So, I'm in an office building in NW DC and there's a union protest outside

:cool: Yep, they’re right outside this building, even though they’re protesting the building next door. They’ve got drums, which I think are actually buckets, and this REALLY annoying bell. I’m all for unions, but PLEASE make the bell STOP!!! It actually is pretty cool, though. I’m alternating between Doping and watching them. I think it’s not actually workers, but homeless guys who are paid to do this sort of thing.

Now they’re also chanting and walking in a circle.

They’re all gone now.

Riveting!

They were chanting slogans and everything. It was pretty cool. My dad used to work for the company they were protesting.

Around here, the usual sonic weapons are 5-gallon plastic buckets and frying pans.

The picketers often these days are not union members, but homeless and transitional people recruited for temporary picketing work. For this they make $1 over minimum wage, and get no benefits.

A discussion of this practice is in this Washington Post article.

I don’t want to open this up into a broad debate, but some unions don’t like this practice (the steelworkers don’t use it, as an example) and this has caused a big debate within the labor movement on its overall justice.

Apropos to nothing, were you aware, Captain Socks, that you left an “i” out of “plagiarize” on your sig line? (Or am I missing a subtle joke?)

D’oh! You’re right! I shall fix it now.