Attorney: Ind. stage collapse report blames union

FoxNews ^ | Published February 08, 2012 | FoxNews via AP

[TSgt]

INDIANAPOLIS – A state report on the Indiana State Fair stage collapse set for release Wednesday accuses a stagehands union of five workplace violations in the disaster that killed seven people, according to an attorney who said the union was being made a scapegoat.

Bill Groth, attorney for the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 30, said the Indiana Occupational Health and Safety Administration found that the union, not the State Fair Commission, was the employer of the stagehands who were working Aug. 13 when the stage collapsed.

"Local 30 is not an employer. They're a labor organization, a union," Groth told WTHR-TV. "I just think it's reprehensible. The state ought to look in the mirror, because that's where the culpability begins."

[TSgt]

Unions...

[KarlInOhio]

Who signed the paychecks and had to fill out the W-2 forms for the workers? That should answer who the employer was.

[elpadre]

who employed the first line supervisor of the union workers, the state or the union?

[elpadre]

who employed the first line supervisor of the union workers, the state or the union?

[TSgt]

Ouch!

IOSHA writes: "(The) employer did not maintain a log of injuries and illnesses or provide fall protection and training for heights greater than four feet. The employer did not conduct protective hazard assessments or determine soil conditions when placing guy wires and anchors and finally, the employer failed to designate a competent person for construction of the load-bearing roof."

[nascarnation]

This is procedural stuff in my view.
Whether somebody filed govt paperwork is a side issue.

The real question is:

Was the design adequate? (nobody should be surprised at 70mph thunderstorm winds in Indiana)

Were the materials up to specification?

And was it installed properly?

[X-spurt]

Ever work on a union run project? The union controls everything connected to who does what. The “employer” has no power to say “don’t do it that way or this guy is inept”.
Hell a 1/3 or the crew was probably drunk, another 1/3 asleep and only the lowest on the totem pole actually doing the work and with a grudge on their shoulder because the “employer” tried to tell them how to do their job.

[Wiser now]

A goverment office (IOSHA) vs. a union, in a newly minted right to work state, with a Republican governor, during a Presidential campaign?

Pass the popcorn, this is going to get interesting.

[kcvl]

Ever work on a union run project? The union controls everything connected to who does what. The “employer” has no power to say “don’t do it that way or this guy is inept”.

Hell a 1/3 or the crew was probably drunk, another 1/3 asleep and only the lowest on the totem pole actually doing the work and with a grudge on their shoulder because the “employer” tried to tell them how to do their job.

Couldn't agree more!

[circlecity]

Sounds to me like the Union is essentially working as a sub-contractor for the State.

[bossmechanic]

In my 40 years of engineering, I’ve worked with 1(one) competent union crew - a bunch of iron workers. Welders and plumbers were sloppy, shoddy, and inept. Electricians were the worst - unsafe, egotistic, lazy. No use for them at all.

[Lou L]

You're spot on with your post--those are the real questions that matter here. Hopefully, the investigation considered these questions as well.

I was actually at this concert, very close to the stage. My sense was that if ANYONE thought that rigging would come down in a "little old, Indiana summer thunderstorm," none of us would've been there. Other state fair tents and structures in the vicinity were untouched by this same storm.

[Tex-Con-Man]

When it comes to installing large custom designed truss structures for one time events, people would be surprised at the lack of actual structural engineering knowledge that is involved.

In general, I'm philosophically opposed to unions, but using union "stagehands" assumes a lack of knowledge. They tend to be "neckdowns". There was someone hired by the state, who had design responsibility for the structure. It was their job to be onsite to supervise the installation.

I'm no union fan, but I don't see how they get the blame based on the information in the article.

[nascarnation]

There’s been SO MUCH side fluff with this event in the media.

As an engineer, I want to see the report from the forensic engineering outfits who are investigating this.

There’s no reason it should take more than a few weeks at most to figure this out.

This 5 month delay makes me wonder what is going on.

[Eva]

That’s exactly, what the union is, sub-contractor, and unless things are different in Indiana, there was a company signing the contracts for those union workers.

[mikey_hates_everything]

"Local 30 is not an employer."

Not if the actual employer cannot choose who will or will not work for them. It's the employer's fault for the screwed up work, but the union won't let the employer decide who to hire to do the work. So who's fault is it really?

[X-spurt]

Exact same observations! And I have been on both sides, working in the union and as Project Manager trying to get things accomplished through the union.

Working as union iron worker, they are good, maybe because screwing up will get them killed.