How Long Will US Vaccine Authoritarians Sit in the Cold and the Dark? By Stacey Lennox.
A network of contractors employ linemen, who generally flock to the scene in advance when the weather patterns predict severe storms in a particular area. …
Usually, IBEW [International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers] linemen from Midwestern contractors would have been flooding to the Northeast before yesterday’s storm that left around 600,000 residents in several states without power. This time they didn’t.
In fact, according to one senior member of an IBEW local in the Midwest, the contractors did not even attempt to raise crews to go. This lineworker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that even if the call had gone out, almost no one would have volunteered. Anyone who did would be looked upon as a scab and have difficulty getting jobs out of the union hall in the future. Unions have ways to encourage solidarity. While the union contract prevents these workers from striking, working on a storm crew is voluntary. No employer can compel an IBEW member to go.
According to informal polling out of the halls, the men in these muscular jobs in flyover country who worked consistently during lockdowns have very low vaccination rates.
While storm crews are an excellent way to make double-time for every hour worked, this lineworker reports it is not worth the hassle in places with vaccine mandates. When they flocked to New Orleans after Hurricane Ida earlier this summer, vaccine passports made it impossible for these workers to get a meal in a restaurant or a cup of coffee in a local convenience store.
When I asked this lineworker why he thought the [vaccination] rates were reportedly so low, he said that many of his coworkers had already recovered from COVID-19. He added that others had religious objections and some were worried about the potential for cardiac side effects that could take them out of their job. Among his vaccinated coworkers, he reports that none of them are willing to take a booster. …
Linemen are not a dime a dozen. Training to repair and maintain the grid’s complex equipment takes years. The halls already have a hard time acquiring people with the intellectual capabilities to understand the technical side who are also willing to do the very physical work. These men are in buckets fixing lines in the bitter cold and the sweltering heat and have to maintain a laser focus on the job at hand. One misstep could be deadly. …
The materials and equipment they need are not made in the U.S., according to this worker. Wire comes from Canada and China. The big transformers that power the substations are produced in two places, Israel and South Korea. Foreign policy impacts these supply chains, and coddling China and Iran is not the best approach. He also thinks the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement doesn’t understand the implications of eliminating purchases from Israel.
Treating people like this as kulaks ultimately didn’t work out for the Soviet Union. Voluntary and enthusiastic participation always trumps forced labor. The lefties near the top eventually have to bargain with them, rather than simply ordering them around — a lesson soon to be relearned by an arrogant and stupid ruling class.
