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Unionized dock workers threaten to strike at 15 ports

head of joaquin said:
More evidence that capitalists want capitalism for everybody but themselves? I thought greed was good according to you guys. I guess that only applies to Romney and his monocle polishing friends.
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:lamo "monocle polishing friends".....:lamo Man, why are progressives full of so much hate dude? Is knowing that their own lives will be a total failure, and that others succeed, but they never will that enraging? It's pathetic.
 
Texmex said:
This only shows that you know nothing about actually work. Just blowing hot air, not much of a job at all.
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A swing and a miss there Tex. In my early 20s I was a masonry laborer in the Chicago suburbs for two years. We worked all year. 10 +hour days in winter were rough. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed those two years. We were non union and I felt I was paid fairly. Being a human forklift does not deserve what these guys are making. Since then I have been an auto mechanic for 25 years, 14 of those up there and a few as a road service guy for a truck shop. I know hard work. What these guys are making should be taken as a gift.
 
digsbe said:
I wonder how this will alter the shipments and impact businesses that depend on those shipments.
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perishable foods and finished automobiles are going to be shipped regardless. that has already been agreed
 
tech30528 said:
A swing and a miss there Tex. In my early 20s I was a masonry laborer in the Chicago suburbs for two years. We worked all year. 10 +hour days in winter were rough. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed those two years. We were non union and I felt I was paid fairly. Being a human forklift does not deserve what these guys are making. Since then I have been an auto mechanic for 25 years, 14 of those up there and a few as a road service guy for a truck shop. I know hard work. What these guys are making should be taken as a gift.
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Absolutely! Considering that say 70% of their total package is salary, based on a 40 hr work week, (something those of us actually working hard for a decent living don't make) are making about $42. per hour. Yet to them, that isn't enough.
 
j-mac said:
Absolutely! Considering that say 70% of their total package is salary, based on a 40 hr work week, (something those of us actually working hard for a decent living don't make) are making about $42. per hour. Yet to them, that isn't enough.
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seems the owner is not making enough
management wants the union employees to forfeit the royalties they are presently receiving
 
justabubba said:
seems the owner is not making enough
management wants the union employees to forfeit the royalties they are presently receiving
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Not from what I have heard about it....See, 1. the owner is in business to make money. 2. the crybaby union is upset because the owners don't want to increase the royalty money. They said nothing about decreasing anything.

Do you have proof that they want to decrease longshoremen's wages?
 
MaggieD said:
Oh, hell, give 'em whatever they want. They deserve it. $125,000 probably includes their pension and healthcare benefits. They probably only make $95,000 when it all shakes out. Cheapskates.

/Sarcasm

Let them strike. When are we going to say that blackmail is illegal even if you're a union?
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"Longshoremen with one to four years of experience earned $21.25 to $33.84 per hour, while those on the job for five to nine years made $14.11 to $33.83 hourly. Longshoremen with 10 to 19 years of experience made $24.08 to $35.38 per hour, PayScale reported."

What Is the Average Salary of a Longshoreman? | eHow.com

These are not particularly great wages considering the nature of the work.
 
j-mac said:
Not from what I have heard about it....See, 1. the owner is in business to make money. 2. the crybaby union is upset because the owners don't want to increase the royalty money. They said nothing about decreasing anything.

Do you have proof that they want to decrease longshoremen's wages?
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you think the employees are there to enhance their social network?
 
tech30528 said:
A swing and a miss there Tex. In my early 20s I was a masonry laborer in the Chicago suburbs for two years. We worked all year. 10 +hour days in winter were rough. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed those two years. We were non union and I felt I was paid fairly. Being a human forklift does not deserve what these guys are making. Since then I have been an auto mechanic for 25 years, 14 of those up there and a few as a road service guy for a truck shop. I know hard work. What these guys are making should be taken as a gift.
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I thought you guys were against class envy?
 
...Once complete, the new road will allow containers from the Far East to enter the United States through the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas, bypassing the Longshoreman’s Union in the process. The Mexican trucks, without the involvement of the Teamsters Union, will drive on what will be the nation’s most modern highway straight into the heart of America. The Mexican trucks will cross border in FAST lanes, checked only electronically by the new “SENTRI” system. The first customs stop will be a Mexican customs office in Kansas City, their new Smart Port complex, a facility being built for Mexico at a cost of $3 million to the U.S. taxpayers in Kansas City......
Bush Administration Quietly Plans NAFTA Super Highway | Conservative News, Views & Books
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NAFTASUPERHIGHWAY.jpg


Where there is a will there is a way.
 
Μολὼν λαβέ;1061297992 said:
Then those willing to work should take their place.
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why do you believe that is not possible
 
TheDemSocialist said:
Read more @: Unionized dock workers threaten to strike at 15 ports - CBS News
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What're they want ? Their vote back ?

Get it ? Because their Union affiliation automatically predisposes them to vote for a President who's doing just about everything in his power to destroy their jobs....

Anyhoo Unions are on the most endangered species list and I say good riddance. Their greed and thuggery killed the Golden Goose and NOW the best they can do is gain a pathetic foot hold in the Public sector.

They're comprised of activist and fat poorly educated white guys who think we still have a isolated manufacturing driven style of economy.

You NE libs think us Southern Boys are stupid....hehe...the stupidist individual I've ever met was a Michigan transplant who gave up on his Union dream and moved to Houston.

At 36 years of age he was complety illiterate and topped off with a sense of entitlment from being on the tail end of generations of UAW workers.

He couldn't figure out why the US car companies couldn't compete while pouring massive legacy cost into every vehicle and wanted to know when the industry I was in at the time wasn't Unionized.

Your in Texas boy. You want to keep your job you have to be dependable, work hard and be competent.

But now Unions have the public sector...your being paid with borrowed currency with a Administration thats trying to kill whats left of our private sector with tax increases and EPA regulations.

Good luck with that folks....

And good luck with your strike
 
Fenton said:
What're they want ? Their vote back ?

Get it ? Because their Union affiliation automatically predisposes them to vote for a President who's doing just about everything in his power to destroy their jobs....

Anyhoo Unions are on the most endangered species list and I say good riddance. Their greed and thuggery killed the Golden Goose and NOW the best they can do is gain a pathetic foot hold in the Public sector.

They're comprised of activist and fat poorly educated white guys who think we still have a isolated manufacturing driven style of economy.

You NE libs think us Southern Boys are stupid....hehe...the stupidist individual I've ever met was a Michigan transplant who gave up on his Union dream and moved to Houston.

At 36 years of age he was complety illiterate and topped off with a sense of entitlment from being on the tail end of generations of UAW workers.

He couldn't figure out why the US car companies couldn't compete while pouring massive legacy cost into every vehicle and wanted to know when the industry I was in at the time wasn't Unionized.

Your in Texas boy. You want to keep your job you have to be dependable, work hard and be competent.

But now Unions have the public sector...your being paid with borrowed currency with a Administration thats trying to kill whats left of our private sector with tax increases and EPA regulations.

Good luck with that folks....

And good luck with your strike
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head of joaquin said:
More evidence that capitalists want capitalism for everybody but themselves? I thought greed was good according to you guys. I guess that only applies to Romney and his monocle polishing friends.
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Capitalism would allow the companies paying the dock workers to stare the contract down and replace them immediately with workers that want the jobs at fair market wages.

Capitalism is the union negotiating for as much in wages as the company will give on then deciding whether their members can live with that or quit the contract.

Capitalism is not blocking other people from applying for the wages after refusing to sign a new contract and striking.
 
OpportunityCost said:
Capitalism would allow the companies paying the dock workers to stare the contract down and replace them immediately with workers that want the jobs at fair market wages.

Capitalism is the union negotiating for as much in wages as the company will give on then deciding whether their members can live with that or quit the contract.

Capitalism is not blocking other people from applying for the wages after refusing to sign a new contract and striking.
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Of course, capitalists never form a cabal to not only stifle competition between up and coming capitalists, to not only repress technological innovation that threatens their profit margins, but to also keep wages down to a bare minimum.

When "fair market wages" amount to a mere subsistence and when capitalists view human labor as little more than a jument commodity to be exploited at their whim, then workers have no choice but take whatever measures are necessary to maintain a human standard of living.
 
TheDemSocialist said:
Striking is not blackmail or threatening to strike is not blackmail either. Striking is a collective action by a group of individuals who are employed to go against management and refuse to work until some compromise or their demands are met.
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Which is blackmail.
 
Sig said:
Of course, capitalists never form a cabal to not only stifle competition between up and coming capitalists, to not only repress technological innovation that threatens their profit margins, but to also keep wages down to a bare minimum.

When "fair market wages" amount to a mere subsistence and when capitalists view human labor as little more than a jument commodity to be exploited at their whim, then workers have no choice but take whatever measures are necessary to maintain a human standard of living.
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Two wrongs make a right..... right?
 
Fine. Let them all strike. We have what - 14% real unemployment? This ought to be easy as pie to solve.
 
TheDemSocialist said:
Striking is not blackmail or threatening to strike is not blackmail either. Striking is a collective action by a group of individuals who are employed to go against management and refuse to work until some compromise or their demands are met.
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Are you kidding me? If the employer says cut pay/benefits, your union says raise pay/benefits, then a "compromse" is to keep them the same. ;)
 
justabubba said:
you think the employees are there to enhance their social network?
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No, but are you saying that the employees of a company should be entitled to make the same as the owner of the same company?
 
Sig said:
Of course, capitalists never form a cabal to not only stifle competition between up and coming capitalists, to not only repress technological innovation that threatens their profit margins, but to also keep wages down to a bare minimum.

When "fair market wages" amount to a mere subsistence and when capitalists view human labor as little more than a jument commodity to be exploited at their whim, then workers have no choice but take whatever measures are necessary to maintain a human standard of living.
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there are many standards of living...Who decides which standard of living the employee 'should' be compensated? You? The unions? Or is it the people that took the risk and put in the time and money to make the business successful enough to hire them in the first place?

If you get hired at a job, you agree to what they are paying, if you don't then don't take the job. You don't own that job.
 
j-mac said:
No, but are you saying that the employees of a company should be entitled to make the same as the owner of the same company?
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what we see is happening is the employer trying to take the royalties that have heretofore been paid to the union workers - according to the present labor/management contract - while the employer remained profitable

now, if we see that the employer is losing money - and it opens its legitimate books to reveal that outcome - then the union would be stupid to refuse to take a smaller cut in order for the business to remain viable. but there is no indication (from what little i have read) to indicate the employer is experiencing unprofitability. management seems only to want
















...wait for it







































more
 
tech30528 said:
I would be happy to see each and every one of them banned from the dock area and replaced. At that rate people would take those jobs at half the rate and leave plenty to hire security to keep them out and offer a cost reduction to those paying the dock fees. They're union, they will get paid anyway and maybe take a little of that money the unions use to bribe the government.
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That would be a win-win.
 
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