Joined the Union

[FRJ]

Back somewhere in the late 90s I joined the Carpenters Union out of Brockton, Mass.
I was hoping to work with more serious guys. You know, guys with tools who showed up every day.
That paid off marginally but I also worked with some really smart guys too. I worked on several projects up and down the Cape.
One was right in Provincetown. I worked on this pier project in town. It was the kind of work I had never done before.
I learned a lot on this project.
We built these two piers.

[bestgear]

Thanks for sharing those Joe. At the end of MacMillan wharf there used to be a fish packing house where you could buy seafood fresh off the boat, I wonder if that's still there. I also remember that wharf rumbling as the 18-wheelers rolled in and out of that packing house. I think a Cape Cod trip is in my fall line-up, thanks for bringing this to the front of my memory.

[LongBlade]

Very cool Joe ... I know those docks wetland never knew you were involved in building them - years ago after the fish would migrate past us down in southern NJ we would follow the stripers up to the Cape - each and every early June we would pass those piers driving thru P-Town from Truro on the way out to fish Hatches Harbor and the Race... few times we walked the jetty past the piers at the end of that road outside P-Town that goes for quite a distance - while we were getting stripers in other places some big bluefish would hang inside that jetty ... it was only when the seals arrived in the late 1990s that we stopped our annual trip up that way - the seals drove the striper fishery downhill - and now the seals have taken over the beaches down towards Nauset.... There are still stripers up there for sure but not what it was long ago in my opinion....

[bestgear]

I'll bet I ran into you one November on Herring Cove Beach Lee. The biggest striper I ever caught was at the Race Point Lighthouse, 44" and 38# on a live eel. I had a bigger fish on the line at Nauset years later but lost it in the wash. Cape Cod fishing has certainly changed over the years but memories are forever.

[BWT]

That's really interesting Joe. I fished off of a pier alot thirty years ago in Palm Beach county, before I bought a boat to go offshore. My son was was in elementary school then and we have a lot of good memories of the pier. You mentioned Brockton, he works for an airline now and just transferred to Logan. They put him in a Residence Inn in Brockton for a month, but they just moved to Haverhill a couple weeks ago. Planning on visiting them Christmas. Thanks for the story.

[garddogg56]

Very neat Joe.I've worked a little down there.Wired sum on the owner of Cumberland Farms house.Built Seabrook station.worked around the beltway.Good money in mass..

[jmh58]

WOW Joe.. That's just plain KOOL!! John

[FRJ]

Thank you for your comments, Lee and Tom.
It's not too much of a stretch to think we, at some time in the 90s, were within close proximity of one another.
Fun to think about anyway. We moved from here in 91.
I fished primarily at Herring Cove in those days for convenience. I could get my kids out there. I think I caught every Bluefish out there then.
I didn't trudge the beach for Hatches Harbor or other places as I was a working carpenter and I was just to weary to do it.
We were living in the house I was building and there were other tasks at hand. I never bought a fresh water fishing licence the first five years I lived here.

Bill, so nice to know you're a fisherman. The finest kind, my friend.
When I joined the union (which I have long since left) they gave me a union pin that had two sets of boxing gloves on it.
Each to signify the two great boxers from that town. Rocky Marciano and Marvin Hagler. Hagler trained here in Provincetown in his heyday and I would take my son down there and watch him train. So much fun.
Hagler signed a picture of himself and gave it to my son.
A class act all the way around.

Dogg, It's so nice you have a connection down here too. Thanks for the post.
And there's no question about you being a fisherman.

Thanks so much, John.

[wlf]

I joined the Bricklayers union in ‘79 Joe after working residential work for a few years. Travelled all over steel towns and chemical plants. A different skill set than masonry usually thought of. Even got to travel to South America.

Unions made the middle class, like a lot of other things, they have been politically demonized.

[FRJ]

Thank you, Lyle.
What a wonderful and fine trade masonry is.
When I first came to town here in 1980 the first job I could land was tending a very accomplished mason.
i learned a lot from that guy. Enough that I built the foundation for our house here. In the sandy hillside next to the existing small six sided bungalow that my then wife's parents owned. i hand dug, with a garden shovel, 20 feet wide and 12 feet back and set sauna tubes and set a footing and built concrete block walls. I built that up 4 feet and dug and set more footing 12 feet back again to form a 20 x 24 foot foundation. Stopping in the middle of it to go out and earn more money, this time in carpentry. The foundation is quite strong. Middle wall is 12 inch block filled with concrete and steel. Although it does have an amateurish shine to it. We hired a carpenter more experienced than me at the time to frame the house. After that my wife and I put it together and connected it to the existing structure. We knew how to work. (I hope no one has the gall to tell me "you didn't build that")

[Quick Steel]

Historical point: Winston Churchhill enjoyed bricklaying; built a brick wall at his country house. He joined the bricklayers union and was proud of that affiliation. He used bricklaying to relieve the depression he was subject to. He called it "the Black Dog."

[LongBlade]

All very cool stories - thanks for sharing all of them ..

Tom and Joe - When I fished Hatches Harbor up there we would park at the Herring Cove Beach lot and work (fish) ourselves down to Hatches... now for those who don’t know Hatches was a very large tidal pond - not a Harbor - at high tide I am not even sure fish went up inside - but on the outgoing tide the stripers were stacked up outside like firewood - the bait which consisted largely of sand eels were numerous - you would cast the fly (sand eel patterns) and on the swing when it would hit the seams the stripers would bang them like no tomorrow ... in my younger days that almost 1 mile hike down the beach was no problem - in fact we would fish it morning and nights despite the long walk back and forth... at night the big fish were always around as well - great memories!! I wrote one of my first fishing articles back at that time regarding that area - I wish there was a way to post a pdf on AAPK ( actually been meaning to ask Bryan if there is a way for future posting as it would be useful for knife articles/info as well) - anyway would like to share it but maybe I can post text and photos separately - I’ll give it a shot if folks are interested...

[KAW]

Lee you could convert each page of the pdf into a jpeg file and upload them as images to your gallery. That's what I ended up doing with a timeline I created about Hudson Valley cutleries.

[FRJ]

I write one of my first fishing articles back at that time regarding that area - I wish there was a way to post a pdf on AAPK ( actually been meaning to ask Bryan if there is a way for future posting as it would be useful for knife articles/info as well) - anyway would like to share it but maybe I can post text and photos separately - I’ll give it a shot if folks are interested...

I, for one, would be very interested in seeing that, my friend.

Thanks for the post, Lee.

[FRJ]

Thank you, Quick Steel, for your comments.
Masonry is a very satisfying labor.

[stagman]

Joe, joining the union opened up a lot different jobs like them piers, cool stuff !!!
And Lyle, you are so right about the way unions are thought of these days,,
being a retired machinist after 31 years at GM, if it were not for the UAW they
would have had me pissing in a coffee can next to my machine and forget
about ever getting your pension. I believe in unions 100%..there is some
negative points to em, but 10 times more good than bad for the
Joe Lunch Bucket guy on the bottom rung of the ladder

Will
http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/stagman

[LongBlade]

As Joe and Ken showed some interest I will post the article - note it is about sand eels as an important bait for stripers up in the Cape but the 2nd half is a story of a day fishing right in front of Hatches Harbor that is still clear as day after 30 years (Note: Hatches Harbor is not mentioned out of respect for the publisher at that time of a Cape Cod Forum Site as fisherman don't like to note their favorite areas - its called spot burning ) ... I will post it under General Off Topic Discussion - look for the topic title "Call Them in Like Dogs" ... I'll post some photos under certain parts of the story as well....

Cheers!
Lee

[FRJ]

Thank you very much, Will, for your insight.

I read the post lee, it's terrific. thank you.

[Quick Steel]

Twice in my life I was in unions. They were very political in ways I did not favor. But I am very grateful to them for the exceptional pay and benefits they obtained for me. In their prime they provided millions of families with a decent living. I would like to see them flourish.

[FRJ]

Thank you Quick Steel.