The contractor decided to only higher non-union workers. The union offered, and was rejected. So, in labor union fashion, the union members lashed out. . . violently.
Suspects have yet to be identified, but investigators do not doubt the small Quaker building in Philadelphia was targeted because it is being built with non-union labor.
If union members were involved, the attack would be the second violent incident in Philadelphia this year related to the use of non-union construction workers.
The vandals used an acetylene torch, which requires a skilled operator who must wear a special mask and gloves, to ignite the cab of a large, mobile building crane, to shear off the steel bolts on nearly a dozen columns, and to hack halfway through at the base, as if someone were trying to cut down a tree.
The attack has been declared an arson.
The cost of the damage could run over $500,000.
This is not the first time E. Allen Reeves, a firm that maintains an open shop, with a history of hiring both union and non-union subcontractors, has had to tangle with union members over his hiring practices.
Several days before the attack, according to Reeves, representatives of several construction unions appeared at the site to discuss hiring their members. After being rejected, one representative from the ironworkers union "basically said to the superintendent that 'he would do what he had to do.' "
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Phila. police tie construction-site arson to union sabotage - Philadelphia Inquirer
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