I spent the past 25 minutes on Google running down some facts.
First, your pal's son is a member of Laborers International (not National Labor Union) Local No. 362 in McLean County, Ill.
I don't know what he makes an hour, but it ain't $35 an hour straight time.
Regular per-hour pay for a union highway worker (and member of the International Laborers ... same union your pal's son belongs to) in Louisville area in '99 was $15.35 an hour, according to union document I pulled off the Internet. In Toledo, a member of Laborers International Local 500 made $18.15 an hour in '99.
So $35 an hour for a "common laborer" and member of Bloomington, Ill, Local 362 just ain't right. (A journeyman steamfitter in New York City only makes $33 an hour, for crying out loud.)
I also question your statement that he was paid time-and-a-half or double time for working the Friday before holiday. That might be true if, for instance, Christmas fell on a Saturday and the contract specified Friday as the "day of holiday observance," but for a standard fixed Monday holiday like Memorial Day, I doubt if anyone in Local 362 earned any extra money for working the Friday before a Monday holiday.
The standard procedure is to be paid for the Monday holiday, but not actually work that day: Work four days, get paid for five.
Don't believe everything your pals at McDonald's tell you. |
