Time running out to avoid crippling US port strike. UPDATE: Will go back to work Friday.

^SpiderMan^

Mackin Arachnid
BGOL Investor
They are trying to cash out before the company shits on them. I don't blame them.
Historically, every safety advancement came after the death of the workers. Companies will ignore safety in leiw of productivity. Same corporate attitude that caused Deepwater Horizon and other tragic events.

Their motivation is greed. The biggest safety risk on the docks is the Longshoremen. Every year a Longshoreman dies or gets a catastrophic injury due to major mistakes on their part. Alcohol and drug use is a major problem. They were offered a huge raise with the stipulation that there would be random drug testing and they refused. They position themselves as “pro labor”, but all of the unions around them dislike them. A few years ago, ILWU(West Coast Longshoreman Union) was threatened with bankruptcy because the illegally tried to steal a work contract from the refrigeration Union. Automation will save lives and increase work for all of the surrounding unions.
 

D24OHA

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
They are trying to cash out before the company shits on them. I don't blame them.
Historically, every safety advancement came after the death of the workers. Companies will ignore safety in leiw of productivity. Same corporate attitude that caused Deepwater Horizon and other tragic events.

But the workers/union are the ones fighting against safety and automation!! The last death I could find was in 2022 when a straddle carrier toppled over



I get it corporations are greedy and all that...... but how does a straddle carrier just topple over?


Thus union is trying to bend the corporations and the country over a barrel.

A 70+% pay increase over 7 years is a lot, considering they just got 50% over the last 6 yr contract. These dudes are making damn near $40/hr and they are intentionally slow footing jobs to increase OT,

"The union is demanding a 77% raise over six years, or the equivalent of a $5 increase per hour for each year of the contract. Under the union's proposal, workers would make $44 for the first year of the contract, $49 for the second and up to $69 in its final year." -Per


Now by all means get lobbyists to make these companies pay, no more 7 figure bonuses to C suites and etc.....

But shit like this is going to affect "the common folk," not the big wigs that can afford to take a loss.

The union chief already made $900K/yr, union dues are a percentage of each employees earnings..... this contract will see that dude make damn near $1.25 million/year......

Somethings gotta give. If/when the companies agree to this there will be cuts, just like at UPS, after they got their raise. And there will be higher performance standards to cover the deficit.

Automation is coming to dock work. It's unavoidable. They are trying to hold off the inevitable. If they were really smart they would demand free training/job transitioning into programming/ maintenance of the forthcoming automated machinery......

Mfkrs can easily be 59 yrs old updating the programming of a robot or changing some wires on a powered down machine, versus having to load/unload containers on a tow motor.
 
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doe moe

Rising Star
Platinum Member

Dockworkers union agrees to suspend port strike until Jan. 15 to provide time to negotiate new contract​




DETROIT — The union representing 45,000 striking U.S. dockworkers at East and Gulf coast ports has reached a deal to suspend their strike until Jan. 15 to provide time to negotiate a new contract, a person briefed on the matter said.

The union, the International Longshoremen’s Association, is to resume working immediately at least until January said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement has yet to be signed.

The agreement will allow the union and the U.S. Maritime Alliance, which represents the shippers and ports, time to negotiate a new six-year contract. The person also said both sides reached agreement on wage increases, but details weren’t available.

The union went on strike early Tuesday after its contract expired in a dispute over pay and the automation of tasks at the ports from Maine to Texas. The strike came at the peak of the holiday shopping season at 36 ports that handle about half the cargo from ships coming into and out of the United States.

The walkout raised the risk of shortages of goods on store shelves if it lasted more than a few weeks. But most retailers had stocked up or shipped items early in anticipation of the work stoppage.
 

An RnB Thug

El Capitan of The LOVE BOAT
Platinum Member

Don't know how the hell them shipping companies thought they would win this.

Stop being fucking GREEDY and share your profits with your employees.
That goes for every damn corporation that makes massive profits BECAUSE of their employees


Chick-fil-A
Made over $21 billion in 2024, second to McDonalds and Starbucks. But employees' PAY does not reflect that :rolleyes2:




Striking port workers to return to work Friday as negotiators reach an agreement on wages​


New YorkCNN —
Striking members of the International Longshoremen’s Association will be back to work at the ports on Friday, the union announced Thursday evening, as the union and the management group representing shipping lines, terminal operators and port authorities have reached a tentative deal on wages.

The union agreed to extend the contract it had with the United States Maritime Alliance, the management group known as USMX, which represents shipping lines, terminal operators and port authorities. That deal, which had expired at the end of Monday, will be now extended until January 15 and have the union members back on the job while the final details are worked out in a full agreement and it is ratified by the rank-and-file.

Terms of the tentative deal on wages were not immediately available Thursday evening.

Just last month, the International Association of Machinists (IAM) and jet maker Boeing reached a tentative deal that union leaders recommended their 33,000 members accept and even described as the best deal they had ever negotiated with the company. But union members voted nearly unanimously to reject it and have remained on strike since September 13.

The port strike was still in its early days, but it would have had broad ramifications for the US economy the longer it continued.

Business groups have been calling on the Biden administration to order strikers back to work. The work stoppage threatened the supply of everything from bananas to liquor to European luxury cars, all with the busy holiday shopping season less than two months away. And those shortages could have resulted in upward pressure on prices.

But President Joe Biden had refused to use powers he has under the Taft-Hartley Act to block or end the strike, saying he would not interfere with the collective bargaining process. Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg had all called on the USMX to negotiate a deal with the ILA that fairly shared the record profits with members.
 
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LordSinister

One Punch Mayne
Super Moderator
Their motivation is greed. The biggest safety risk on the docks is the Longshoremen. Every year a Longshoreman dies or gets a catastrophic injury due to major mistakes on their part. Alcohol and drug use is a major problem. They were offered a huge raise with the stipulation that there would be random drug testing and they refused. They position themselves as “pro labor”, but all of the unions around them dislike them. A few years ago, ILWU(West Coast Longshoreman Union) was threatened with bankruptcy because the illegally tried to steal a work contract from the refrigeration Union. Automation will save lives and increase work for all of the surrounding unions.
They need to submit to random tests. When I leave the dock to go offshore they random screen everyone, and sometimes we have to take a piss test offshore. They usually target people like me but it is what it is.
 

doe moe

Rising Star
Platinum Member

62%

DAMNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!

That's like making $90K then going up 62% more which is $145K

fuck-lackey.gif
 
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