Unions key to pulling off Tall Ships event - By KATHLEEN MERRYMAN, TheNewsTribune, Tacoma, WA
The list of donations from union workers and employers covers all the details. If they weren’t there, we’d miss the contributions of – take a deep breath – asbestos workers, boilermakers, bricklayers, allied craft workers, cement masons, elevator constructors, glaziers, ironworkers, painters, laborers, lads, millwrights, operating engineers, pile drivers, plasterers, roofers, sheet metal workers, sprinkler fitters and Teamsters.
The value of the labor and the donations is almost incalculable, Jadwin said, though he gave it a shot. In-kind donations, from gift bags for the crews to the use of generators, should add up to about $1 million, he said. Union volunteers should tote up at least $500,000 worth of work. Add in the festival’s volunteer corps, 2,000 strong, and there’s another $500,000.
That’s $2 million in gifts to a festival with a budget of $3.5 million.
That’s Tall Ships’ hidden treasure.