Buffum's

I guess it's time for me to continue... My last story was all about the project in Connecticut and I still have years and years of memories.

I believe it was about a year after the finish of the Connecticut job when I received an invitation from my boss to run a similar project in New Jersey. The project was going to be a new Buffum's department store in Edison, New Jersey.

Why not? I had never been to New Jersey before and I knew it was close enough to New York City for me to make a weekend trip there if I wanted to. So I agreed and we began to make plans and load up gang boxes with the equipment needed.

After all was packed and on it's way, I boarded a plane for a long trip to Newark. And when I arrived I found that New Jersey was covered in snow. Great! So the first thing I had to do was to find a hotel and then, second, go to New Brunswick and the Sears store to stock up on winter clothing.

The next day I was dressed for the weather and made an appearance at the local Carpenter's Union hall to register as a "traveler" and to request some men for the job. This was an eye opener for me.

The Business Agent (BA) was a diamond ring wearing tough guy named Eddie. He told me that it would cost me 10 bucks, cash...per month. OK. But then he took my money and slid it into the front pocket of his pants and didn't offer any receipt. I then asked about the availability of skilled metal framers; his eply was, "My men can do... anything." Now I knew what I was facing. And to prove it, he sent me my first man on the job, a millwright. A 65 year old millwright.

Being the first man hired gives this man a certain privilege; he becomes the "shop steward" and must be the last man fired. This was my second experience with corrupt union officials and it would turn out to be the worst. Power always corrupts, but in New Jersey it became an art form.

Part of that art... it turned out that Eddie loved to play pinochle; high dollar pinochle and he needed pocket money for that, so he kept almost 1,500 men on the books as "travelers" and a few hundred men were locals, despite the fact that most of the "travelers" had lived in the area for years. Most of my crew were looking forward to the day when Eddie would allow them to join the local. Let's see, 1,500 x $10 a month...pretty good money!