[Wphile]

I don't think the union is the problem here...

Oh, yes it is. The union is fighting technology which can better track and record the ins/outs at the ports. The unions want to insure that any technology related jobs be union jobs. The dockworkers want to keep their $100,000+ jobs so they can walk around with a clipboard and write it all down. It's utterly ridiculous.

Bush should intervene and get the ports open again. Many industries are already feeling the impact, as this article shows.

Screw the union label.

[Northpaw]

How skilled are these positions? How about hiring some non-union employees at $65K to $75K a year? Think of the savings.

[Billy_bob_bob]

This is a classic example of unreasonable behavior leading to unreasonable behavior. Of course the workers should be using new technology to be more efficient. However, since the behavior of the management class has been so utterly rapacious lately there is no chance that the union workers are going to believe a word management says. So, they dig in their heels and balk at a perfectly reasonable technology upgrade, because they expect it to be used as a weapon against them in the end.

Sorry, but I'm a whole lot more sympathetic to unions than I ever was before. Something about watching the antics of too many CEO's for too long. When the CEO's and the CFO's have been using every excuse in the book to ship away jobs, like importing H1-B workers to drive down wages, or cooking the books and looting pension plans, they have shot their wad as far as credibility goes. At this point I wouldn't believe a CEO if they said the sky was blue.