Port Union Strike

[dogmush]

Take it with a grain of salt, as it's from X, but if true, this Union boss seems like a solid ahole.

https://x.com/mualphaxi/status/1841148551646286258

Harold Daggett, the ILA boss who pledged to "cripple" the United States, owns a 76-foot yacht, a Bentley, and gets paid over $900,000.

He was acquitted on RICO charges after the main witness against him, mobster Lawrence Ricci, was found decomposing in a car trunk in New Jersey.

There's a whole X.com thread under that one with more citations.

[Boomhauer]

Take it with a grain of salt, as it's from X, but if true, this Union boss seems like a solid ahole.

https://x.com/mualphaxi/status/1841148551646286258

There's a whole X.com thread under that one with more citations.

He only has all that stuff and ties to the mob to make life better for the union workers. Pure heart of gold.

Just like when union thugs harass and assault non union workers- it’s to make their lives better.

[HankB]

With Elvis eating some biscuits and gravy at a DQ

Are they getting a to go bag for JFK? 

bob

Elvis is in an assisted living facility battling an ancient evil Egyptian mummy. So is JFK.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0281686/

[BobR]

Elvis is in an assisted living facility battling an ancient evil Egyptian mummy. So is JFK.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0281686/

I love that movie. The wife not so much. Oh well, her loss! 

bob

[Boomhauer]

S2 Underground has some interesting comments on how this union is shooting themselves in the foot by having turned down a 50% raise, creating a situation that actually promotes port automation, and also is pretty much killing any goodwill they might have had by the union boss's statement about wanting the world to burn until they get what they want.

They had already lost me at turning down a 50% pay increase. That's the mafia, not a union.

https://youtu.be/oVh4YxvNtBI

The other factor is that what union money doesn’t go to is the corrupt as *expletive deleted*ck leaders goes to the Democrats who use it to import illegals which harms the blue collar workforce.

So, no, De Selby, the unions aren’t helping us workers. Just like YOU aren’t for us either. In fact one could say they are about as welcome as herpes in my shop. Hell the irony of a *expletive deleted*in lawyer trying to tell me what’s best for me is rich too.

[MechAg94]

IMO, anti-trust laws should apply to unions the same as companies.  They shouldn't have a monopoly on labor any more than a company can.  Either in an industry or a location.

Govt regs and the courts pretty much do everything unions were created to do.

[K Frame]

S2 Underground has some interesting comments on how this union is shooting themselves in the foot by having turned down a 50% raise, creating a situation that actually promotes port automation, and also is pretty much killing any goodwill they might have had by the union boss's statement about wanting the world to burn until they get what they want.

They had already lost me at turning down a 50% pay increase. That's the mafia, not a union.

https://youtu.be/oVh4YxvNtBI

Unions are very good at that.

Look at the UAW demands in the 1960s and 1970s, when the US economy was really struggling and the US auto industry was literally on the verge of collapse.


Look at the Chicago Schools Union's demands that were put out earlier this year. Those demands are so beyond the pale is not even funny.

The concept that unions, as a whole, are an important partner in the labor-industry economic cycle, is stale and outdated and archaic.

At one time unions did serve the needs of their workers. Some unions still do. By and large, though, those are the smaller unions. The larger the union, the more "influence" it has over some aspect of society, the more corrupt it tends to be, the less it tends to care out either its workers or its impact on society, and the more it cares only about its ability to bleed power, influence, and money into its own structure.

Why do you think organized crime has targeted large blue collar unions like the Teamsters and Garbage Handlers?

[Ben]

I just saw an interview with a union rep. One of the other things they're demanding is "compensation" for working during covid.  The argument was that, "Everybody else got to stay home and get paid while we went to work, so we need to be made whole".

[K Frame]

They should get compensation.

Oh, wait, they DID get compensation. They had jobs. Unlike a shitpot load of other people during COVID.

That is a perfect example of the moral and ethical corruption that is at the heart of union leadership today.

[dogmush]

They got paid, just like I did.  They can go *expletive deleted*ck themselves.  Like Longshoreman were the only folks that worked the whole time.

[MillCreek]

They got paid, just like I did.  They can go *expletive deleted*ck themselves.  Like Longshoreman were the only folks that worked the whole time.

Mrs. Dogmush the nurse can speak to that.  Along with a whole bunch of other healthcare staff. Even risk managers.

[Northwoods]

Mrs. Dogmush the nurse can speak to that.  Along with a whole bunch of other healthcare staff. Even risk managers.

Im just a mechanical engineer.  Other than a 2 week furlough (for which i was able to use vacation time) i never stopped working or getting paid.

[K Frame]

Oh, and FYI?

The president of the union?

Between his TWO union salaries, he makes just shy of $1 million a year.

That's truly down with the working man.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/port-strike-how-much-does-union-boss-leading-charge-make

[cordex]

Mrs. Dogmush the nurse can speak to that.  Along with a whole bunch of other healthcare staff. Even risk managers.

Healthcare was hardly special in that respect.  For that matter, a lot of medical offices closed down in our area.

[K Frame]

Mrs. Dogmush the nurse can speak to that.  Along with a whole bunch of other healthcare staff. Even risk managers.

I can speak to that as well.

When COVID kicked off in earnest in 2020 (February, I believe), my job was designated as critical to the nation's security. Had the nation gone on total stay at home lockdown, I would have been exempt to any restrictions and had a letter to that effect signed by a high-ranking government official. I was expected to be in the office (even though they did experiment briefly with alternating work from home weeks).

Of course, they laid me off 10 April and I sodded off to Castle Key's until my I got my current gig and started that on 26 May 2020.

And in my onboarding packet was another letter, also signed by a high-ranking Government official, designating my role as critical to the nation's security.

With the exception of the month and a half when I was between jobs, I was in the office, working.

And I never got any special or post dated compensation for that.

So boo *expletive deleted*ing hoo to them.

[Brad Johnson]

I can speak to that as well.

When COVID kicked off in earnest in 2020 (February, I believe), my job was designated as critical to the nation's security. Had the nation gone on total stay at home lockdown, I would have been exempt to any restrictions and had a letter to that effect signed by a high-ranking government official. I was expected to be in the office (even though they did experiment briefly with alternating work from home weeks).

Of course, they laid me off 10 April and I sodded off to Castle Key's until my I got my current gig and started that on 26 May 2020.

And in my onboarding packet was another letter, also signed by a high-ranking Government official, designating my role as critical to the nation's security.

With the exception of the month and a half when I was between jobs, I was in the office, working.

And I never got any special or post dated compensation for that.

So boo *expletive deleted*ing hoo to them.

I, too, was designated "essential personnel", a fancy way of saying "you have to sit in an semi-mothballed building and ensure everything is maintained in working order for when the people who get to work from home come back".

On the upside, I was able to stay up to date on all my youtube subscriptions.

Brad

[MechAg94]

We had to do an odd schedule working some at the plant and some at home.  It sucked.  Working at home is nice occasionally, but I don't have an office spot to use and I don't like it full time.

[BobR]

The TP panic is real. If not careful they will get Polished Anus Syndrome from trying to use it all up; 

https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/las-vegans-are-panic-buying-toilet-paper-heres-why-they-shouldnt-3181679/   


bob

[MechAg94]

Who didn't set aside some extra TP after 2020? 

[WLJ]

https://youtu.be/WPMMNvYTEyI

[Ben]

The TP panic is real. If not careful they will get Polished Anus Syndrome from trying to use it all up; 

https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/las-vegans-are-panic-buying-toilet-paper-heres-why-they-shouldnt-3181679/   


bob

Yup. I was at the grocery store this morning and saw multiple people with TP in their carts, and two people who had nothing but a case of TP each. I haven't been to Costco this week, but people on the reddit costco sub said their stores were out of TP. I haven't seen or heard of any other panic buy items like paper towels, water, pantry items, etc.

WTF is it with people and TP? As Mike mentioned, it's a US product. I remember during covid, people were buying crappy Chinese TP on Amazon only after the US stuff ran out.

This also goes back to morons still not learning the lesson of basic preparedness, even after what they went through only a few short years ago. Two cases of TP to rotate through are not that hard to store. This strike will be over one way or another well before the average family goes through two cases of TP. Probably before they go through a couple of four packs. Do people buy TP one roll at a time or something? Sheesh.

EDIT: Just out of curiosity, I checked Amazon, and there's all kinds of brand name TP available for Prime delivery, so I guess any panic buying is currently at the brick and mortar level.

[K Frame]

Talked to Castle Key last night and he said he saw someone buying a shitload of paper towels.

We laughed about that and really, the only reason to buy a shitload of paper towels is if you have a new puppy.

I use maybe, and this would be in a very heavy year, 3 rolls of paper towels.

I also don't use a lot of toilet paper (a 9 pack of the super rolls will last me several months) because I do most of my "downloads" at the office. Just how my digestive tract works.

Then there's also the amusing rhyme of My boss makes a dollar, I make a dime, that's why I poop on company time.

[K Frame]

I, too, was designated "essential personnel", a fancy way of saying "you have to sit in an semi-mothballed building and ensure everything is maintained in working order for when the people who get to work from home come back".

On the upside, I was able to stay up to date on all my youtube subscriptions.

Brad

I can see why someone in your position would be considered essential... basically monitoring and ensuring protection of very high value assets.

But you, yourself, essential?

Dude...

[Ben]

I'm watching some interviews with union members (or at least members the union makes available for interviews) this morning, and one of their main talking points seems to be, "We work 24/7". Obviously the ports run 24/7, but they are making it seem like THEY work 24/7. Which normal people with brain cells know is false, but I'm sure it gets sympathy from some. They were also REALLY pushing the "no automation" talking point, with a main theme seeming to be "robots don't pay taxes".

[cordex]

Whenever someone bigs up their job as the lynchpin of modern society (port unions, police, fire, healthcare, military, truckers, farmers, train operators, whatever), it bugs me. Not because they are wrong, but because they are missing the essential point that modern society requires tons of different roles to be filled to be successful.

All those people are freezing in the dark if the linemen and power plant operators don’t do their job.
The linemen can’t buy the food the farmers grew and the truckers transport if not for the stockers and cashiers don’t sell it to them.
We all need clothes, but no one considers textile manufactures, clothing manufacturers, or JC Penny employees to be important in these conversations.
We like to hate on bankers, but without them critical transactions could not take place.
Plumbers, electricians, auto repair, Etc.


Yeah, there are some jobs outside of society’s critical path (somehow we would survive without certified Feng Shui consultants, for instance), but there are way more people in roles that society needs to be modern and successful that we don’t put a special stripe on a flag for.  Being in a role that society needs is not as special as we sometimes pretend.