-By Warner Todd Huston
Well, let’s see. There’s the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, elves… oh, and the myth of that says union labor is superior in quality to private labor.
That last one is probably the more pernicious myth because many are convinced that union myth is actually true. People grow out of belief in the Tooth Fairy, but unfortunately too many refuse to shed the absurdity of the superiority of union labor.
But, some people are coming out of their self induced stupor in Connecticut over the shoddy work that their tax dollars paid for on so many public projects.
On Feb. 27, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced he has sued 13 contractors who worked on the $50 million expansion of the York Correctional Institution in Niantic, the state’s only prison for women.
Whaaaat? But, aren’t state contracts handed out exclusively to union contractors?
Yes, Virginia, there is an indictment.
… it should be noted with the exception of work done at York by Naek Construction Co., these projects were the fruits of corner-cutting union labor.
Ooops. So much for the mythical status of “the union label,” eh?
The Attny Gen. was not too happy…
“This work was seriously substandard — ceilings and walls leaking water and cracked facades losing stone,” he said in his news release. “Slipshod design and construction doomed these buildings to deteriorate. These contractors shortchanged taxpayers and squandered scarce criminal-justice resources. I will fight vigorously to hold these companies accountable, forcing them to pay for repairs and related costs, probably in the range of more than $18 million.” He also is asking for civil penalties and for the defendants to reimburse the state for its litigation costs.
On Feb. 15, Mr. Blumenthal sued the 15 firms that worked on the $23 million UConn Law School Library. “Instead of a landmark law library, contractors left a structural mess and legal morass,” he said. “These companies did shoddy and substandard work, sticking the law school with a building riddled with leaks, cracks and defects. Far from lasting 100 years, this structure required massive repairs after barely a decade. The flaws were so fundamental and far-reaching that the building’s exterior must be rebuilt and its moisture protection system replaced. Contractors at every stage — design, construction, installation, inspection — incorporated or ignored obvious flaws, dooming the building to swift deterioration.” He is seeking more than $15 million, plus damages and other costs.
Well, their work might not have been so hot, but you can be SURE they had all the requisite smoke breaks, lunch breaks, break-breaks, mob side-work breaks, picketing breaks, dues embezzlement breaks and all that sort of stuff mandated by the unions.
So, look for that union label, will ya? Just don’t pull on t too hard because whatever it’s attached to will probably unravel on ya!
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, townhall.com, New Media Journal, Men’s News Daily and the New Media Alliance among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston
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