The dockworker strikers do an Emily Litella
A crisis averted:
The theory is that a dockworkers’ strike would have been too damaging to the Democrats, so the problems have been patched up for now:
“Effective immediately, all current job actions will cease and all work covered by the Master Contract will resume,” the ILA and USMX said in a joint statement Thursday evening.
The tentative agreement would increase workers’ wages by 62% over the life of the 6-year contract, sources familiar confirm to ABC News.
This represents a significant increase from the shipping industry group’s offer of a 50% wage increase earlier this week. The union had been pushing for a 77% pay hike over six years.
The tentative agreement would bring the hourly wage for a top dockworker to $63 per hour at the end of the new contract, up from $39 per hour under the expired contract.
The workers’ demands about automation on the job have been pushed to mid-January.
Biden praised them, as well he might.
As the workers’ wages go up, I assume the prices of the goods they unload will reflect that.
[NOTE: Here’s Ace on the same subject.]
It’s Taft-Hartley without calling it Taft-Hartley leaving it to POTUS 47 to solve
Dockworkers union engages in extortion.
Wait until Jan. The reaction will depend on which one is President. But pre election, Harris dodged one.
But, having settled the money issue so quick does make one think it was a setup.
I’ve seen a sentiment expressed which goes something like this (and who knows, it may catch on):
Not soon enough to prevent the idiots in my area from cleaning the shelves of toilet paper and 90% of the inventory of paper towels as well. It took months to reappear last time.
My take is that whoever is actually running the country promised the port management companies and shipping lines that if Harris is elected she would owe them big time, and it would grease the skids on a whole variety of projects and regulatory actions that would benefit them if they rolled over on the pay increase now.
@ Christopher B – you are probably correct, based on past Democrat-Union form.
My question is why did Biden Inc let things go to the point they did, as the ILA leader’s wild rants were certain to lead to the opinion sdferr noted.
Were they distracted by WW3 in the Middle East, Trump rallies in Butler, and Vance’s beat-down of Walz; or did they believe that the position they let Kamala take was somehow an election winning stance until suddenly they realized it wasn’t?
For an alternative that sort-of supports the union’s position against automation, although NOT for the same reasons, see Sundance’s explanation of how much of our port structure is owned by China and other foreign states, and how much of the automation equipment is built and controlled by China.
That does not IMO legitimate the union feather-bedding that increases prices to the rest of us so they can have better incomes (especially said leader), but does suggest solving the “who controls the cranes” problem before outsourcing all of it to a country that makes no bones about being our enemy.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2024/10/02/dragon-riding-dockworker-strike-underway-as-alinsky-methods-deployed-against-labor-union-head-harold-daggett/#more-264703
(Yes, I know Sundance is kinda iffy on some topics, but he DOES go into the back rooms that everybody else ignores, and it’s at least worth taking a look at whether or not there is something hidden there.)
Michael Ramirez published a cartoon about the exploding pagers, referencing the danger of having essential products made by one’s enemies. In the cartoon, he mentions computer and internet components coming from China; Sundance is applying the same logic to port operations.
https://www.creators.com/read/michael-ramirez/09/24/379537
Have a lib friend in CT. Days before the first assassination attempt I had to listen to her whine about her and her spouse both having good paying jobs but still have trouble making ends meet.
I sighed, and didnt say a word. Whats the point? They dont listen anyway. I wanted to say, “You know its going to get worse”.
Then the attempt happened. I called a few days later. She wished they didnt miss.
Havent talked since. After I lit her up.
Unfortunately pressing a button just doesnt have the same effect as slamming a phone down.
Have a lib friend in CT. Days before the first assassination attempt I had to listen to her whine about her and her spouse both having good paying jobs but still have trouble making ends meet.
==
Tell her to move to a cheaper abode and drive used cars.
I wonder if DeSantis’ plans to send in the Guard to keep the ports open had anything to do with them backing down. Can’t let the Rs look like they’re doing anything for the regular people.
Why is New England so socialist-leftist? When I was young, a long time ago, it was known as conservative/rightist.
Now Maine (aka Portland) is teaching 8th graders in public schools how to use condoms. Disgusting.
That means the problem lands in Trump’s lap if he’s elected.
Why is New England so far left? New Englanders were the earliest, most militant, and most ferocious rebels of British rule, but ironically, they have more in common with Canadians and the loyalists who were driven out of the states for their loyalty to the king. Both groups value order, “good” government, and rule by the “right” people more than liberty or democracy. It goes back to Puritan days: New Englanders wouldn’t take orders from kings and bishops, but they’d shun anyone who didn’t agree with what the community and its elders had decided.
For a long time New Englanders saw the Republicans as the party of order, responsibility, and rule by the right people, and Democrats as the sons of wild jackasses. When they became convinced that the Republicans were the wild ones, they changed sides. It’s almost a law of American politics that Vermont and Mississippi never vote the same way (“almost” because of the Nixon and Reagan landslides and a last gasp of vestigial loyalty to born Yankee GHW Bush). When the old Democrat stronghold went GOP, New England went Dem, and like true sons of the Puritans they went all the way.
There’s a lot more to say about upper-middle class suburbanites and dying mill towns, Boston and Baby Boomers, Kennedy and McGovern, Harvard and Yale, Catholics and Protestants, Irish and Yankee Brahmins, but I’ll stop here.
The port strike was going to be really bad for the economy. Anyone with a small knowledge of economics knew that. Biden and Kamala didn’t seem to know it.
Then Helene happened and the situation got much worse. Someone in the Democrat brain trust (I think it may have been Obama or someone connected to him) got on the phone to the union heads and told them, there was no way Harris could win with shelves emptying out and prices rising. The major union bosses are crooks, but they’re not stupid. They know where their bread is buttered.
The struggle between using more technology and fewer humans in various workplaces has been going on since the beginning of labor-saving devices. So, this is nothing new. It will eventually be worked out. Maybe the longshoremen can learn to code. 🙂
Anyway, we all will benefit from the strike not happening………..yet. If Trump is elected, I assume he will force the two side into compulsory arbitration. In my years in the airline industry, I saw several strikes – some quite contentious. When all else failed, compulsory arbitration got things moving. Neither side wanted an arbitrator to decide the issues.
The only way this cycle of wage, price increases can end is with less government spending and a recession. IMO, the Fed had failed with its high interest rates, and if Harr is elected, the spending spree will continue. More inflation ahead.