Posted on 10/01/2024 7:40:15 PM PDT by ChicagoConservative27
Roughly 25,000 striking dockworkers at ports along the East and Gulf Coasts of the U.S. are rallying for higher pay and stronger guardrails around their jobs being automated out of existence.
Members of the International Longshoremen's Association, or ILA, a union representing the dockworkers, walked off the job Tuesday for the first time in nearly 50 years as they push for "the kind of wages we deserve," ILA President Harold Daggett said in a social media post on Tuesday.
Those wages, union officials argue, should factor in the torrid inflation that eroded dockworkers' paychecks under their now lapsed labor contract with the United States Maritime Alliance, known as USMX, which represents ports and ocean carriers. As the industry profits, longshore workers "continue to be crippled by inflation due to USMX's unfair wage packages," the ILA said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
That is not alot of money where I live. The cost of living is high where I live. It is easy to say for me to move, but its kind of hard when so many years have been invested working in one organization and being tied down with owning a home.
The workers love the arrangement because it lets them work a second job (more like a first job).
The terminal operators and shipping lines love the arrangement because it gets the ships unloaded faster.
“$24.75 per hour after two years on the job and to $31.90 after three years, topping out at $39 for workers with at least six years of service. That isn’t bad money for what they do.”
Except that junior workers do not necessarily get full-time hours. The hours are allocated to senior people.
“Not bad money, but not great. The minimum is less than $50k, The max is less than $80k.”
The max is well over $200,000. They average around $140,000 plus another 50k in bennies. I’m a controls engineer with 30 years experience & make a little over over 6 figures. Guess how much sympathy I have for the ILU
exactly she needs a save the day moment, save the already faltering US economy caused by them. Create a crisis and have the solution nearby
“Most of them will be replaced by robots.”
A lot of the work already has... it’s inherent to the containerization that occurred 50+ years ago. Very innovative.
The railroad system can track every container on every train car with sensors along the routes. The whole process is technologically robust.
Once off loaded the shuttling of containers around the shipyard to the trucking or rail heads in the proximity of that same Shipyard has gone the way of logistical automation.
Commerce drives this bus, maintaining the flow of commerce in and out of our country, and the distribution thereof is where the jobs are.
Next look at the push to get Trucking automated where it is driverless... there are just certain jobs that cannot be done by automation alone. But many within the logistical train can be automated and that includes many portside specialities.
Most of it is containers. Some loading of cruise ships.
Sitting in a huge air-conditioned/heated crane or a 20-ton forklift to move the containers around. I think that there is a bit of down-time too while waiting on trucks, trains, etc.
A number getting touted on X is that on average they make $145k a year as well as $35k in medical benefits. The medical benefits seems REALLY high, so I think both numbers might be fake.
That said, the garbage drivers in Seattle went on strike several years ago. They had documented wages of something like $105k a year on average.
Years ago Boeing went on strike. Part of it was over having to start paying a five dollar co-pay on doctor’s visits!!
Automation would cut down a lot of the cargo theft at the ports. Also, tightening the container rules would help.
This is from CBS - other sources say they average $147K a year plus $35K in health benefits...some are making $300K - for operating equipment that can be automated...
They were offered a 50% increase. That should be more than adequate for these people. Looks like some of them make as much as cops, a job with far more responsibility and dangwr.
No wonder management wants to replace as many as possible with automation. REGARDLESS, these thugs and management shouldn’t be allowed to hold the public Hostage. Taft-Hartley should be imposed.
If Biden had any guts, he’s have them fired and put the national guard in their place.
They could come back for half pay.
I am NOT for union-busting, but unions are becoming like a parasite that kills its host.
Automation WILL HAPPEN and they best they can hope for is to keep their jobs until they retire. They will phase themselves out.
Plus, someone has to maintain the machines.
As Rush used to say, the unions would have banned the automobile industry to protect the horse and buggy manufacturers.
This union is for the Gulf & East Coast West Coast is a different union
THEY ARE STRIKING FOR A 77% increase.
SHIPPING CONTAINERS
WITH CRANES
NOT HAND WORK
I have owned 3 homes -—12966 to now.
I MOVED 3 times
ON MY OWN & SINGLE
They make an easy 6-figures.
The train operations, not too much graft with them.
If you’re driving a semi, wanting to pick a container off the port, it’ll cost you unless you want to wait all day. Nothing gets your container faster that slipping some cash into the palms of the yard dogs and forklift folks.
They probably double their money, half being cash
Depends on the port. It also depends on the shift.
That must be an average because workers need to make much more than that in such expensive areas as Los Angeles and New York City.
NEWSOM HAS caused HAVOC at Calif ports:
He will not let older trucks into the state.
ONLY the newest most modern trucks.....
Caused a MASSIVE backlog 2-3 years ago.
Ships were PARKED out in the Pacific as far as anyone could see-—waiting to get in & get unloaded.
1966 sorry
Those are just the base hourly rates. Doesn’t count the benefit funds that shippers also pay into - union bosses use those to pay workers who work fewer hours, that is, getting paid while not working.
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