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No Red Tape? Non-Union FEMA Crews, Water and Other Supplies Sit Idle Thanks To Unions & Red Tape

By: LaborUnionReport (Diary)  |  November 12th, 2012 at 02:00 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

It’s been two weeks since Hurricane Sandy killed 113 people, wiped out portions of towns, and knocked out power to millions. It has also been two weeks since Barack Obama pledged, “No bureaucracy. No red tape.”

However, according to multiple public and private sources, unions and union-related red tape are causing workers from out of state to be turned back, as well as workers contracted by FEMA, as well as tons of supplies, already in New York and New Jersey to sit idle—at a cost of millions to taxpayers.

It has already been well publicized though the Daily Caller how the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers demanded unionization of out-of-state utility workers in order for them to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Long Island’s Newsday reported over the weekend that the union’s demands cost New York 125 extra workers to help with restoring electricity to those in the dark.

Barry Moline, executive director of the Florida Municipal Electric Association, said Long Island could have received 125 additional workers from utilities across Florida as soon as two days after the storm if a dispute about the letters had been resolved sooner. He said most of the crews from Florida who were available were nonunion and refused to join Local 1049 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, even if only temporarily.

[snip]

Crews that could have come to Long Island went instead to Pennsylvania, Moline said. “We could have been there on Wednesday, and instead we arrived on Sunday,” he said, after the union rescinded the requirement. [Emphasis added.]

It gets worse.

Over the weekend, a source (who wishes to remain anonymous) reported that contractors contracted—as well as, generators, water, and other supplies paid for—by FEMA are being idled at New York’s Floyd Bennett Field by “red tape” requirements, while unions deploy their members and many storm victims sit in the dark.

While there are about 4,000 National Guardsmen at Bennett Field, there are hundreds of out-of-state contractors for FEMA, many of them linemen and electricians, that are not being deployed to help turn power pack on for residents because of the red tape.

On Sunday, out of the 400-500 workers available, according to the source, only three crews went out. Crews, he said, are usually two-man teams.

The union crews, the source stated, are free to come and go as they please, yet the non-union FEMA contractors are being held back because of red tape requirements.

The red-tape bottleneck, he said, comes from the Corps of Engineers. They get work orders in (places that need help), but the work orders don’t come out as they should.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” the source said over the weekend.

On Sunday night, FEMA contractors put in one generator for a 14-floor building. Just one.

On top of that, there are tons of supplies in trailers,  as well as rows and rows of water that are not being delivered.

Immediately after the storm, beer maker Budweiser converted its beer lines in Georgia to produce water—44,000 cases of water. That water was trucked into the storm ravaged area, but much of it is still sitting as residents in across Brooklyn and in Far Rockaway, Queens continue to boil their water as of Saturday.

According to a November 7 press release by the Defense Logistics Agency, fifty power generators and 150,000 blankets were sent to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (a FEMA staging area in central New Jersey) where FEMA-contracted crews are also experiencing red-tape related delays, though not nearly as bad as those at New York’s Bennett Field.

Despite the fact that there is apparently a news blackout—FEMA contractors are not allowed to talk to the press—Americans are shelling out tens of millions in taxpayer dollars for FEMA contractors to be paid while not being allowed to do the jobs they brought in to perform.

So much for the “no red tape, no bureaucracy” that was promised nearly two weeks ago.

________________________

“Turth isn’t mean. It’s truth.”
Andrew Breitbart (1969-2012)

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COMMENTS

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  • lineholder

    I am genuinely concerned about the Americans who have been impacted by Hurricane Sandy, but I have to say that this is probably one of the best examples of the inefficiency of centralized planning activity we’ve seen in a good while. SOP requires that the “red tape” be addressed before the situation can be resolved, and rather than simply deviate away from SOP in this emergency situation, they’ve adhered to it as if was cast in stone.

  • lineholder

    The state of LA (i.e. Katrina victims) are probably the ones taking the most proactive role in trying to provide assistance to the folks in NY.

    Ironic, isn’t it?

  • lineholder

    Here’s another example, just different type. Food stamps being cut in Ohio
    http://www.toledoblade.com/State/2012/11/12/Ohioans-food-stamp-aid-to-be-cut.html

  • http://www.TerriersOfTheRight.blogspot.com Flagstaff

    Expect more of this. I am inclined to agree with Bill Kristol and some of my friends–Republicans in Congress should start rolling over for Obama, letting him have his almost every wish. Because we were “responsible public servants” and thwarted some of his crazier ideas last term, he got to scream “Republicans blocked everything I tried to do, that’s why things are no better today.” I say let him raise taxes on those making over $1 million incomes, whether it hurts the economy (and it will) or not. When the country goes to heck he won’t be able to say we stopped his great ideas.

    It begins to look like the only way for folks to recognize how bad socialism is is to let them have some, the faster the better. That way, there might still be some of us around who remember how things are supposed to be. If this election proved nothing else it proved that too many eligible voters are like Hush Puppies.

  • boscobreaux

    These claims have already been debunked. While there is confusion at the local level, in part due to poor integration and, well, it is a disaster area, there is no evidence that any of this is true. For example, the recent claims that an Alabama utility crew were barred from working in the area sounded damning. But, it turns out the Alabama contingent misinterpreted the heck out of paperwork and rushed to Fox to make claims that simply weren’t true. Be careful of “sources” without names and titles please.

  • Melody Warbington

    Hey, boscobreaux, I’m in Alabama, and I’ve got a press release from Decatur Utilities.

    From http://ftpcontent.worldnow.com/wsfa/linkedwebdocs/Press%20Release%20Hurricane%20Sandy.pdf

    “It was and remains our understand that agreeing to those requirements was a condition of being allowed to work in those areas.”

    I talked to folks who work with these Alabama utility groups. The workers weren’t shy about stating the unions didn’t want them. Of course, that’s bad PR for the unions, so of course they denied it. I’m guessing they take their cues from the Denier-in-Chief.

    And while I’m at it, here’s a story direct from a shelter where folks are cold to say the least. Folks are being told no photos, and officials are denying media access.

    http://www.app.com/viewart/20121109/NJNEWS/311090027/Oceanport-sandy-shelter

  • Melody Warbington

    Why am I not surprised, LUR?

  • lineholder

    Okay, guys, anyone else getting really bad vibes from this? If this is the way the Obama admin is going to “deal” with things over the next four years, then we need to come up with some contingency plans.

    It makes no sense to me that they are letting some groups in while keeping other groups out. But at least some groups are getting in. Any way to channel efforts from those are being kept out through the ones being allowed in?

  • Melody Warbington

    lineholder, if you read the article I posted about the churches of Christ Disaster Relief, that’s what they’ve done. My understanding is they’re coordinating efforts with local churches by determining what they need and deciding how best to get the supplies to them for distribution. We’ve been doing this for several years now.

  • lineholder

    Mel, I found a site that provides a few other options.
    http://www.yougivegoods.com/

  • WillisNYC

    I own a vending company in NJ and I can attest that the ‘union problem’ is real and specifically the problem with the Alabama crew being sent home by local union workers from PS&G. One of my accounts is located in Somerset, NJ. I went there yesterday to service the account and found the building still without power two weeks after Sandy. I spoke to the owner of the business who said that the Alabama crew was sent away as they tried to fix the power coming into his building! The area where the building is located has power all around it and just needs the replacement of a three foot long ‘dingus’ to bring the power back up. The Alabama crew had the part and a bucket in place to do the work when they were sent away by the local power company union thugs. The owner of the company is fit to be tied and has called everyone from the mayor on up to the governor here and received no help with this problem. His location is clearly being ‘punished’ for daring to allow a non-union crew to fix an obvious problem there. The owner does not want any more trouble and just wants his power back on. Unions are the root of all evil here in NJ.

  • willik

    This is a national disgrace.
    Unions have long out lived their usefulness. They are now just a lot of blackmailing thugs, supporting the Communist/Socialist/Democrat Progressive Party!

  • NRPax

    There is an evil little part of me that has a simple solution. Armed security guards ride with the truckers and help distribute the supplies. Any union objections are met with ballistic correction. Repeat as necessary until the job is done.

  • Jack_Savage

    So your expectation is that until Christie, Cuomo and FEMA report to the American people that they are utterly failing, you won’t believe a word of anyone else?

    I swear I am going to start watching Doomsday Preppers if this is the belief system that has taken over our country.

  • justperhaps45

    Has anyone calculated the task completion cost difference between union labor and right to work labor? Cost per hour will not give a true cost because unoin rules tend to cause less to get done by more highly paid personnel. Note, having shovel leaners in the mix skews the numbers.

  • http://www.laborunionreport.com LaborUnionReport

    WillisNYC , contact me here please. I’d like to get more info on this Somerset incident.

  • whitetop

    Don’t listen to what Barry says; watch what he does. He picked the right rube in Gov. Christi to put on a public display of compassion. The state owned media now needs to show what is really happening after Sandy. BTW, Bush offered FEMA help to victims of Katrina in the early hours of the storm but Gov. Landreiu wouldn’t accept it until enough time had passed so she could blame Bush for not being responsive.

  • justperhaps45

    One must look to see, listen to hear, reach out to feel. I sometimes think that the press has a perfectly level learning curve. But then again if your head is far enough up into a warm dark place the senses are impaired.

  • funwithknives

    Time and again I ask myself and my ‘friends’ [all 7 of them] if this is all there is, the end of the line, the line in the sand…….and only have to wait a while…….
    Then, something like Sandy occurs and all this is thrown out the window and a new bottom is ‘plunged towards’.
    When is ‘outrage’ simply insufficient and ‘cutting throats’ going to start??
    [see Mencken and Ace of Spades blog]
    There Was an America, now I am simply dumbfounded. How long do these poor unfortunates have to be ignored and squeezed by these mechanizations?
    To me, it is hard to believe that Rioting has not broken out, as-of yet.
    Today and since Wednesday last I have been torn asunder about my country’s future.
    Obviously, it is up to Us, The People. Our self-appointed Nomenklatura and Zampolits are rooted and entrenched, and can care less.
    We’re ‘the fixers’. There is no one else……..

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