Platinum,
  I know that. That is just one of several reasons why I do not work for "Cactus Oilfield Services". LOL

jrw159

Hey John, 

How's it going?  This is getting interesting. 

So... people who think the employment agencies are getting rich off others when they take care of payroll, taxes, SS, medicare, unemployment, workers comp and still pay the worker $35/hr are also saying they won't work for those wages but that they see no problem paying quality craftsmen who probably even have to be certified a whooping $14-15/hr.

Man, I do better than that in my tiny shop in another right to work state, AZ.  And I pay vacation and holidays too.  For shop work.  Of course, that's only for employee's.  Currently, my son & my wife are unemployed and I could go on unemployment and make more than we can pay me now. 

Even in AZ the prevailing wage is better than that.  Sure sounds like one of those 'twist the rules' to make money for myself deals.  It may be legal but it sure needs more examination.

Have a Great Day,  Brent

http://www.aws.org/mwf/attachments//17/203317/WAGERATECPINSONIONCREEK2.pdf

Please note that “Welder” is not listed in the job classifications.

SPLIT CLASSIFICATION: If a firm that has employees that perform work in more than one classification, it can pay the wage rates specified for each classification.

WELDERS: Receive rate prescribed for craft performing operation to which welding is incidental.

In other words, if you weld a trash can, they do not have to pay you any more than they pay the guy that empties that trash can.

jrw159

EDIT: How can you make "less than a welder" when a welder is not even listed?

Take a real good look at those prevailing wages and listen to the people that say we can't compete with China or India.  All you ever hear is labor costs too much.  So you won't flip a switch for less than $50 a hour, well what happens when the guys waiting for that job will flip on for $40 a hour or the guys that will do it for $30 a hour.  The handwriting is on the wall, a large under employed skilled work force is a Employers dream. The basic rules of supply and demand are in play here, a large skilled workforce supply means less of a demand for employers which means lower wages.  Ya got to love those Right-to-Work (for less) states that brain wash the workers into thinking they're doing you a favor.  It's all BS.  If Right-to-Work states are so great why are the wages so much lower, why is their standard of living lower?  The only way the big wheels at the top can keep making their millions is to keep their thumb on the little guy.  If you leave it up to the Corporate Barons we would all be making $5.00 an hour.

I think it would make a great pay for view amateur UFC lol

What goes around comes around.  People like Cactus get what's coming to them.  They always do.  Maybe not in this world but he will have to answer for his sins like all of us.  I really believe that.  I've worked with and for people like Cactus and I can tell you that they care for nobody other than themselves.  They are self absorbed narcisists with personality traits of egotism, vanity, conceit, or simple selfishness. Often many times divorced with children who end up wanting nothing to do with them.  Look at how he brags how good he's got it, taunting people to 'look him up' as he's home often (as in I dare you to come over and I'll shoot you?), not caring if he screws anyone and then bragging about it!  When they eventually pass away, sad and lonely, at a very old age with all the toys and money they've ripped off over the years, guess what happens?  Nobody comes to their funeral and the vultures line up to rape what's left of the estate.  Ten years after he's gone and nobody will even remeber he existed.

Cactus has the world by the balls today.  Very little work out there and he's leaving his boot prints on the backs of every welder who comes his way.  All we can do is use social networking to pass along this info so others don't get burned by his ilk. 

Dwayne Cactus Jones, the Self Asborbed Narcissist
The Seven Sins of Narcissism:

1.Shamelessness — Shame is the feeling that lurks beneath all unhealthy narcissism, and the inability to process shame in healthy ways.
2.Magical thinking — Narcissists see themselves as perfect using distortion and illusion known as magical thinking. They also use projection to dump shame onto others.
3.Arrogance — A narcissist who is feeling deflated may reinflate by diminishing, debasing, or degrading somebody else.
4.Envy — A narcissist may secure a sense of superiority in the face of another person's ability by using contempt to minimize the other person.
5.Entitlement — Narcissists hold unreasonable expectations of particularly favorable treatment and automatic compliance because they consider themselves special. Failure to comply is considered an attack on their superiority, and the perpetrator is considered an "awkward" or "difficult" person. Defiance of their will is a narcissistic injury that can trigger narcissistic rage.
6.Exploitation — can take many forms but always involves the exploitation of others without regard for their feelings or interests. Often the other is in a subservient position where resistance would be difficult or even impossible. Sometimes the subservience is not so much real as assumed.
7.Bad Boundaries — narcissists do not recognize that they have boundaries and that others are separate and are not extensions of themselves. Others either exist to meet their needs or may as well not exist at all. Those who provide narcissistic supply to the narcissist are treated as if they are part of the narcissist and be expected to live up to those expectations. In the mind of a narcissist, there is no boundary between self and other.