I can't make stuff like this up - I'd be afraid of the backlash... But since it's true, here goes...
The Washington Post reports that unions are now outsourcing their picket lines - with temporary workers who are often from the homeless ranks. From the post article:
"The picketers marching in a circle in front of a downtown Washington office building
chanting about low wages do not seem fully focused on their message.
Many have arrived with large suitcases or bags holding their belongings, which they keep in sight. Several are smoking cigarettes. One works a crossword puzzle. Another bangs a tambourine, while several drum on large white buckets. Some of the men walking the line call out to passing women, "Hey, baby." A few picketers gyrate and dance while chanting: "What do we want? Fair wages. When do we want them? Now."
They're hired feet, or, as the union calls them, temporary workers, paid $8 an hour to picket. Many were recruited from homeless shelters or transitional houses. Several have recently been released from prison. Others are between jobs.
"It's about the cash," said Tina Shaw, 44, who lives in a House of Ruth women's shelter and has walked the line at various sites. "We're against low wages, but I'm here for the cash."
Carpenters locals across the country are outsourcing their picket lines, hiring the homeless, students, retirees and day laborers to get their message across. Larry Hujo, a spokesman for the Indiana-Kentucky Regional Council of Carpenters, calls it a "shift in the paradigm" of picketing.
Supporters of the practice consider it a creative tactic in an era of declining union membership and clout. But critics say the reliance on nonunion members -- who are paid $1 above minimum wage and receive no benefits -- diminishes the impact and undercuts a principle established over decades of union struggles."
This development is hard to get your head around. First up, I'm happy for the homeless workers, because this generally seems like a pretty good gig for a lot of them. On the other hand, the irony is deep - temp workers working for approximate minimum wage with no benefits to advance the situation of represented workers.
Shouldn't they use union labor for picket lines? Or can the UAW outsourcing picket lines reduce the overall auto industry cost structure and save Ford?
That's one of those dilemmas where the supercomputer running the problem simply blows up....
