What is your take on the Longshoreman's strike?

I’m probably going to get ridiculed for my opinion, but so be it.
I watched an interview on ABC News last night and a dock worker said they make 100,000 a year and were demanding a 70,000 increase because they couldn’t live on 100k. I was pretty stunned. I’ve worked with Phycian Assistants that make about 80K a year and spend about half of that paying back student loans.
I think making 170k a year for unskilled labor is asking too much.
Again, this is my opinion.

I’m very pro union and worked as a union member for over 30 years, and was a full time union rep for 10.

However, after hearing what they’re looking for, I feel like it’s greedy. As far as them not wanting more technology at the docks, I feel like it’s inevitable in today’s society that technology can take over and can be a help, can make things more efficient, etc.

As far as what they want, this is the detail from NY Times (Cut and pasted). I feel like this is extra greedy:
Under the expired contract, the most senior longshoremen earn a top rate of $39 an hour. That’s up 11 percent from the start of their previous six-year contract. But over that same period, inflation has risen 24 percent. And while longshoremen with seniority can earn more than $200,000 a year with overtime, they say they have to put in long workweeks to earn that much.

The I.L.A. had been asking for a $5-an-hour raise for each of the six years of the new contract, which for the top-earning longshoremen would mean $69 an hour in the final year of the agreement, or a 77 percent total increase. But Mr. Daggett told CNBC on Tuesday that the union was now pushing for a roughly 61.5 percent raise. These offers could keep changing in the course of the negotiations.

The Maritime Alliance said on Monday evening that its latest offer would increase wages “nearly 50 percent” over the life of the contract — higher than a previous proposal. But the union rejected the offer.

Mr. Daggett recently said the raises offered by the Maritime Alliance were “insulting.” He has pointed to the billions of dollars major ocean shipping companies have made in recent years, arguing workers deserve a fair share. Employers in the Maritime Alliance made windfall profits during 2021 and 2022 when the pandemic prompted a surge in trade.

They’re also fighting automation and the results may have ripple effects in other industry. I have strong feelings about the whole situation but I’ll wait a little to vent. Someone here may sway me thoughts.

The only unions I do not support are police unions, because their only seeming purpose is to shield cops from the law.
And some advice: If you look at their demands and think “they are so greedy, I make so much less than them”, maybe your reaction should not be “they need to earn less”, but “I should demand more.”
Also reconsider judging their work as “lesser”. It maybe “unskilled”, though that is disputable. But it is physically demanding. It is dangerious. It is bad for long term health. And maybe, just maybe, their demands for compensation are entirely reasonable.

@ragingloli i hear you but when I was working, even though I made a good salary and benefits, if, as a union representative we went to the bargaining table asking for 61% or 50% or whatever that the Longshoremen’s union is looking for, we would have been laughed out of the room and perceived as unreasonable. There is reasonable and there is unreasonable.

“we would have been laughed out of the room”. I think that depends on your leverage and your willingness to bring it to bear.

I found this information interesting. Harold Daggett, the president of the union leading the strike, has a long standing relationship with Trump. He asked his union to pray for Trump after the first assassination attempt, and is now causing major damage to a roaring economy five weeks before the election.

Hmmm

Make no mistake, if Trump just keeps his mouth shut on this it’s to his benefit.

@ragingloli I’m guessing that even if the firemen or other essential personnel were looking for this type of contract, theyd be laughed out of the room and in the near future, replaced.

“maybe your reaction should not be “they need to earn less”, but “I should demand more.”

Only 9% of Americans belong to a union. Who’s going to demand more and how? I’m not saying they need to “earn less”, but they don’t need a 50–60% raise!

@smudges Unionise, unionise, unionise! Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose, but your chains!

So now after the huge hurricane where entire towns are wiped out and people need to rebuild, there are going to be shortages of building materials and what is there will be sky high.

Longshoremen are correctly scared about AI and automation cutting the need for them.
It’s inevitable.

@chyna
Of course you’ll be ridiculed. Unless we’re judging wrong….and you actually have worked physical, unskilled labor…...dealing with sweat, fatigue, male aggression, bullying, injuries and everything else that comes with it.

The other person claiming to have worked for a union is alluding to the fact that they were probably just an office person.

@Blackberry I worked in the field, visiting (by myself) many of the same clients that Probation wouldn’t visit without another officer present and both had guns. My clients were mentally ill, substance abusers, child abusers, sex abusers, and I visited these people in their homes by myself. As a matter of fact, in the department I worked in, a worker who did the exact work I did was beaten to death by a man who was high, when she went to his house. She was in a coma for a few weeks until her family pulled the plug. So no, I was not “just an office person.”

I think the ILA leadership is very smart. They picked a perfect time to go on strike…right before an election where the incumbent administration has already screwed the economy and isn’t showing any signs of changing if they are re-elected. The economy is a huge topic for the election. A sudden jar to the existing economy will push people away from the incumbents. When people see bare shelves, they will get pissed off…again and more. So the political pressure to settle with the union will be enormous. And they have seen what the rest of the world has seen…that the current administration is weak and inept. They will cave to try giving themselves a win right before election time. Picking this time to make extravagant demands is a stroke of genius.

Yes, what a “stroke of genius” to hold Americans hostage in their inability to buy the goods and services they need because a person with 34 felons, 6 bankruptcies and a history of cheating his employees out of their earned wages, along with cheating on all of his wives wants to be president.

This is their last big chance to try to stop their jobs from being automated and in doing so, have made that inevitable. What if utility workers, first responders, sanitation workers or others who are critical to keeping people alive on a day-to-day basis went on a prolonged strike? This is no different. It’s one thing to squeeze your company for better wages, it’s something completely different to squeeze a significant chunk of the world economy and deprive people of things they may need like life-saving medicine. It’s no different than threatening to drop a bomb on a city unless a ransom is paid. I get that the shipping companies are raking in obscene cash but that does not mean that their employees are entitled to lavish amounts of it as well. They get paid very extremenly well for this work already.

I’m pro-union, I’m a member of one and work closely with many other union workers. It’s critical to keep unions in public favor and run them responsibly. They really do give workers better wages, benefits, and safer working conditions. This ILA strike is not that. It’s overstepping and undermines reasonable collective bargaining across the board for the rest of us. They are the proverbial turd in the punchbowl. Then there are the political and frankly, mob ties to this action. The shipping companies love this. They will never cave to the anti-automation demands and they’ll get to charge whatever the hell they want in the aftermath. Certain critical things need to be Gov’t controlled and out of the private sector to keep this bullshit from happening like utilities, and healthcare just to name a few. I think we can add this to the list. Suffice to say, These ILA workers need to pressure their union leadership mob bosses to take the generous offer and then use what time they have to find themselves other work because their cheese has moved.

Automation is a certainty and it should be welcomed. This is dangerous work that should be done mostly by machines anyway. We don’t harvest crops by hand anymore or have scribes hand-copying books. The printing press or cotton gin did not end work, it removed drudgery and dangerous work.

Whatever raise they get, who ultimately pays? We do, the consumer, when goods and services go up due to shipping costs. So when prices go up and we get pissed, and say it’s Biden’s fault, it will be due to shipping costs. When stores and other places raise prices and we get pissed that they’re price gouging, they’re going to say it’s due to shipping costs and we won’t be able to tell if it is or it isn’t.

If the market will bear price gouging, prices will be gouged. Anything critical needs gov’t intervention to keep that from happening. That’s the small socialist voice in me.

I think everyone makes a choice on whats fair or unfair wages, thats our right. Our opinion may not always be our bosses opinion. So they may strike and it may work out but the timing is a bit suspicious.

@chyna Are you suggesting the ILA is doing this to support Trump?!? Talk about a conspiracy theory!!

Well, FFS, the stores around here are now out of TP and paper towels. People are so stupid.

@chyna I’ll agree with that…people are stupid when it comes to things like this. They panic and lose control. They are afraid if they don’t get it (whatever “it” happens to be) now, someone else will buy it all up and then there will be a big delay in getting more. But you made the comment that sounded amazingly like the ILA was going on strike to get Trump elected. That is what sounded like a huge conspiracy theory to me.

Selling out of gas and tp here, too. Also most tp is American made but I guess pwople don’t understand that.
Also linemen from our city are there helping today (Springfield, Mo.)

News says Costco stores from Arizona to New Jersey are sold out of toilet paper. I think paper towels are low, too.

I just bought a 30 pack of TP before the strike, coincidentally, so I’m good for about two months.

We’ve had several months worth of TP for quite some time now. We use up the old and as we use one or two packages, we start looking for it to be on sale and then go replenish. But this is not something that even needs to be worried about. As far as I know we don’t have Charmin shipped in from overseas.

I know but if everyone is hoarding it, there will be none available for anyone.

Upside is that the orangutan will find it harder to pelt flood victims with TP.

And PT.

It does look suspiciously like someone’s October surprise.

If everyone gets a raise then no one does. Inflation will claw back any gains. From everyone.

With the exception of those on fixed incomes, (seniors, disabled) they would lose out.

They did a temporary settlement until mid January. 62% over 6 years.

A friend calculated it before and said if they settled for half of what they were looking for, they’d make 500 more per week at the end of the contract.

The best raise is one continuously adjusted to inflation. Plus a little bit extra .

I just watched a YouTube video on How money works.

I would like to see them getting a +77% wage and adjusted for inflation monthly, but no to the ban on tech moderation, as they would make America shipping slower than the competitors in Canada and Mexico.

O V E R

I took my father shopping today and I didn’t see any hoarding. We went to three stores and it was a typical 2pm Thursday crowd. Kind of quiet. Two stores were out of tartar sauce but I doubt people are hoarding that. ;)