[AT] Pretty snowy, for southwestern Ohio

charliehill charliehill at embarqmail.com
Fri Jan 30 06:53:16 PST 2009


Farmer,  that problem with workers is not exclusive to your area.  For many 
years now the construction industry has depended on tough ole boys with 
personal problems.
They are the only ones that will do that sort of hard, sometimes dangerous, 
work now-a-days.    Well in recent years the folks that let the contracts 
(gov't and industry) have started putting restrictions on who we can hire. 
It started with drug testing, a good thing in my opinion but it knocks out a 
large percentage of construction workers.  Now they have gone to criminal 
background checks so a guy that got in a bar fight 5 years ago can't enter a 
jobsite any more.  That knocks out probably half of the construction workers 
around here.

We do some work inside the state ports.  Recently the Dept of Homeland 
Security started requiring everyone who enters a  port facility without an 
escort to have a TWIC card.  That's a Transportation Worker Identification 
Credential.  It cost $132.50 to get one.  It requires a complete criminal 
background check and recording of all 10 finger prints and a photo ID on a 
"biometric" ID card.  The card is good for 5 years.  It was designed for 
truck drivers but is being imposed on construction workers, longshoremen, 
vendors, UPS and FEDEX people, Telephone workers, etc.  They are even 
requiring it for employees of companies that have a barge slip at their 
plant (that makes them a port in the gov't eyes).  I'm not saying it's a bad 
thing considering the times but it sure is not without both finacial and 
personal expense.

 I know some rough ole boys that do a great job on a construction project 
but just can't handle their personal lives.  Now they can't work at the only 
thing they are good at.  I talked to a guy early this week that has welded 
for me on and off over the years.  He got in a fight several years back with 
a guy twice his size and pulled a knife on the guy and cut him.  He got 
charged and convicted.   Now a decade or more later he suddenly can't work 
because of his criminal background.  He's just one of many.  Most of them 
will probably turn to stealing and selling drugs now.  I'm not defending 
them.  They did wrong.  It sure does make it hard to hire folks willing to 
hang iron 50 or 100 feet in the air in 30 deg weather or crawl inside an 
acid tank and weld for 10 hours or sandblast the inside of a sewer plant.

Charlie





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Indiana Robinson" <robinson46176 at gmail.com>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Friday, January 30, 2009 7:35 AM
Subject: Re: [AT] Pretty snowy, for southwestern Ohio


> On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 9:55 PM,  <Edchainsaw at aol.com> wrote:
>> here south  of  Terre Haute---   we had 12in of  snow...  most  here 
>> since
>> 78...     :)     Ikinda like it.
>>
> ==============================
>
>
>
> The snow here looks better this morning... Son Scott brought a big 4
> wheel drive backhoe with him when he came home last night and cleared
> his drive, his father-in-law's (lives a mile south of us) drive and my
> whole drive and barn lot.
> I forget what kind of hoe it was but I think that one was probably the
> Deere since that is the one he likes best. It did have a tight cab and
> a good heater. He said he spent most of Wednesday in it moving snow at
> his current job site just so they could keep working.
> The company does a lot of commercial trenching, underground boring and
> pipe bursting. Scott's crew spends most of their time installing main
> "backbones" in subdivisions under contract with Indianapolis Power and
> Light. Surprisingly they are still quite busy. They spent a lot of
> time in 2008 at the new terminal site at Indianapolis International
> Airport.
> It seems a little strange during these times that are tough for a lot
> of people that one of their biggest problems is finding workers that,
> one, will show up for work, and two, can pass a drug test...
>
>
> -- 
> --
> "farmer"
>
> "Good clean muck never hurt nobody!!!"
> Morris Moulterd
>
>
> Hay and Straw Exchange (Buy it, sell it and trade it.)
> http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/HayandStrawExchange
>
>
> Francis Robinson
> Central Indiana USA
> robinson46176 at gmail.com
> _______________________________________________
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