Free Republic

Nearly 50,000 dockworkers launched a strike this week at ports from Maine to Texas — but, in a bizarre quirk that has resulted from massive concessions to the union over the decades, the affected ports only employ 25,000. There’s a massive gulf in the numbers between those who show up for work and total membership in the powerful International Longshoremen’s Association, which won a deal late Thursday for a 62% wage increase over the next six years. That’s because half of the dockworkers at the East and Gulf coast ports are allowed to sit at home collecting “container royalties” negotiated...

HOUSTON — The union for 45,000 United States dockworkers agreed to suspend their strike until Jan. 15 to provide time to negotiate a new contract, according to an Associated Press source. U.S. ports from Maine to Texas shut down Tuesday when the union representing about 45,000 dockworkers went on strike for the first time since 1977. The strike began at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday and halted operations at ports from Brownsville to Boston. The International Longshoremen’s Association wants significantly higher wages and a total ban on the automation of cranes, gates and container-moving trucks used in the loading or unloading of...

Contract proposals from the International Longshoremen's Association could "lock America back in the Stone Age for another six years," the CEO of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors warned on Tuesday. Appearing on FOX Business, NAW head Eric Hoplin told Maria Bartiromo the union's push to ban automation at gates and for cranes moving containers and unloading cargo is "unrealistic."... "Look around the globe. ...Rotterdam started moving to automation 30 years ago. We're already three decades behind," he said.... "The fact that the president is not intervening is a mistake," Hoplin continued. "So I've joined 200 other trade association CEOs representing...

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday he did not intend to intervene to prevent a port strike on the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico if dock workers failed to secure a new contract by an Oct. 1 deadline. “It’s collective bargaining. I don’t believe in Taft-Hartley,” he told reporters. Presidents can intervene in labor disputes that threaten national security or safety by imposing an 80-day cooling-off period under the federal Taft-Hartley Act.

On Sept. 27, US Rep. Majorie Taylor-Greene warned about the ramifications of a strike in a tweet. Rep. Greene claims, “It’s very important to understand how critical this is given that America is now in a $36 billion dollar food trade deficit for the first time in our nation’s history. Also, the Biden-Harris administration and congressional out-of-control spending have driven inflation so high that many Americans can’t afford quality of life. I think this situation is serious and, depending on whether they strike and how long it lasts, could be a crisis going into the election, holidays, and winter.

Even before the expected longshoremen's strike begins, we have learned a great deal about the shortsightedness and incompetence of the modern Democrat party. First, some background is in order: The United States have several dozen cargo-handling seaports, divided between the West Coast, the East Coast, the Gulf Coast, and the Great Lakes. While the Great Lakes still have a good deal of bulk shipping, the slick supply chain facilitated by modern containerization (the switch from moving cargo a pallet or crate at a time to moving it all in 20’ and 40’ intermodal containers, stacked by the thousands on containerships)...

A Washington DC firm, The Institute for Legislative Analysis (ILA), has published its report on the 2023 voting records of all 105 Idaho Legislators. ILA describes its mission as, “Advancing the limited government principles of the U.S. Constitution by increasing transparency within Congress and the 50 state legislatures.” Advertisement ILA uses a scoring system they have dubbed the Limited Government Index (LGI). They call this the “ultimate scorecard,” and based its creation on the work of the American Conservative Union’s ratings work, which took a decade to develop. “With over 38,665 votes the LGI’s congressional application has more unique sampled...

(Translation) Longshoremen's union leader Carlos Sánchez Ortiz and several employees of [International Longshoremen's Association] 1740 who work in the docks of San Juan face seven charges, among them fraud, labor extortion, and illegal appropriation, U.S. Attorney in Puerto Rico Stephen Muldrow announced. The group also faces charges of conspiracy, violation of the Organized Crime Law, and money-laundering. It is alleged that the accused appropriated over $1 million. Six of the arrested are males and one is a female. The accused face up to 20 years in prison for the crimes they presumably committed.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)—author of the federal “assault weapon” and “large” ammunition magazine ban of 1994-2004—has announced that on the first day of the new Congress—January 3rd— she will introduce a bill to which her 1994 ban will pale by comparison. On Dec. 17th, Feinstein said, “I have been working with my staff for over a year on this legislation” and “It will be carefully focused.” Indicating the depth of her research on the issue, she said on Dec. 21st that she had personally looked at pictures of guns in 1993, and again in 2012.According to a Dec. 27th posting on Sen. Feinstein’s website and a draft...

  There are few things quite like a mass arrest to serve as a reminder of the Mafia's continuing presence in American life. The mob roundup last Thursday morning, the largest in U.S. history, at once underscores the large dent that the Justice Department has been making in organized crime and how entrenched many of their operations have been. Some 800 FBI agents, U.S. marshals, state police and New York City cops fanned out and arrested nearly 120 wise guys and associates named in an 82-page, 16-count indictment for acts of murder, racketeering, money-laundering, loan-sharking, extortion and other offenses...

Dear Ted: First, I personally thank you for the valuable work you have done, and are doing, for the Second Amendment. You have used your talent, success, wit, and celebrity to fight for our freedoms. Additionally, you are a member of the Board of Directors of the NRA. So this letter is directed to you in strictly that capacity. Why? Because I believe that you will listen. And you have the standing and respect within the NRA to actually do something regarding the issues I’d like to bring to your attention. We at JPFO recently received a letter from an...

As the date for Supreme Court argument in District of Columbia v. Heller approaches, the filing of briefs has begun. The District filed its brief last week. In addition, various “amicus curiae” (friend of the court) briefs were filed with the court.

NEW YORK - Two executives of the International Longshoremen's Association and a reputed mobster who went missing mid-trial were acquitted Tuesday of charges that they helped the Mafia keep its grip on the New York waterfront. Supporters gasped and burst into tears as a federal jury in Brooklyn found union officials Harold Daggett and Arthur Coffey not guilty of extortion and fraud charges. The jury also acquitted Lawrence Ricci, an alleged Genovese crime family associate who had been accused of wire and mail fraud. But the victory may turn out to be empty for Ricci, who vanished in the middle...

    John Bowers, the aging president of the International Longshoremen’s Association, had gone to meet a local union official at the Smith & Wollensky in Miami Beach. Inside, he was surprised to discover George Barone seated amid the polished brass and dark wood decor of the pricey waterfront steakhouse.     Barone was no stranger. A Genovese family member, he once controlled ILA locals in New Jersey and Miami. He also had coldly killed at least 10 people, by his own count, as a mob enforcer.     In a sworn deposition, Bowers recounted the conversation:     ‘‘You’re doing a wonderful job,’’ Barone told him. ‘‘We...

As millions of children look forward to a break from school, millions of oth­ers only wish they could begin. For these children, summer days will not be spent in ballparks and play­grounds, but on battlegrounds or in fields. These children have no time for play. It's all work. And the work is dirty, hard and dangerous. According to the International Labor Organization's (www.ilo.org) global report, "A Future Without Child Labor," 246 million children worldwide are in­volved in child labor, which should be abolished. The study found that 179 mil­lion children ages 5 to 17 are exposed to forms of child...

The Illinois House and Senate could take action on these bills at any time! It is urgent that you call and write your State Representative and State Senator immediately and urge them to oppose these bills. Also, continue to call your elected officials and remind them that you will not accept a gun ban. On Thursday, March 13, SB 1195 (Semi-Auto Manufacture, Transfer and Possession Ban) passed the Senate Judiciary Committee by a vote of 6-4. SB 1195 now comes before the Illinois Senate for debate. Following this action, the anti-gun House Speaker Michael Madigan reconvened the House Judiciary Committee,...