Bush Intervenes in Port Lockout

Associated Press via Yahoo ^ | October 7, 2002 | SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer

[rockrr]

Actually, I think Mr. Bush's responses have been rather "textbook" so far.
The dockworker lockout issue is a no-winner for conservatives who are looked on as largely anti-union (and LARGELY anti-union). GW issued the prerequisite admonishments for both parties to stop posturing and return to the tables a week ago. Now he is setting up a commission to determine who is hindering the negotiation process. Remarkable restraint if you ask me.
The Taft-Hartley Act has been invoked at least three times in the past regarding dockworker strikes (notably in 1938), and has ultimately proven to be a stopgap solution at best.
Oh, and my sentiments towards the dockworkers? I say BUST 'EM!

[kezekiel]

I live in Huntington Beach, which is about 17 miles south of the port in LA/Long Beach. The container ships are stacked up all the way down here, like a big line at the drive-through, spaced a couple hundred yards apart.

[kezekiel]

these poor bastards must now go back to work for their $80-$160 K per year...

I'm an unemployed high tech worker, and I'd take one of those jobs for less than they make and be thrilled with it, and in a year I'd be thier boss because I actually show up to work, not for work.

[2grit]

The reports I've read indicate the union members have been conducting a work slow down for some time to make operation next to impossible. In response, a lock-out was called to bring the situation to a head. If I'm misinformed, let me know.

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

Praise GOD! This takes huge courage! It IS the right thing! Thank you, President Bush!

[Smogger]

Why is it do you think that longshoreman make so much? Would you care to hazard a guess?

I'll give you a hint. It's the same reason brakeman/switchman (who are also union) make so much working for the railroad.

[Bella_Bru]

Thanks, John. It has been annoying me too that some folks around here get "lockout" and "strike" confused.

[Smogger]

to make operation next to impossible.

I didn't read that "operation were made next to impossible" [sic]. I did, however, read that the owners alledge that a work slowdown took place last month. This is a common labor negotiating tactic similar to the "blue flue" that occurs everytime the LAPD or LA County Sheriff's Departments contracts expire and they are forced to work without a contract.

100K a year dock workers may not command much sympathy from me, but billion dollar multinational conglomerates get even less.

[adnoid]

I completely agree that (Big) Government should be out of it. So what is the purpose of the NLRB http://www.nlrb.gov , which brings suit against employers that replace striking workers? THAT is an agency of Big Government that needs to go TODAY.

[truth_seeker]

This resident of Huntington Beach, about 15 miles down the coast from LB/LA harbor is watching a truly stunning sight.

While yet to see 200 vessels, we've counted 20 and more, waiting just a few miles offshore. Never in 34 years has anything remotely like this happened. I bet never in the history of the port.

The combined Los Angeles/Long Beach harbors are the largest commercial port in the US. Two separate entities, next to each other.

I sure hope that a ship doesn't hit one of about eight offshore oil platforms.

The longshoremen live well, on $100 k per annum. They want to keep technology out of the work. Most of the jobs at stake are clerical.

All of the vessels standing offshore are an environmental and national security risk. An al Qaeda operative could theoretically go out among the waiting vessels, and do the suicide bomb-boat terror-act. Then blame it on the US, for not "protecting" the foreign vessel and crew.

I wonder if some crew members are discussing a strip ashore? Immigration issue, too.

One thing for sure: It is a once in a lifetime sight. The ships are huge. So many in one place.

[Moosefart]

Im a fireman here in Indiana and I belong to one of these "EVIL" unions. What lazy, overpaid scum we are...along with our brothers in NYC and around the country. LMAO!!!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The Longshoremen used to control he docks around the Great Lakes, too, but the shippers got wise. Since most of what they haul is bulk commodities like iron ore, coal and stone, the vessels were designed to unload themselves. They don't need tugs, either since they have bow and stern thrusters and can bring themselves up to a dock without Longshoremen.

[snopercod]

My guess is that they will try to portray Bush as anti-union and pro-big business.

That goes without saying. But in this case, too many people know that these unskilled workers have rejected salaries and benefits that the rest of us can only dream about. Even union people will not support these overpaid scum.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Makes me wonder why I bothered going to college.

[snopercod]

Free market?

Are you implying that I could go...say...Long Beach and be hired to drive a fork lift for...well, hell...I'd do it for $100,000 per year?

I have seen these union thugs at work, and my car would be bashed and battered as I drove through their picket lines in an attempt to get to work. I would probably be shot.

Usually, the crooked cops stand by and watch, too.

I am not making this up. I have personally observed it in Laughlin, NV, in 1980 when Southern California Edison was on strike. I saw the guns, I saw the headlights being broken with 2x4s, and I saw the Sheriff's Deputies standing around and watching, but doing nothing.

Is this your idea of a free market, newbie?

[KDD]

People choose to join a union, even if a job is "closed shop." Going into that situation, a worker knows that the union will bargain on his behalf with management.

And what do you think would happen if the Company started bringing in replacements for these "slowed down" workers? If the employer does not have the power to terminate an employee if he wants to then the whole concept of "free trade" is skewed. Good for Bush if he does this. He gets some badly needed points in my book.

[KDD]

Are you implying that I could go...say...Long Beach and be hired to drive a fork lift for...well, hell...I'd do it for $100,000 per year

Hell, I'll even bring my own forklift.

[snopercod]

Makes me wonder why I bothered going to college.

Don't get me started. These days in post-industrial America, the high-school dropouts are the smart ones.

[mrs9x]

The problem, buddy, is that you are assuming a free market to begin with. It's not. Federal law requires negotiations with unions. In a free market, if the longshoremen don't show up for work, the businesses can fire those guys and hire new works. But federal law doesn't allow that. So it's not even a free market to begin with.

[carton253]

Are unions evil... of course not. Are they all lazy, overpaid scum... of course not.

My father works at Ford. Last year, he made over $100,000. I don't have a problem with that. I don't envy anyone their salaries. If someone is willing to pay him $100,00 for the following, then I say more power to my father:

He reads his morning paper on the job.

He works out on the job.

He is only allowed to manufacturer so many parts then he is done. If he is done by 10:00, then the rest of the day is his.

He gets in a 2 hour nap.

He has full benefits.

I don't blame the union members; they seemed to have worked themselves a pretty good deal. I blame the employer for allowing this kind of thing to go on.