Rats!

[Gambi80]

Saw this the other day in Ottawa, IL. It's the Laborer's Union Local out protesting the use of 'scab' labor on work being done at a veternary clinic there. I saw it and couldn't help but laugh and when I look at the picture I took, it's even funnier. Coinciding with this giant rat, they've got a former taxi with 'rat patrol' painted on it. Quite comical.

[Mike]

Rob,......i'm saying nothing, I repeat, nothing.

mike

[Rob]

That "Rat Patrol" taxi has been around the Peoria area many times through the years. Always in support of some union feeling it is being unfairly treated.

Rob

[RowdyRebel]

They had one of those down here...but a big ugly yellow inflatable rat. The unions around here are usually holding signs saying whatever contractor has the job isn't paying "union" wages.

I'm always tempted to stop and tell the lazy F'ers that if they were ACTUALLY worth what they THOUGHT they were worth, they'd be the one's working....but they aren't, so they get to sit out here looking stupid & going broke while those other guys work to take care of their families.

I was working one job that had them picketers (they didn't have the rat, though). The first day, they were off out of the way...so it really wasn't any big deal. The next day, though, they were right there on the corner in the way...so that's where I walked the dog while I was being loaded. I was HOPING the dog would drop a big'ol stinky deuce, but no luck. Anyway, the second time in there, one of the union thugs stood up and stepped towards me and said "I would appreciate it if you didn't walk you dog here. There's plenty of other grassy areas around."

I told him "Yeah, and I'm sure these guys would appreciate it if you sat your lazy asses elsewhere, too. This grassy area is closest to my truck, and this is where I'm walking him."

There was a brief stand-off before I shrugged, laughed at him, and he sat back down in his chair.

By the time I got back, they were sitting in their cars across the street.

[Underdog]

This is a big reason why I work for myself. I don't sit around waiting for anything to be handed to me. If I want something, I work a bit harder to achieve that goal. If these guys put as much effort into their jobs as they do protesting, then they might realize the rewards they expect.

Gregg

[ThaddeusW]

Unions were created to protect workers who were paid slave wages and forced to work in unsafe conditions for long hours. Then labor laws, OSHA and minimum wage laws pretty much made unions obsolete. Today they serve to foster laziness, protect incompetence and drain government or private companies of money by paying out ludicrous pensions for doing absolutely nothing.

My mother is friends with a couple who taught in New York City public schools. One was a principal and the other a teacher. Their combined pension is over $120,000 per year! So until they die they are going to be paid well over 2 million dollars for doing nothing. And everyone wonders why the public school system and other city agencies are broke. Pensions are not anywhere nearly as high today but plenty of people are still receiving tier one and two pensions which cost agencies hundreds of millions a year to pay.

Many people don't want to work until they day they die. But you have to survive for yourself, pensions are a terrible crutch bought about by obsolete unions. My mothers father worked until lung cancer took him and my fathers father worked until he had his second stroke! We have two smaller commercial buildings and renting them will be my mothers pension. They were bought and paid for through hard work and now they will provide us with income from rentals. My mother can retire and enjoy her life using rental income, not someone else's. That is the proper way to build your future, investing in property that can bring an income into your family. A pension endes when you die. Buy property can be passed along to children who can benefit and possibly expand and build a larger fortune.

[Rob]

Unions were created to protect workers who were paid slave wages and forced to work in unsafe conditions for long hours. Then labor laws, OSHA and minimum wage laws pretty much made unions obsolete. Today they serve to foster laziness, protect incompetence and drain government or private companies of money by paying out ludicrous pensions for doing absolutely nothing.

My mother is friends with a couple who taught in New York City public schools. One was a principal and the other a teacher. Their combined pension is over $120,000 per year! So until they die they are going to be paid well over 2 million dollars for doing nothing. And everyone wonders why the public school system and other city agencies are broke. Pensions are not anywhere nearly as high today but plenty of people are still receiving tier one and two pensions which cost agencies hundreds of millions a year to pay.

Many people don't want to work until they day they die. But you have to survive for yourself, pensions are a terrible crutch bought about by obsolete unions. My mothers father worked until lung cancer took him and my fathers father worked until he had his second stroke! We have two smaller commercial buildings and renting them will be my mothers pension. They were bought and paid for through hard work and now they will provide us with income from rentals. My mother can retire and enjoy her life using rental income, not someone else's. That is the proper way to build your future, investing in property that can bring an income into your family. A pension endes when you die. Buy property can be passed along to children who can benefit and possibly expand and build a larger fortune.

Yup, best I can tell they quite making real estate a long time ago. Maybe that's why is costs so much. This is why I've kept my building. When I cease to exist on mother earth, the balance of the family will be taken care of. This of course negates the million dollar insurance policy with double indemnity for accidental death my wife has on my dumb ass.........

Rob