Another factoid, re: unions and doing business in RI. I attended a large industrial auction in Providence this morning. What struck me as unusual was that there were 3 policemen on "detail" there. I attend a lot of these auctions (rarely in the City of Providence) and have never seen a police detail before. I assume this wasnot a matter of choice. So, $135 - 180 was added to the hourly cost of the auction, about 16 hours.