Tags - Dave Thomas, High Desert Harley Davidson
Carpenters rsquo; union members are standing in front of High Desert Harley-Davidson in BoDo, handing out neon yellow flyers with grainy pictures of Kim Jong-Il, Fidel Castro, and Dave Thomas, the owner of the Treasure Valley Harley dealership.
ldquo;Which of these Dictators is helping drive down wages in Boise? rdquo; is the question posed in bold letters on the flyer.
ldquo;If you guessed Dave Thomas, owner of High Desert Harley Davidson then pat yourself on the back! rdquo; The flyer asks recipients to call Thomas. ldquo;Tell Dave Thomas to use a contractor that pays Standard wages and Benefits in the Boise area.
rdquo;
The Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters has been picketing the Harley clothing outlet in BoDo and the dealership on Chinden Boulevard for four weeks, said Peggy Myers, general sales manager.
High Desert is building a 54,000-square-foot dealership in Meridian on Interstate 84. One of the subcontractors for the project is American Wallcover, which is not a member of the union.
The union subcontractors put in a bid that was $32,000 higher than the bid High Desert chose, Myers said. ldquo;They want us to pay $32,000 to make them stop sitting on the sidewalk, rdquo; she said. ldquo;They rsquo;re basically trying to extort High Desert Harley, because we rsquo;re a big business.
rdquo;
The plumbing and steel subcontractors High Desert chose are union members, she said. ldquo;But they came in at a reasonable bid. rdquo;
Max Murphy, a representative of the carpenters union, said American Wallcover came in lower because it doesn rsquo;t pay a livable wage by union standards or offer health insurance.
ldquo;We don rsquo;t like to see the community and taxpayers pay for health insurance, rdquo; he said. ldquo;All this is going to do is create a race to the bottom. rdquo;
He compared the situation to buying a soccer uniform made by children chained to sewing machines.
Asked whether the flyers weren rsquo;t a bit inflammatory, he said, ldquo;I feel what he (Thomas) does is inflammatory. rdquo;
Only about 15 percent of carpentry contractors in the area are union members, Murphy said, but many other nonmembers pay the same wage and benefits as the unions.
Joseph Whelan, store manager at the BoDo outlet, said his sales have gone up since the carpenters began picketing.
ldquo;They rsquo;re twice what they were last month, rdquo; he said.
ldquo;A lot of people aren rsquo;t receptive to them, rdquo; he said of the union members outside. ldquo;People have come in here who weren rsquo;t going to and bought stuff just to piss them off.
It rsquo;s kind of strange. I think it rsquo;s an Idaho thing. rdquo;
Though the union members have been picketing for weeks, today was the first day they were using the Kim Jong-Il and Castro flyers, he said.
He looked at one and laughed. He pointed to the picture of Thomas, who has an outstretched arm. ldquo;He looks like a Nazi, rdquo; he laughed.
He said he couldn rsquo;t wait to show one to Thomas. ldquo;He rsquo;ll love it. rdquo;
The store was handing out its own flyers, which say that High Desert Harley-Davidson/Buell contributes hundreds of thousands of dollars to the community through its payroll and benefits, charitable donations, taxes and by bringing in out-of-state commerce.
They also state that 80 percent of the work on the new dealership is by union labor.
High Desert rsquo;s flyers state the union has no real proof of employee mismanagement at American Wallcover, and ask people to call Rob Robbins of the carpenters rsquo; union ldquo;and tell him his tactics devalue the purpose of unions and free speech for everyone in the United States. rdquo;
Rather than incur the wrath of "union thugs" I'd like to remain anonymous.
The union's tactics in this matter are utterly transparent...
and instructive. The comparison to "children chained to sewing machines" is hilarious..
.ridiculous!
Go, High Desert Harley!
Comment By Anonymous I find it telling that they compare a small business owner practicing free trade to notorious communist leaders. Isn't that one of the main tenets of democracy? Maybe they should look in the mirror.
Bully's.
Go Mr. Thomas!
!
Comment By John Thompson I thought we lived in America? These guys give unions a bad name.
Comment By anonymous I love the fact that sales have actually increased over the past couple of weeks. When the union idiots are done with their picketing shift they must go shopping.
News RSS