OK fellas I have some free time, so I will give you some info, at least how local 19 works. First off you work for the union, you are employed by the company. For me, there is absolutely no conflicts with the other companies. last lunch I sat in on was 4 guys from Thyssen, 2 from Kone, 2 from Otis. Pretty standard stuff, we are all brothers up here.

Second, because the companies employ you, they actually are the demand in this equation. The union doesnt have much say, other than they have no more,people to be hired, when work picks up. Thyssen takes on 4 big jobs in a month, 2 more than they have manpower for, they go to the hall for people. Now add in Otis, or Schindler, doing the same thing, there is a snapshot of the demand. Does this mean the companies have enough work for this new workforce for the future? Absolutely not, hence the layoffs. Now layoffs are used by the companies,for many things, like was mentioned the end of a large project. The company may have 1-2 guys that are not working out as planned, here is their shot to drop them, without showing cause. Maybe a guy was late, bad attitude, other things that might not show in a file, here is how they move them on. Some guys need a new place to really take off.

So there is a small picture of the workforce. It is the unions "job" to provide qualified elevator personnel for the companies to hire, its the companies job to get enough work to hire them. Hope this clears it up a little, and for the record, I will be in for 14 years in September. I have been laid off once, for 3 days, and was rehired by the company that laid me off. Was a union standard, no temporary mechanics while we have mechanics on the bench. The 2 put in their letters, and until they were hired, all companies dropped their TMs down to apprentice. For every TM dropped, it displaced 2 apprentices. They both were offered jobs, declined them, and the companies could go back to using TMs. Giant cluster at the time, but my own "rainy day fund" allowed me to keep my sanity. Good luck guys, and I hope this thread is not a preview of how much you all will be talking in the field!