Potential Strike Tomorrow

[jesmu84]

Strike suspended until Jan. 15

https://apnews.com/article/longshoremen-strike-ports-dockworkers-agreement-86fac07d1189e11ca4816b2cbf37affb

Union asked for 77% increase. Management previous offered 50%. The strike led to agreement at 62%.

Good all around

[GOO]

The republican party used to be free traders, for good reason. I agree.  Learned their lesson in the 1930s.  Until trump came on the scene and changed it all. I don't agree.

The Econ teacher in Ferris Buellers Day off mentioned it in a classic manner.

[JWags85]

Union asked for 77% increase. Management previous offered 50%. The strike led to agreement at 62%.

Good all around

Not if they continue to be antiquated doofuses about technology.

[MuggsyB]

Not if they continue to be antiquated doofuses about technology.

Excellent point JWags. 

[jesmu84]

Not if they continue to be antiquated doofuses about technology.

If organizations want to use technology and automation to enhance productivity while maintaining worker jobs, I don't have a problem with that.

If organizations want to use technology and automation solely to eliminate jobs as means to generate more profit by lowering labor costs through job elimination, I don't agree with that.

I don't have a problem with unions fighting the latter.

It sounds like our poster scoop was the former.

[MuggsyB]

If organizations want to use technology and automation to enhance productivity while maintaining worker jobs, I don't have a problem with that.

If organizations want to use technology and automation solely to eliminate jobs as means to generate more profit by lowering labor costs through job elimination, I don't agree with that.

I don't have a problem with unions fighting the latter.

It sounds like our poster scoop was the former.

You're not looking at the whole picture. 

[The Sultan]

If organizations want to use technology and automation to enhance productivity while maintaining worker jobs, I don't have a problem with that.

If organizations want to use technology and automation solely to eliminate jobs as means to generate more profit by lowering labor costs through job elimination, I don't agree with that.

I don't have a problem with unions fighting the latter.

It sounds like our poster scoop was the former.

That's not really how it works.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Not if they continue to be antiquated doofuses about technology.

I would think the union would want to negotiate fully paid retraining so the workers could take a new job at the port that automation would open up.

[Hards Alumni]

I would think the union would want to negotiate fully paid retraining so the workers could take a new job at the port that automation would open up.

Yes.  I'm sure there will be something in the new deal to automate.

[Viper]

JWags85 and Scoop Snoop, appreciate your posts on this 👌

[Jay Bee]

Unions are gr8 if u don't believe in urself

[Spotcheck Billy]

If organizations want to use technology and automation to enhance productivity while maintaining worker jobs, I don't have a problem with that.

If organizations want to use technology and automation solely to eliminate jobs as means to generate more profit by lowering labor costs through job elimination, I don't agree with that.

I don't have a problem with unions fighting the latter.

It sounds like our poster scoop was the former.

Our ports are terrible when ranked by Turn Times which is critical towards costs. This report shows that the best US port for turn times is Charleston, SC. Unfortunately it comes in at a lowly 53rd. They absolutely need to automate just to get competitive.
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/6cebb847-6f46-44e7-9533-12ac893b3693/content

[Hards Alumni]

Our ports are terrible when ranked by Turn Times which is critical towards costs. This report shows that the best US port for turn times is Charleston, SC. Unfortunately it comes in at a lowly 53rd. They absolutely need to automate just to get competitive.
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/6cebb847-6f46-44e7-9533-12ac893b3693/content

I think the implication that jesmu was making was that there needs to be a balance between automation and worker compensation.

Many places automate processes and then cut labor and pass the profits to management/ownership.

[Zog from Margo]

Unions are gr8 if u don't believe in urself

Or if you don't think 8 year olds should work in coal mines.

[tower912]

Or if you don't want to be punished/fired for petty, personal, or political reasons.

[Pakuni]

Unions are gr8 if u don't believe in urself

True.
Professional sports leagues are filled with people who lack self-confidence.

[Scoop Snoop]

That's not really how it works.

I'll reply here because jesmu's post is so laughingly naive, it does not deserve a direct response. I would like to say that jesmu lives in La La land, but Muggsy has informed me that the phrase is his "terminology", and I do not want to be guilty of copyright infringement. Therefore, I will not mention the phrase "La La land" here.

My company was very small, and I had to sign all loans, leases etc. personally, but I did not mind that at all. I mean....the whole purpose of starting up my own company that statistically had a high risk of failure was to create jobs, so I knew it was worth literally risking personal bankruptcy. So what if I lost our house?

I think agriculture may be the best way to expose jesmu's (alleged) thought process. Let's begin about 200 years ago. Cows were milked by hand, plowing was done via a single blade often pulled by a mule. Wheat was harvested by scythes. Tractors were unimaginable back then. Human, and equine power was the norm. Now let's go to today. Think of all those agricultural jobs lost! Oh my God!

Another scenario-commercial woodshop operations, which is something that I have a fair of knowledge and personal experience of. Of course jesmu's lofty, sanctimonious opinions trump my humble observations, but here we go. Just a reminder-I was never interested in making a profit. No no no! That's disgusting!

I'm very confident that you all have some really nice furniture in your homes. Let's get into a time machine and go back to say 1800. Unless you were quite wealthy, you could not afford the beautifully hand-crafted furniture from the local maker. Now if we get back into the time machine again and get off say in the post-Civil War period, you are able to afford nicely made furniture at reasonable prices produced by furniture factories with their automated and semi-automated machinery.

One more example- years ago, I had a color darkroom and developed the skills and knowledge to get the most out of a negative. Had I decided to start up a commercial photo lab, I would have been put out of business many years ago and taken a heavy hit financially on a business that suddenly was worthless.

I will end by conceding to jesmu that the only legitimate purpose of any commercial enterprise is to create and maintain jobs at all costs, and those costs must never, ever be challenged by greedy, capitalists business owners.     

[Lennys Tap]

Our ports are terrible when ranked by Turn Times which is critical towards costs. This report shows that the best US port for turn times is Charleston, SC. Unfortunately it comes in at a lowly 53rd. They absolutely need to automate just to get competitive.
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/6cebb847-6f46-44e7-9533-12ac893b3693/content

None of our ports are in the top 50, 6 (Tacoma -401, Oakland-397, Savannah 395, Los Angeles 375, Long Beach 373, Seattle 360) are in the bottom 50. Overall got the costliest and the least efficient. What decades of what coming to agreements that (according to jesmu) are "good for both sides" has wrought.

[rocky_warrior]

If organizations want to use technology and automation to enhance productivity while maintaining worker jobs, I don't have a problem with that.

If organizations want to use technology and automation solely to eliminate jobs as means to generate more profit by lowering labor costs through job elimination, I don't agree with that.

I don't have a problem with unions fighting the latter.

It sounds like our poster scoop was the former.

Little known fact, jes carved this in the wall of his cave, paid someone to come out to the cave and write it down on paper, then transport that paper to the nearest place with technology.  More payment was required to transfer those words onto the Internet. Of course jes also paid transportation, technology and safety supervisors all along the way to insure every job was done correctly by a properly trained professional.

[JWags85]

If organizations want to use technology and automation to enhance productivity while maintaining worker jobs, I don't have a problem with that.

If organizations want to use technology and automation solely to eliminate jobs as means to generate more profit by lowering labor costs through job elimination, I don't agree with that.

I don't have a problem with unions fighting the latter.

It sounds like our poster scoop was the former.

Daggett gave an interview complaning that the EZ-Pass system was terrible cause it stole a bunch of union toll taker jobs.  Im skeptical that he has a pragmatic outlook on technology at all, cause he deems it a threat to his power and control.

[Lennys Tap]

True.
Professional sports leagues are filled with people who lack self-confidence.

Sports Unions are outliers/exceptions. Their members are elite in their field. 550 NBA players, 750 MLB players as an example. Conversely, there are 4,000,000 teachers, 10,000,000 construction workers - their strength is not in any elite skill but rather their sheer numbers.

[tower912]

I am guessing some of the employees at Impact Plastic wish they had a union and the power to say no.

[Uncle Rico]

I am guessing some of the employees at Impact Plastic wish they had a union and the power to say no.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going

[JWags85]

I am guessing some of the employees at Impact Plastic wish they had a union and the power to say no.

Union members just leave work cause they get a severe storm notification?

I read the initial report and it seems like a justifiably emotional response to a tragic fluke weather event.  Some of the social media response makes it seem like management remotely told people to keep working as the plant flooded, which isn't true.  I'll wait for the OSHA/local government reports, but it seems like a lot of he said she said.

And its not some corporate apologist/shill stance, from what I saw, the company is under 100 employees and $25MM in revenue, which is not big at all for a manufacturing outfit.  I just see both sides of complex decisions in a smaller business setting.

[tower912]

They can refuse to come in and not get fired.   They can argue with a manager who is clearly focused on the wrong thing without getting fired.

I also see both sides.   In this case, management was wrong and people died.