[mrbun]

You seem to be fairly consumed by the fact that these people make a good wage. I'm assuming that you've never spent any time on or around the waterfront because if you had, more than likely you would begin to understand how dangerous these jobs really can be. Hence, the high wages. The ILWU isn't asking for anything extravagant, only to keep what they have fought hard for over the past 68 years. Keep in mind that during this lockout, the shipping companies are losing their butts, as are the dockworkers. But the middleman, the Pacific Maritime Assoc.(PMA), who initiated the lockout, are still collecting their fat checks.

[sinkspur]

Hence, the high wages.

The high wages are due to past job actions of the longshoremen, whose strikes in the 60s and 70s were legendary.

Firefighters have much more dangerous jobs than longshoremen, yet most make half of what these guys do.

I don't really care what they make. What gripes me is that they won't allow productivity improvements on the docks without forcing union scale on what are essentially management jobs.