with sensible proposals at the mercy of union extortion.
If the Mafioso tactics often employed by unions, allegedly or otherwise, are reigned in by the Feds, cities like Philadelphia could enjoy the growth Southern and West Coast cities continue to see despite a lack of pharmaceuticals, universities, and Comcast. Just imagine a Philadelphia skyline that plays by the same rules as Atlanta.
A new Quaker Meeting House being developed on Mermaid Lane in Chestnut Hill was vandalized just before Christmas, and police are speculating the act of arson was a gift on behalf of union members who paid a confrontational visit to the site just days before.
Let's set aside the fact that this is a religious building. That makes it way too easy to garner sympathy. While it may be argued that the Quakers' ethics are in line with union principles, only common thugs are ethically in line with these principles. Protesting is one thing, but arsonists and vandals lack any integrity and in no way represent the principles that unions claim to possess.
Protest. Protest with purpose. If that doesn't work, pick up your dignity and move on.
I didn't torch the University of Virginia when I received the rejection letter. I didn't torch my landlord's house when he upped my rent. I didn't torch the Comcast Tower when I wasn't hired.
I moved on. People move on every day.
I'm not going to challenge the merits of unionization. It's far too divisive and books could be written debating both sides of their relevance. In fact, many have. When administered properly, unions serve a purpose. They keep teachers in our school and police on our streets.
What I'm challenging are the actions directed at the Quaker Meeting House and what these vandals intended to accomplish. It shouldn't need to be said, but apparently some people need to hear it: Developers don't want to hire members of organizations that represent arsonists and vandals.
Whether I was investing millions of dollars in an apartment complex or simply redoing my bathroom, if I was forced to hire the same vandals that torched my property, I would be physically ill every time I walked through the door.
If the union representing these criminals had any credibility, it's lost. This is gang behavior. United in attack, then scatter. While the media is doing a good job portraying these groups as the mobs that they are, the police can't prosecute an organization for the actions of its members, and the unions don't reprimand their members because they seemingly endorse it. They're like bad parents who expect civilized Philadelphia to accept the excuse, "boys will be boys."
For the time being this tactic continues to work in as much as they continue to get away with it. But it does little for the trade unions but destroy their goal, almost as if they've forgotten that goal altogether.
The Quaker construction site was undoubtedly insured. With the media attention this incident received, the community is certainly sending donations. If these vandals are looking for work, they just burned their own cause.
Ardmore's hot coffee joint is about to grace Washington Square and add a little excitement to a dreary block of Chestnut Street. The versatile music cafe, MilkBoy will serve coffee, drinks, and burgers.
Philadelphia Weekly has a nice editorial on MilkBoy's growing pains, as does the The Save Ardmore Coalition, as the Philadelphia's carpenters union protesters have been picketing their Ardmore location with banners reading "Milkboy Coffee Hurts our community". What they don't tell you is that union contractors demanded three times the price of the competitive, fair market builders. If you ask me, muscling small businesses into a cash strapped, cost prohibitive situation is what hurts our community.
Once this place opens, be sure to check it out. The giant, inflatable rat will make it really easy to find.
After getting over the initial, disturbing image brought up in the first line of Harold Brubaker's Inquirer article, "Main Line roofers say they are taking it on the chin from Amish competitors" (he really wrote those words), the questions that began to present themselves were, are Amish construction crews inconsiderate of their workers' well being, or are conventional contractors simply lazy and entitled. The answers probably lie somewhere in the middle and the clash in cultures amplify its newsworthiness.
While some call hiring Amish roofers "outsourcing," this isn't completely accurate. There is nothing wrong with shopping around and no one is sending their roof to India for repairs. One conventional contractor found a 38% difference in price between his bid and an Amish competitor. While he may not have the wiggle room to compete with the Amish, in the current economic climate many customers are not finding the wiggle room to keep a roof over their head.
Competition seems to be the name of the game anywhere in the United States except in the Jerseyvania Triangle where gangster style business practices have inadvertently led to the industry's own demise. Philadelphian's have forgotten that the free market also applies to construction and a surprisingly business savvy Amish community has reminded them.
I do however think that if Amish contractors continue to compete on the grid that certain necessary evils need to be addressed. For example, the Amish don't pay Social Security compensation for their employees because their Amish employees don't receive social security benefits. It's understandable that they would take advantage of the loop hole, but regardless of what benefits they choose to avoid, if they are to compete outside of a sheltered community, the playing field needs to be level.
But conventional contractors need to abide by the same rules. Instead of muscling Amish contractors into extorting their customers into spending more on less, customers should be muscling conventional contractors into learning a thing or two from their Amish competitors. Obviously consumers are tired of being ripped off.
The Amish show up on time, care about their work, and do more jobs in less time. True, they're not paying for a pool and don't have to pay a mortgage on a Main Line McMansion. But this is America, and that's the name of the game. The Amish aren't breaking any rules, and when the rules change they'll still be there to compete. Instead of complaining, conventional contractors need to get in and play the game.
