We have a Fresh Market here in Lake Forest. It is a very nice grocery store. In November of 2012 the chain was 128 stores, nearly all east of the Mississippi. That’s when they announced they would build their eighth Illinois store in Lincolnshire, across from the Marriott.

Fresh Market gave the contract to Tuscany Construction of Addison, a father and son company formed in 2000. The work is coming along – this photo was taken March 22, 2013.



Tuscany Construction uses non-union carpenters. That way the food that Fresh Market will sell there will cost less. The nails still get hammered, and the people hammering are happy to have a job.

So the carpenters are happy to be working for Tuscany Construction. Tuscany is happy to have won the contract from Fresh Market. And once they open, the grocery customers will get lower prices.

The only people who are unhappy are the unionized carpenters who have priced themselves out of work. So the union has unhappy members with time on their hands. And so the union sent a couple of their over-priced, out-of-work members to the Fresh Market in Lake Forest.



This is a logic that only a union thug could comprehend:

The two union guys and their big banner are posted in front of the Fresh Market in Lake Forest to intimidate women out to do grocery shopping because

Fresh Market in Lake Forest should be shamed because

the 128-store company awarded the construction contract to the low-cost bidder Tuscany because

Tuscany’s costs were not inflated by union wages because

Tuscany “exploited” non-union carpenters.

Ergo, Fresh Market in Lake Forest chose greed over integrity and Lake Forest residents should demonstrate their moral disapproval by not shopping there. And just in case any Lake Forest residents are unclear about that, the two thugs and their big sign will remind them.

And they call this a “labor dispute” on their big sign? It is as if I applied for a job with Waste Management and they turned me down, so I hold a big sign at the McDonald’s drive-thru claiming that the burger vendor should be shamed for “choosing greed over integrity” as evidenced by the waste hauler they have contracted.

Meet Dave:



It was difficult to get a photo of him, which I really didn’t understand since he claimed to be proud of what he was doing.

I explained to him that freedom is what made America great. I explained that the grocery customers were free to give their money to Fresh Markets if they want to, or not; that Fresh Market was free to hire Tuscany, or not; and that Tuscany was free to hire any carpenters they want, or not.

I explained to Dave that what made America great was the freedom of Americans to enter voluntarily into contracts with each other. When I said the magic word (contract) Dave smiled. “That’s just what we want: For them to voluntarily enter into a contract with us.”



Did you ever watch the Sopranos? That’s what these guys are: mini-Sopranos. Dave just wanted to be the one to hammer the nails. But only for the full wage that his union bosses have told him he deserves. Less union dues, of course.

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