Lister Block | ? | 6 fl | Renovation

[DC83]

^^ LIUNA stands for Labourers International Union of North America.

All I have to say Omro is e-search Hamilton's history in regards to 'Unions' and you'll understand the whole 'investigation' thing.

Hamilton is, and has always been, a 'Union' hotspot.

[omro]

Originally Posted by DC83

^^ LIUNA stands for Labourers International Union of North America.

All I have to say Omro is e-search Hamilton's history in regards to 'Unions' and you'll understand the whole 'investigation' thing.

Hamilton is, and has always been, a 'Union' hotspot.

I'm aware that it's a Union, however how this Union operates is totally alien to me. Iin the UK, a Union is there merely to represent the interests of it's members, nothing more.

This Union acts worse than any greedy private commercial property owner/building contractor and somehow gets away with it.

Surely even a Union such as this is responsible to someone or something.

[RePinion]

Originally Posted by omro

I'm aware that it's a Union, however how this Union operates is totally alien to me. Iin the UK, a Union is there merely to represent the interests of it's members, nothing more.

This Union acts worse than any greedy private commercial property owner/building contractor and somehow gets away with it.

Surely even a Union such as this is responsible to someone or something.

Sure, it's responsible to its membership.

[adam]

And it spans all across North America. Hamilton is just one of its many holdings.

[SteelTown]

LIUNA meeting Lister conditions

October 16, 2008
The Hamilton Spectator

A deal to save the Lister Block is still on track after LIUNA officials met a series of conditions yesterday with the City of Hamilton.

The deal, which would see city employees occupy a refurbished Lister Block by 2012, has a number of deadlines for the developer to meet certain conditions.

Yesterday's deadline required a heritage conservation strategy and planning applications, among other things. Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger said all requirements appear to have been met except for a computer-modelled energy study.

LIUNA, the labour organization that owns the building, was granted an extension for the study because of difficulties in finding someone to do the work, Eisenberger said.

He added that he is confident the deal will go through. "They are spending an awful lot of money on these studies and they wouldn't do that if they didn't plan to follow through ... I think everything is moving along as it should."

A spokesperson for LIUNA could not be reached for comment.

[highwater]

Originally Posted by omro

I'm aware that it's a Union, however how this Union operates is totally alien to me. Iin the UK, a Union is there merely to represent the interests of it's members, nothing more.

This Union acts worse than any greedy private commercial property owner/building contractor and somehow gets away with it.

It probably says a whole lot more about Hamilton than it does about how unions generally function in Canada.

[Dundasguy]

Originally Posted by omro

I'm aware that it's a Union, however how this Union operates is totally alien to me. Iin the UK, a Union is there merely to represent the interests of it's members, nothing more.

This Union acts worse than any greedy private commercial property owner/building contractor and somehow gets away with it.

Surely even a Union such as this is responsible to someone or something.

My Grandfather was a member of LIUNA along with a ton of the other Irish immigrant construction laborers in Hamilton who came over in the early 1950's. From what I can remember, he did speak of them in a positive way. He had a decent pension and medical benefits until he passed away in '97 and he was retired for more than 20 years. I guess the money had to come from somewhere.

[WhipperSnapper]

Surely even a Union such as this is responsible to someone or something.

Union pension funds own this country

[adam]

The city is getting bullied by LIUNA. I wonder what effect a bombardment of emails from the public would have? Demolishing a part of Hamilton's history and turning it into a really low quality park is a kick in the teeth for the public. If the building was maintained over the years, it could have been a great space to rent out to the burgeoning arts community in the area.

Does anyone know the difference in property taxes between a building and a park area? How much money is LIUNA saving by converting it to a low quality park? Most backyards are nicer than that...

[matt602]

So far, so good. LIUNA is surprising me a fair bit here.

[1ajs]

whats the purpos of this study? cause studies usely are just a waste of money

[Millstone]

The scaffolding is being removed on the James St side right now. Uncovered are a Marvel Beauty Schools sign and another about a discount store.

[Jon Dalton]

Did they actually do any work while the scaffolding was up? I'll have to go take a look after work.

[crhayes]

Originally Posted by Jon Dalton

Did they actually do any work while the scaffolding was up? I'll have to go take a look after work.

I went by on my way home from school...doesn't look like they've done a lot so far.

[raisethehammer]

Originally Posted by crhayes

I went by on my way home from school...doesn't look like they've done a lot so far.

sounds about par for the course. LOL

[Jon Dalton]

Perhaps this lends some credibility to the theory that they were getting ready to demolish had the city deal fallen through.

[matt602]

I think they just removed some windows. Other than that, the scaffolding sat for no reason. They might be taking it off of that part because they plan to demo the building in question (Thomas building, pre-dates the Lister itself). LIUNA has had a hard on for demolishing that building for awhile now. The Marvel School of Beauty, Pioneer Cleaners and some other stores were in that building, left in the late '80s I believe.

[matt602]

They did board them up starting about 5 years ago, eventually doing them all. They recently started coming off again when they started taking out the window frames entirely. They just didn't bother putting the boards back up after.

Here's a video of them doing the final seal-up in the winter 2 years ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITAniU-1ZJI

After they did all of that, the interior conditions actually worsened considerably because the water damage had already been done over the past 10+ years that it sat unprotected and abandoned. With the windows sealed up, mold spores grew wild and the plaster seemed to come off the walls a lot faster. Might as well have just left the windows open, it was pointless by then. Even with all that in mind, the building is in fair condition considering how long it has been sitting like it has. It was built very well.

[IronWarrior]

Originally Posted by matt602

They did board them up starting about 5 years ago, eventually doing them all. They recently started coming off again when they started taking out the window frames entirely. They just didn't bother putting the boards back up after.

Here's a video of them doing the final seal-up in the winter 2 years ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITAniU-1ZJI

After they did all of that, the interior conditions actually worsened considerably because the water damage had already been done over the past 10+ years that it sat unprotected and abandoned. With the windows sealed up, mold spores grew wild and the plaster seemed to come off the walls a lot faster. Might as well have just left the windows open, it was pointless by then. Even with all that in mind, the building is in fair condition considering how long it has been sitting like it has. It was built very well.

Quite sad...its got to be over 14 years now that it has been vacant, I'am pretty sure it was early 1994 when the last tenants left. I used to go to the Mr.Sub in the Lister quite often, My mom was a member of Vic Tannys gym downstairs back in the eary 80's..its a solid building, like most buildings from that time, look at the old Century that place has been vacant for 20 years almost! I'am glad I atleast got to see these buildings when they were in full operation.

[Millstone]

I just hope those junk buildings facing Rebecca come down.