He tells me him and a couple of buddies would head to the beer store at lunch and each down a six-pack before heading back to work.
Ditto!
Then he tells me about sitting on the plant roof with a bottle of wine and a little reefer, watching the sun come up.
Same! Except he was on the third shift; I was on second shift, so me and Jimmy used to watch the sun go down from up there instead.
When you look back on the amount of dog-fucking we did, it's no wonder GE now builds transformers in Mexico instead... but that's another story.
That bit of reminiscing got me rambling down memory lane again. When I worked at Kearney's there was a couple of shop stewards who ran into a spot of trouble. They'd been advanced some money by the local to attend a big union shindig in Pittsburgh. Seems they got paid for two hotel rooms, but decided to share a room instead, and spend the rest of the money at the bar.
A public shaming ensued. Union politics at their most petty and vicious.
The president of our local was a decent and affable guy, but rumour had it he had a gambling issue. I would have thought he'd be set up pretty comfortable, but a couple years after I left the place he showed up at my door delivering a pizza, so maybe there was something to the rumours.
Cheech Contini was another dude who worked there at the time. What a surprise it was to meet him again when I was working at Dresser a few years later. His brother Tony was union pres there. Their family name was somewhat famous in Guelph back in the day, but they were always good to me.
Another guy I met at Dresser was John Lammer. He'd already done a couple of the restoration projects he was to become rich and famous for, but times were tough, interest rates had spiked, he had bills to pay, and there he was, inhaling welding fumes right along side me.
Those were a few of my union brothers.
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