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Union at Western Michigan Univ. file grievance over goat usage.
July 14, 2017, 10:07 AM
lkdr1989Union at Western Michigan Univ. file grievance over goat usage.
quote:
Are goats taking jobs from union workers?
A battle is brewing at Western Michigan University this summer between a group of hungry goats and a labor union.
The 400-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has filed a grievance contending that the work the goats are doing in a wooded lot is taking away jobs from laid-off union workers.
"AFSCME takes protecting the jobs of its members very seriously and we have an agreed-upon collective bargaining agreement with Western Michigan," said Union President Dennis Moore. "We expect the contract to be followed, and in circumstances where we feel it's needed, we file a grievance."
The grievance alleges that the university did not notify the union that it was planning to use goat crews on campus, according to a chief steward report supplied to the Battle Creek Enquirer.
University spokeswoman Cheryl Roland said a small goat crew has been on campus this summer, but not to cut grass.
"For the second summer in a row, we've brought in a goat crew to clear undergrowth in a woodlot, much of it poison ivy and other vegetation that is a problem for humans to remove," Roland said. "Not wanting to use chemicals, either, we chose the goat solution to stay environmentally friendly.
"The area is rife with poison ivy and other invasive species, and our analysis showed the goats to be a sustainable and cost-effective way of removing them," she added.
The goats were formally introduced to the campus and local community on June 2 in parking lot 51 of the Sindecuse Health Center.
Garrett Fickle and his wife, Gina, the owners of Munchers on Hooves in Coldwater, rent out their four-footed "lawn mowers" to homeowners, commercial property owners and other clients.
WMU used a 10-goat crew for one week last summer as part of a pilot project, which Roland called a success.
The 20-goat crew is expected to clear about 15 acres on the southwest side of Goldsworth pond before students return for the fall semester.
The goats are ahead of schedule, said Nicholas Gooch, a university horticulturist and the project leader.
"It's definitely not what we hoped would come out of this project," Gooch said Thursday. "It kind of takes the air out of your sails a little bit."
http://www.battlecreekenquirer...ssionKey=&autologin=
...let him who has no sword sell his robe and buy one. Luke 22:35-36 NAV
"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves." Matthew 10:16 NASV July 14, 2017, 10:14 AM
stoic-oneSoooo, the goats never signed the agreement?
July 14, 2017, 10:16 AM
TXJIMIf your job can be replaced by a goat it might be time to focus your energy on training for a new career....just a thought.
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July 14, 2017, 10:18 AM
Johnny 3eaglesquote:
The goats are ahead of schedule , said Nicholas Gooch, a university horticulturist and the project leader.
Ahead of schedule, something that will never be accomplished by a union crew!
If you're goin' through hell, keep on going.
Don't slow down. If you're scared don't show it.
You might get out before the devil even knows you're there.
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July 14, 2017, 10:24 AM
darthfusterquote:
Originally posted by TXJIM:
If your job can be replaced by a goat it might be time to focus your energy on training for a new career....just a thought.
Lol I hadn't thought of it that way
You’re a lying dog-faced pony soldier July 14, 2017, 10:43 AM
a1abdjquote:
The 400-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has filed a grievance
July 14, 2017, 10:57 AM
xl_targetquote:
Originally posted by TXJIM:
If your job can be replaced by a goat it might be time to focus your energy on training for a new career....just a thought.
Hehe, I was thinking along similar lines.
July 14, 2017, 11:46 AM
Scoutmasterquote:
Originally posted by stoic-one:
Soooo, the goats never signed the agreement?
Goat's don't have to join the union, just get them to pay union dues.
"Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women. When it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it....While it lies there, it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it"
- Judge Learned Hand, May 1944 July 14, 2017, 11:52 AM
JimTheoThey should get together with PETA and the "Monkey Selfie" suit. One or the other gotta win.
I should be tall and rich too; That ain't gonna happen either July 14, 2017, 11:56 AM
RightwireWe hear youse got goats takin Union jobs....
.... Say it ain't so.
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343 - Never Forget
Its better to be Pavlov's dog than Schrodinger's cat
There are three types of mistakes; Those you learn from, those you suffer from, and those you don't survive. July 14, 2017, 01:01 PM
kz1000Make America Goat Again!
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"Yidn, shreibt un fershreibt"
"The Nazis entered this war under the rather childish delusion that they were going to bomb everyone else, and nobody was going to bomb them. At Rotterdam, London, Warsaw and half a hundred other places, they put their rather naive theory into operation. They sowed the wind, and now they are going to reap the whirlwind."
-Bomber Harris
July 14, 2017, 01:04 PM
SigoliciousThere has to be a joke here somewhere.........something about NASA, any monkey doing the job, spacemen, goats, AFSCME workers and the quote "hold my beer".
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Never use more than three words to say "I don't know"
July 14, 2017, 01:52 PM
Sig2340I guess this plan got the AFSMCE's goat.
Nice is overrated
"It's every freedom-loving individual's duty to lie to the government."
Airsoftguy, June 29, 2018
July 14, 2017, 02:08 PM
ArtieSScab goats.
"I vowed to myself to fight against evil more completely and more wholeheartedly than I ever did before. . . . That’s the only way to pay back part of that vast debt, to live up to and try to fulfill that tremendous obligation."
Alfred Hornik, Sunday, December 2, 1945 to his family, on his continuing duty to others for surviving WW II.
July 14, 2017, 02:14 PM
StramboThe goats are registered and vote Democrat, what's the problem, is it about the dues?
“People have to really suffer before they can risk doing what they love.” –Chuck Palahnuik
Be harder to kill:
https://preparefit.ck.page July 14, 2017, 02:36 PM
RichardCI hear there's some 600 or more positions opened up in Strasbourg.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees could take those while the goats are busy over here.
Paybacks, ya know?
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July 14, 2017, 02:46 PM
229DAKMaybe those union guys can eat poison ivy better than the goats?
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“A man’s treatment of a dog is no indication of the man’s nature, but his treatment of a cat is. It is the crucial test. None but the humane treat a cat well.”
-- Mark Twain, 1902
July 14, 2017, 09:14 PM
MPBThe Union needs to negotiate for creation of a Goat Herder position. Lead Goat Herder, assistant Goat herder etc.
Need to think of this as an opportunity.
July 15, 2017, 07:56 AM
florida boySo I guess the goats are "eating them out of house and home".
I practice Shinrin-yoku
It's better to wear out than rust out
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July 15, 2017, 08:04 AM
John Steedquote:
Originally posted by TXJIM:
If your job can be replaced by a goat it might be time to focus your energy on training for a new career....just a thought.
A lot of wisdom there ... unfortunately, that's not how unions work.
... stirred anti-clockwise.