America's highest paid union at existential risk from widened Panama Canal

americanthinker.com ^ | 3/21/2019 | C Street

[rktman]

West Coast Longshore and Warehouse Union, whose members earn average wages and benefits of $285,000 by raising labor hell, is facing existential risk from the widened Panama Canal.

The San Francisco Chronicle described the 42,000 card-carrying International Longshore and Warehouse Union members that since 1934 has maintained iron-fisted control of all 29 West Coast commercial ports, "the aristocrats of the working class."

ILWU full-time workers receive an average of $175,000 in annual wages, along with a non-wage benefits package costing more than $110,000 per active worker per year. Benefits include fully paid health care, employer 401(k) matching, 13 paid holidays, six weeks of paid vacation, and eligibility for $95,000 pensions with lifetime health care.

[rktman]

Man would that suck huh? Thinkin' this ain't the kind of job you just walk in off the street and get right? LOL!

[faithhopecharity]

WOW!

[rktman]

$ha$hing!

[PGR88]

In 2015, this union held every importer/exporter and the entire nation’s economy hostage when they shut down west coast ports.

[BBQToadRibs]

I KNEW college was a mistake.

[rktman]

I do recall the shut down.

[blueunicorn6]

I’ll bet that if you look at a roster of union members, you’ll see lots of them with the same last names.

[faithhopecharity]

Definitely!
just join a thug gang like those guys did
and triple your income

[blueunicorn6]

$285,000

Huh.

I wonder why they’re trying to automate all those dock jobs.

[hanamizu]

I KNEW college was a mistake.

---

Likely not. You are not getting into this union unless you already have a family member in it. If I’m not mistaken, they were dead set against the idea of cargo containers since one of the perks of their jobs was dropping a box of expensive watches, electronics etc while it was being unloaded and making off with some of the nice stuff. The sealed containers slowed that sort of thing down.

[rockinqsranch]

“Thinkin’ this ain’t the kind of job you just walk in off the street and get right? LOL!”

In the early ‘70’s I was a member of the ILWU union in the LA/LB harbors. Wages sucked. The union demanded my membership fee, and didn’t do squat for it.

I had been in administrative before, but due problems with wife at the time I went union trying to make her less problematic. Made more money non union, so quit, got rid of the source of my problems, and went back to non union administrative position. Made twice the money at the time.

In the ‘80’s things changed. My new wife, and myself actually tried to join the union as it was vastly improved, BUT we couldn’t. Had to be sponsored, or minority to get on.

[rktman]

Yeah, because none of that stuff disappears now. :-)

[RayChuang88]

And now, I really wonder would Panama—once the new wider docks become more busy—seriously consider rebuilding the original locks to the “New Panamax” size. If that happens, that could result in a gigantic “hit” on the ILWU because you know the shipping companies will just route everything through the widened Panama Canal.

[onedoug]

I love ships. Not as enthusiastic though about shipping.

[Gay State Conservative]

$285K? I know physicians who don’t make that much.

[central_va]

These jobs are not for average humans. You are born into this caste.

[hanamizu]

Yeah, because none of that stuff disappears now. :-)

---

I’m sure it does, but it’s a bit more difficult and when containers were first proposed the union guys were unhappy because they couldn’t see how they could get as many goodies as before. No doubt they underestimated themselves.

As a bit of background, my mom worked for years for a marine surveyor in Wilmington, Cal. Marine surveyors (for those who don’t know) are part of the shipping insurance industry, paying for loses of cargo due to damage, theft, etc. Lots of stuff disappeared/disappears.

[Osage Orange]

I knew a Pediatrician in SoCal...that made less than $100k...a few years back.

Knew a OBGY Doc...who was going broke..because of Liability Insurance costs....

[Osage Orange]

I know a HVAC guy making $175k a year.....

[weps4ret]

Having spent 22 years working as a Health, Safety, and Environmental Manager after retiring from the military for the largest West Coast Stevedore and then the Largest U.S. Stevedore, there is much truth to this.
I covered from Port Hueneme to San Diego, with 90% of my work being in LA/LB Harbors, which at that time was handling 75% of all container traffic in the U.S.
I transferred to the PNW and covered from Seattle to Portland. The ILWU is the highest paid blue collar workforce in the world. And they will slam the door on cargo movement on the entire West Coast if a brother or sister is fired and they do not get their way out of the labor relations dispute.
If they show up for a job, and the job is shut down for any reason, they still are paid for the entire shift.
There are ways to get into the union, I had two chances, but refused them. The goal of the ILWU has always been to unionize all of the Stevedore companies from top to bottom.
The LA Harbor pilots are in the ILWU, and probably half of the Port Police are casual members. The town of San Pedro, CA is solidly controlled by the ILWU, and Port Commission in most ports usually have at least one ILWU member on the commission.
They have always been politically active, but more so in the last 20 years, and are regular invitees to congressional hearings.
Lastly, Harry Bridges, the founder was a card carrying communist.