Here's another damn thing to worry about, perhaps

According to this story, many of the electrical linemen who rush in from out of state to restore power after weather catastrophes aren’t vaccinated, and won’t get vaccinated to work in a state that requires it.

A network of contractors employ linemen, who generally flock to the scene in advance when the weather patterns predict severe storms in a particular area. There are also archaic rules about which contractors can serve different regions based on union regulations. For example, non-union contractors from the South are generally not allowed to work in New York and California. Usually, IBEW linemen from midwestern contractors would have been flooding to the Northeast before yesterday’s storm that left around 600,000 residents in several states without power. This time they didn’t.

In fact, according to one senior member of an IBEW local in the Midwest, the contractors did not even attempt to raise crews to go. This lineworker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that even if the call went out, almost no one would have volunteered. Anyone who did would be looked upon as a scab and may have difficulty getting jobs out of the union hall in the future. Unions have ways to encourage solidarity. While the union contract prevents these workers from striking, working on a storm crew is voluntary. No employer can compel an IBEW member to go.

According to informal polling out of the halls, the men in these muscular jobs in flyover country who worked consistently during lockdowns have very low vaccination rates. While storm crews are an excellent way to make double-time for every hour worked, this lineworker reports it is not worth the hassle in places with vaccine mandates. When they flocked to New Orleans after Hurricane Ida earlier this summer, vaccine passports made it impossible for these workers to get a meal in a restaurant or a cup of coffee in a local convenience store.

Yeah, well, maybe.I’m perfectly sympathetic with anyone who won’t get vaccinated, and if the mandate states suffer because of their rules so be it. But I haven’t herd of this happening, yet. Willl it? Who knows? I see that Cape Cod got hammered by yesterday’s storm, and I’ll be curious to see if they encounter labor difficulties during their restoration efforts.