West Coast: $100,000 longshoreman: union wins the global game

Minneapolis Star Tribune ^ | Published Oct 6, 2002 | Steven Greenhouse New York Times

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

OAKLAND, CALIF. -- To American unions, globalization is a nefarious force that has wiped out the jobs of millions of well-paid blue-collar workers.

But the members of one union have played the global-trading system as well as any international investor: the longshoremen. They wield so much power that they have managed to obtain cradle-to-grave benefits and salaries to make many white-collar college graduates envious. For the longshoremen, globalization has been nothing but a blessing.

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[John Lenin]

Time to announce plans to build some new ports in Tijuana. These guys would jump back to work with a pay cut !

[outpost44]

Sounds like a union that REALLY needs to be busted up.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Amen to that!

[Texas Eagle]

So Unions are hypocritical, two-faced, double-talking, back-stabbing, frauds.

Who'da thunk it?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

See this:

In Silicon Valley, some work for just promise of pay (over 200 apply to job w/no pay)

[Orion]

Sounds like a union that REALLY needs to be busted up.

My dad is a professional union buster, and I can tell you that the person that breaks the ILWU will claim an 8 figure prize.

So, smart guy, if it is so easy, walk up and claim the fortune of a lifetime.

There is a reason these guys make that kind of money.

[Orion]

In Silicon Valley, some work for just promise of pay (over 200 apply to job w/no pay)

...and this is significant to the ILWU in what way?

[Orion]

Who'da thunk it?

Enron, Arthur Andersen, Worldcom, Global Crossing, Tyco, etc.

[goodnesswins]

"So, smart guy, if it is so easy, walk up and claim the fortune of a lifetime."

"So, smart guy," why don't you learn how to read....the poster didn't say it would be "easy." Sheesh. (Or possible, for that matter.)

[Ferris]

The association wants the right to introduce new technology to speed cargo handling,

The union is against increased efficiency for the business of getting goods to YOU...

They are attempting to hold the free mrket hostage to protect their own jobs as those jobs become increasingly less necessary... And therefore more expensive... To YOU...

The added pain that this shut down will cause to the American economy and it's businesses that rely on just in time inventory will shock the sheeple...

One day, conscious humans will realize that unions are part of the problem, not part of the solution...

[Cacique]

bokmark bump

[Spyder]

I got stuck with a liberal (self-described socialist) last night actually discussing these "poor dockworkers who had been locked out of their jobs!" She also was saying the horrible companies actually wanted to hire independent contractors so they wouldn't have to pay benefits. I asked her didn't she think someone making $100K per year could pay for their own insurance. She dithered a bit and then said she didn't believe they all made $100K and started into the "what about when they retire?" stuff.

Some of the libs just make it too easy.

And no, I couldn't really avoid her. Her husband and mine share an office - he's an NPR kind of guy and mine plays Rush in his down time.

[John Lenin]

No one has to break up a union if the job can be done offshore, the future trends are right in front of these guys faces. They can ignore the trends and be out of a job in no time.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

One other benefit: They get a paid day off to celebrate the birth of their Marxist founder, Harry Bridges.

Seems out of character with their founders ideology. They should contribute to those out of work in the Silicon Valley!

[BradyLS]

...and this is significant to the ILWU in what way?

They know how to bring home the bacon?

[willgetsome]

FROM A LONGSHORMAN ON ANOTHER WEBSITE'S FORUM:

"Well _______... if this was gonna be decided by public opinion I'd be concerned.. but this isn't a prom queen election... if PMA had been able to maneauver us into striking it'd have been dicy but now almost anything that happens benefits us.... we're ready to go back to work at anytime.... or stay locked out as long as they like... heck, even if MonkeyBoy orders PMA to let us back in, that works for us too... and when this is all over and we're back to work with a new contract we'll be making more money than ever... If Bush wants to get all froggy and jump in with PMA and actually attempt to bust us out of the ports ... well I'm guessing we won't be seeing another Repug President for a Long LONG time... "

"FEAR the clapping Monkey!"

[John Lenin]

I hope they are training crane operators as we speak.

[heleny]

Mexico's ports and roads cannot handle the cargo, Canadian longshoremen won't unload the diverted ships

What about increasing the number of ships sent directly to Canada from Asia or whatever? They're not "diverted." Truckers and trains would deliver the goods from Canada to wherever they were supposed to go, and bring US products and food for export back to the Canadian docks.

and East Coast ports are unavailable because the Panama Canal is too small to handle the huge Pacific ships.

Could some cargo (as much as they can handle... not necessarily all) be unloaded in Mexico or some central American country, trucked across, and then shipped to the East coast of the US?

[BradyLS]

It's pretty clear they don't have the security and economic well-being of this country in mind.

And this guy certainly doesn't sound like a person who earrns his money based on what he does, but rather on who he's with.

I'll bet there are some green-card holders (at LEAST) that'd like a crack at their jobs for half the pay or less. Probably desperate enough to suffer some slings and arrows to keep 'em, too.

[cryptical]

This is why the Homeland Security Department shouldn't be unionized.

[Skywalk]

Damn,

As soon as they allow it, I'm there. 100K? Heck, throw me 45 large and I'm down there, though I've heard it's somewhat dangerous work. Is that true?

[ambrose]

LIVE BETTER: BUST UNIONS

[Rome2000]

All states should be right to work states.

Unions are for socialists.

Stupid SOB's think management pays their salaries, when management just pases the cost on to the consumers.

For that very reason,$100,000 grand in a unionized hellhole like San Francisco is peanuts.

[paul544]

From another article
As part of the contract offer, union members would have received an increase in pay and health care coverage with no premiums and no deductibles and a $1 billion increase to the union's pension plan.

The shipping lines offered to reopen the West Coast ports if the union agreed to a 90-day contract extension to finalize the new contract, Sugerman said.

``It is time to settle this contract dispute,'' PMA President Joseph Miniace said in a letter to union president James Spinosa. ``This is a $1 billion offer ... Let's open the ports tomorrow. It's time to put the nation's interests ahead of ours.''

This makes my blood boil. The whole country should be outraged that 10,000 selfish SOBs are costing jobs all over the world. Bush needs to bust these !#& @$ and make sure no union can ever hold this country hostage again.

[ambrose]

The owners need to suck it up and bust this union now.

[oldironsides]

Starting salary for teachers in this tri state area is not good. It is even worse down south. We have district attorney's starting salaries below teachers wages. We have Teamster trash collectors making more than any of them.

[Lion's Cub]

Actually, these guys are playing right into Bush's hand. We'll stop importing stuff from Asia (especially China), and manufacturing will move into Central & South America. It's going there already.

[yoe]

Are the Longshoremen playing for the DNC? Is this a Daschle plan? If Unions such as this can strike during Wartime, then some of the rules have to be changed. I think the strike doesn't pass the smell test; something else is going on. What more can these workers want, palaces like those of Saddam? A pretty greedy bunch and totally unpatriotic.

[BullDog108]

How do the goods get here from Central and South America? Rail? Trucks? Planes?

[stationkeeper]

mexico and vancouver simply don't have the cargo handling capacity to absorb it all.

think in terms of an airport. if atlanta, denver, and dallas suddenly shut down, do you think little rock, austin, and savannah could handle all the planes and passengers?

[stationkeeper]

ships............ships carry the vast majority of all foreign trade in and out of this country.

[BullDog108]

That was my point re: Ernest_at_the_Beach's #23 Actually, these guys are playing right into Bush's hand. We'll stop importing stuff from Asia (especially China), and manufacturing will move into Central & South America. It's going there already.

The shipping imbroglio affects Asian products AND Latin American the same.

[BullDog108]

Make that Lion's Cub's post #23.

[Truth29]

You said conscious humans...

Unfortunately, the sheeple will blame management and the dems will rail against Republican businesses.

[ampat]

An excellent suggestion.

[ampat]

The unions' time is over. All they are now are money repositories for organized crime and corrupt...uuh all politicians.

[ServesURight]

Stupid SOB's think management pays their salaries, when management just pases the cost on to the consumers.

Well said and worth repeating.

FReecerely Yours,

[ReadMyMind]

Go ahead and bust the unions. While you're at it, why don't you roll back the gains non-union workers enjoy because of the battles fought by unions on behalf of all workers. Better give back your vacation pay, your sick pay, and get ready for your 72 hour work weeks buster.

Sure there have been abuses and corruption in unions, but I think on balance, the good that's come from unions outweighs the bad. You can't name one organization of thousands of people that has not been abused or corrupted in some way and unions are not an exception.


P.S. I run a business, I'm not a union member.

[Lion's Cub]

How do the goods get here from Central and South America? Rail? Trucks? Planes?

There used to be a map somewhere showing an overall plan. I don't even remember the site, so I can't go look for it.

Anyway, the plan was to develop in terms of "economic zones", and it showed the planned transportation hubs. It was mostly rail and trucking.

[Texas Eagle]

Eh? I don't get the connection.

[Orion]

OK, if you look at #6 and #10, you will see that I responded to your smart-a$$ comment that a union would be

hypocritical, two-faced, double-talking, back-stabbing, frauds.

I was pointing out that corporate America, the Pubbie handlers, have been taking all the two-faced, double-talking, back-stabbing, fraudulant honors of late.

It's my attempt to show reflexivly anti-union FReepers that their gods (corporations and their Pubbie goons) are just as deceitful as the unions of yore.

[Texas Eagle]

Ah, now I see what you are saying. You can't refute any of what I say so you resort to the tired old tactic of moral relativism.

Well, in case you hadn't noticed, all of the corporations you mentioned have been called on the carpet and had officers arrested and charged with crimes.

All but one, that is. The lone corporation that has yet to be held accountable is Global Crossing. Yes, the same Global Crossing that big-time DemocRAT fund-raiser Terry McAuliffe "invested" in and turned a 1,000 dollar investment into 100 thousand dollars.

Or, wait a minute.....was it big-time DemocRAT fund-raiser Hillary Clinton that did that?

Hmmmmmm.