Wisconsin ’right-to-work’ critic will expand company in Minn

[frigidmagi]

Duluthnews Tribune

The owner of a Wisconsin company invited to move to Minnesota in protest of its new "right-to-work" law says he plans to at least expand in the Gopher State -- provided enough contracts come his way to support the business.

James Hoffman, owner of Black River Falls-based Hoffman Construction Co., which works mostly on highway construction projects, said his current plans are to more than double the size of his Lakeville office by the end of the year.

Hoffman said Monday night that the reason is twofold: he believes the right-to-work law will ultimately cost his company money, and he sees Minnesota’s proposal to increase transportation funding as offering greater business opportunities.

By the end of 2015, the Lakeville office would add at least another two salaried positions to the current two and add another 15 to 20 hourly positions to the current 10 to 12.

But the expansion would depend on being successful on competitive bids, Hoffman added.

Over the past year, the company has expanded more than 50 percent and added 200 workers. It now has 50 salaried and 300 hourly positions across Wisconsin and Minnesota, Hoffman said. Currently, 45 percent of Hoffman’s business comes from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, and 15 percent comes from the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

The Republican-led Wisconsin Legislature approved the fast-tracked right-to-work measure Friday, and Republican Gov. Scott Walker on Monday signed it into law. It prohibits organized labor from forcing all workers to pay union dues or fees.

In late February, Hoffman testified before the Wisconsin Legislature against the business-backed bill, saying it would create tension among his employees and would be an "unproductive distraction for our company."

On Monday, Hoffman said the law will make it more difficult to gain skilled workers, which he depends on when calculating productivity in his bids.

"If I don’t get as productive a worker, it will ultimately cost me more. ... In my opinion, there will be no savings to the owner, and no savings to the DOT in the long run," Hoffman said.

According to its website, Hoffman works with the International Union of Operating Engineers Locals 139 and 49, along with some Minnesota unions.

Last week, Minnesota state Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, called Wisconsin’s right-to-work measure "heavy-handed and wrong" and said it would hurt business owners who want to work with unions.

He invited two Wisconsin companies that had spoken out against the bill to come to Minnesota, and he offered to help them make the move. One of them was Hoffman.

Garofalo declined to comment on the news late Monday evening.

Many Minnesota Republicans support right-to-work legislation, and some GOP lawmakers pushed for a right-to-work amendment to Minnesota’s constitution in 2012. It died in committee.

[Josh]

Our unions are in pretty shit state, both from external and internal factors.

The thing about right to work is that I remember my family making an ill-fated attempt to move to Vegas at one point. They decided to see if they could get into a plumbing gig, and they were bluntly informed that the local only opened the books once a year, in August (and we got there in October) and then they only allowed in a few new members, pretty much all via nepotism.

I have a very strong aversion to constricting the labor supply, both as a business owner and a guy who spent near his entire prior career in one trade or another.

I also remember that in trucking, hatred of union shops was pretty much universal. Slow, inefficient, surly, and the king of "not my job" bullshit that pretty much guaranteed costing drivers time (which very directly translates into money in trucking, as well as precious lost sleep.)

So my ground level experience with unions has largely been utterly shit, which irks because I also know full well what kind of abysmal shit a completely unregulated business market in which employers have free hand brings.

I'm also not a fan of public sector unions.

All that said, Walker is a pissant and it also irks to see Republicans act like he's some big bold hero for kicking the dying remnants of the union organization in this country. The Dems walked on the unions years ago, making the final act official when they weaseled out of card check.

Card check isn't something I'm in favor of for obvious reasons, but the Dems know that the unions are less important in their grand scheme than the corp donors. From an institutional standpoint, they made the obvious decision, and outside of a few exceptions (longshoremen, prison/police/firefighter unions that have a unique position) the labor movement is pretty much toast in this country, and that's going to lead to a very surly proletariat over time with well-earned grievances.