Did hiring scabs contribute to explosions in Massachusetts?

[Generic Other]

I have been hearing from locals (my relatives) that the gas company in Lowell was on lockout and using management and scabs to keep the grid running.

Anyone heard anything about this?

"National Grid, which is using management and replacement workers to try to fill the holes left by shutting out the regular employees."

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/economy/national-grid-lockout-of-1200-workers-drags-on/

Perhaps this is why management should not shut out the workers who know what they are doing to save a buck.

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. Management in most cases will always opt for shoddy work if they think

the end result is cheaper.

If killing passengers in unfit airplanes is cheaper than maintaining them, because there is no longer TORT cases, for instance, then they will opt to kill more of us. Basic capitalism.

When you allow a system that sends 90% of the profits to a handful of people at the top you will have horrific outcomes.

if this was a utility, that is really scary

[Generic Other]

3. At least it makes more sense how it could have happened

Cutting corners and it shows. They really don't care about us, do they?

[Atticus]

2. How's that old saying go? "You get what you pay for". Any money saved by using

scabs will pale beside the civil damages they will be paying to all those who were injured or whose property was damaged or destroyed.

Union labor remains the biggest bargain over the long haul. "If you don't have a seat at the table, you're probably on the menu."

[Generic Other]

4. You got it

The houses I saw were substantial and no doubt expensive real estate. Paying the workers a decent wage was way cheaper.

[babylonsister]

5. Charles Pierce blames it on the failing infrastructure

as well as mentioning the labor dispute.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a23128715/massachusetts-explosions-lawrence-andover-north-andover/

The Massachusetts Explosions Are a Grim Reminder That Our Infrastructure Is Failing

[brush]

7. The repugs blocked Obama's infrastructure proposals for 8 years and trump and the rest of the repugs

are only interested in tax cuts for the rich and helping trump dodge Mueller. Infrastructure is nowhere on their minds.

[babylonsister]

9. This we know. Now, if someone

would loudly and vociferously point that out to the general public, that'd be great. Otherwise, we'll be seeing a whole lot more of this.

[Generic Other]

8. Pitiful...

"...our neglected infrastructure failed, massively, again, and we got an event that one fire chief called 'armageddon.'" I am getting tired of reading that we can't afford to provide for our the welfare of our people.

Thanks for the link!

[druidity33]

6. Actually it was Columbia Gas...

I don't know whether they are affiliated with National Grid...



https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/thousands-of-residents-still-out-of-their-homes-after-gas-explosions-trigger-deadly-chaos-in-massachusetts/2018/09/14/802ff690-b830-11e8-94eb-3bd52dfe917b_story.html?utm_term=.c38d940ce092

[Generic Other]

10. I am confused

National Grid serves electrical, but has gas workers too? I think you are right about Columbia Gas. The only ones who are blameless are the locked out workers.

[seaglass]

11. Yes National Grid is both electric and gas. Columbia Gas is a separate company. n/t

[Hoyt]

12. Was National Grid involved in explosions? Sounds like another company

in this case.

[Fichefinder]

13. Jack London on that lowest of creatures, a scab

The Scab

A Poem by: Jack London (1876-1916)

"After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad, and the vampire, he had some awful substance left with which he made a scab."

"A scab is a two-legged animal with a corkscrew soul, a water brain, a combination backbone of jelly and glue. Where others have hearts, he carries a tumor of rotten principles."

"When a scab comes down the street, men turn their backs and angels weep in heaven, and the devil shuts the gates of hell to keep him out."

"No man (or woman) has a right to scab so long as there is a pool of water to drown his carcass in, or a rope long enough to hang his body with. Judas was a gentleman compared with a scab. For betraying his master, he had character enough to hang himself." A scab has not.

"Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Judas sold his Savior for thirty pieces of silver. Benedict Arnold sold his country for a promise of a commission in the British army." The scab sells his birthright, country, his wife, his children and his fellowmen for an unfulfilled promise from his employer.

Esau was a traitor to himself; Judas was a traitor to his God; Benedict Arnold was a traitor to his country; a scab is a traitor to his God, his country, his family and his class."