There is a new labor law blog devoted to construction labor law by Chuck Schrader. Some of my favorite clients were in construction (in my opinion there is no better way to train a young labor lawyer than to have them represent some small open shop contractor who insists on bidding union projects – guaranteed problems on a nearly daily basis). In many ways the construction industry is what I imagine industrial labor law practice was like in the 1950’s – construction unions typically have significant union density and there is a real possibility that a work site will be shut down at least once over a labor dispute during the course of construction (at least that was the case in Chicago). Lots of great picketing, secondary boycott, QCR (questions concerning representation), pre-hire agreements and the like (not to mention prevailing wage, which seemed to be the preferred weapon of choice against open-shop contractors in Chicago). Plus the clients are hilarious – I would not exactly classify a lot of these as “businesses” in the strict sense – many will sign darn near anything, with their exit strategy being leaving town after the project is done (tough on collecting fees, though – another good reason to assign young lawyers to them…) and then ask questions like, “now explain this whole withdrawal liability thing to me again?” Welcome to the blogosphere, Chuck.
