Did I miss the thread on this? What are we thinking as short term and long term fallout?
Biden is a tough bind here. This could easily cost the Dems the election if it lasts more than a week. We’ll see how long that friend of the unions lasts.
While I am concerned about produce at home at my wife’s hospital they are already planning for short supplies. They are hoping for the best but planning for a supply situation that makes COVID look like a picnic.
1 Like
Seeing discourse online (most from kids) surprised longshoremen make so much.
I, on the other hand, am surprised longshoremen make so little!
They start at $20, make $24.75/hr after 2 years, $31.90/hr after 3, and top out at $39. Most ports are on the coast where it’s really expensive to live.
As asphalt raking labourer here STARTS at $39.44! Operating Engineer union (journeymen crane operators) start at $56.33/hr.
Why be a longshoreman when any construction labourer starts at more than you can ever make?
Probably just a coincidence.
Daggett’s chummy connection with Trump is no secret. That’s why I don’t think it’s completely clear that this will help Trump if it drags out. If the widespread perception is that the timing of the strike could be politically motivated to help Trump, this could backfire.
Didn’t the workers vote to strike?
Knowing Trump killed the bipartisan border bill didn’t improve Democrats approval ratings on border security. If this strike if fully backed by Trump it won’t move the needle.
Yes, of course. But wouldn’t union leadership have some control on when to decide that contract negotiations were at an impasse and initiate a strike vote? I don’t know.
The absurdity on this theory is awesome…Unionized longshoremen are in the bag to defeat Democrats…unless Democrats no longer care about the working class which would then make it make sense
It does sound absurd. Next they might add other absurd things like trying to connect the longshoreman union with the mafia. Oh wait…
Working class? The guy driving the strike lives in a 7,500 square foot house and drives a Bentley
Harold Daggett’s sprawling NJ mansion has Bentley, 5-car garage and guest house (nypost.com)
1 Like
Been trying to read up a bit more and it seems the union is asking for 50+% increase as well as 300% increase in pension contributions.
I mean is this negotiating 101 to aim extremely high and expect less? That’s fuxkign absurd.
Edit: did I read that wrong? Maybe that was the latest offer by USMX? The union asked for 70%?
Yes, from what I saw they turned down a 50% increase and are demanding a 70% increase
That’s similar to what I’ve seen, though the 68% increase that I read about was proposed to be phased in over 6 years. Still a very large pay bump, but not all at once.
Dockworkers strike suspended, the union says - ABC News (go.com)
A tentative agreement was reached “on wages” and extending “the Master Contract until January 15, 2025 to return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues,” the ILA and USMX said in a joint statement Thursday evening
So Biden did not cave but rather worked both sides to get a deal done. the longshoreman asked for the world in money and automation stop sign guarantees. They got less than the world and automation guarantees were sidelined for another day of talks.
Is it not reasonable to assume that the cost of this new labor agreement will simply get passed down from the shipping lines to the goods producers in the form of higher shipping rates and who will then pass that cost down to the longshoreman and the rest of us as we go to market to buy their goods? So does Trump come out fighting and claim, we can blame the Biden team for contributing to inflation once more. Or does he chum back up with the overcompensated union boss?
I am still left with one more question from your reference, from roger’s explanation to my questions in the related thread, and from all that I have read, who are the port operators (employers?) and do they own the capital infrastructure that is the automation efficiency improvements that just got kicked down the pier?
1 Like