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Vets_Husband_and_Wife posted:
Your post #6 crossed my mind too! I have a hard time feeling pity for people who strike who make the kind of money, or that baseball players make, etc. If they feel they need more pay, fine, but make your waves in a less destructive manner, and perhaps they should time it a tad better too!

Wait a minute, folks. Whatever may be said vis-a-vis "unions", and what is going on with the West Coast Longshoremen, it is not -- repeat, for emphasis: IS NOT -- a "strike".

The dock workers were LOCKED OUT by MANAGEMENT: i.e., the workers are not "withholding their labor". Rather, management is denying them the opportunity to work by "locking the gates" to the docks. Hence, "lockout".

The dock workers, in response, gather each day by the gates, but they are not "picketing". They are there waiting to return to work when management opens the gates again.

It is NOT a "strike".

I know there is a wellspring of anti-union sentiment here on Free Republic (for the record, _I_ am a union member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers), but stop claiming these workers are doing something they are not -- and what they are NOT doing is "striking"...

Cheers!
- John

The dock workers were LOCKED OUT by MANAGEMENT: i.e., the workers are not "withholding their labor". Rather, management is denying them the opportunity to work by "locking the gates" to the docks. Hence, "lockout".
The dock workers, in response, gather each day by the gates, but they are not "picketing". They are there waiting to return to work when management opens the gates again.
It is NOT a "strike".
I know there is a wellspring of anti-union sentiment here on Free Republic (for the record, _I_ am a union member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers), but stop claiming these workers are doing something they are not -- and what they are NOT doing is "striking"...

I am glad that you pointed this out because I was just about to do so. The number of posters rushing to criticize the union members for "striking" when they are in fact "locked out" amazes me. Don't people even read the articles that are posted?

I fail to see how Bush ordering a return to work could "energize" the union base when he is going against management by ordering longshoremen back to work.

OK, I stand corrected. But either way, whoever is responsible is WRONG!!

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

What you say may be technically true, but Daschle's "pro-strike" comments, cited in another reply, certainly makes it look as if he thinks the Union's on strike. Whether it's a strike or a lock-out, however, is irrelevant: the two sides are at loggerheads, there is a perceptible impact on the economy (even Teamster/trucker Union Brothers and Sisters are being impacted), so something should be done. The President won't avoid Democrat criticism if he sits on the sidelines, so he might as well use the Democrat-created tools for dealing with these disputes.

The dock workers were LOCKED OUT by MANAGEMENT: i.e., the workers are not "withholding their labor". Rather, management is denying them the opportunity to work by "locking the gates" to the docks. Hence, "lockout".
The dock workers, in response, gather each day by the gates, but they are not "picketing". They are there waiting to return to work when management opens the gates again.

It is NOT a "strike".

I recognize it's not a strike, technically speaking, but you'd never know that from looking at the people involved. I work on Harbor Island in Seattle, and for the past week I've had to drive past the "picketing" (how's that?) workers who are most assuredly not just sitting there waiting to be let back into work. In fact, there's only about a couple dozen guys/gals out there, when I know there are FAR more workers at the terminals here.

I think what burns me most is that they're using all the parking at our office complex here, since they can't park at the terminals. And just the constant annoyance of the rigs driving by "honking" their support... an endless barrage of air horns all day. Try doing your boring desk work with that racket going on for a week.

And speaking of their cars, not to pull a classic democrat move and make this a class warfare issue, but the cars these people drive are pretty nice. If you ask me, in a down economy, the LAST thing these highly paid people need to be doing is complaining about their contract. They should be thanking their lucky stars that they have such cool things as cradle-to-grave benefits, highest wages among blue-collar workers, etc. And they're one of the few industries in Seattle that hasn't suffered the layoffs (yet) that other businesses here are facing.

And yet, through their selfish actions, the layoffs here are only going to be worse, and the ports may just have to fire some of their sorry union butts after all.

What I can't figure out is, they've been working without a contract for 3 months now... why only recently did they engage in their work slowdown? If I were management and I had a bunch of workers doing a sloppy and slow job, yeah, I'd lock 'em out too. I'd also be doing whatever I could to hire and train replacements, but hey, that's just me.

They did a 'work slow-down'. This is about not wanting to lose jobs to hi-tech - using barcodes to move freight better and quicker - lower prices for everyone!