Port Strike Seems Imminent

[bjl584]

Port strike: Truckers, rails scrambling before ILA union shutdown (cnbc.com)

[ua_guy]

Seems odd for this to come to a point just 30 days before a presidential election, or maybe that was part of the plan. Follow the ties and relationships. Disgusting, if you ask me. If the hardlining doesn't get resolved, a lot of companies and people are going to be needlessly impacted.

Edit: Let's add some color to this. The strike is active.

The estimated cost to the US Economy is $5 Billion per day, for every day the workers are on strike.

The Union has turned down a nearly 50% pay increase including accounting for inflation. The union head is digging in and demanding a $5/hr increase for every year over the next 6 years. That's $30/hr increase.

The offers so far have exceeded anything a modern union has ever gotten and yet the union is still digging in. More than generous. While I typically side with Union labor, it's hard to ignore any underlying motives. IMO, Federal power should be used to end the strike.

[kork13]

Agreed with ua_guy. While I'm generally understanding of the principle behind labor unions & even potentially union strikes when good-faith negotiation fails .... This is way too big & way too impactful to the national economy, and to national security. This is exactly the kind of situation for which we have this law allowing the federal government to end a strike. If it was a single port, fine. Let them strike as a negotiation tactic. But this is over a dozen of the country's busiest seaports, all shutting down in a coordinated strike. Is this a single massive union? If so, it's too big & powerful for this country's good. As a military planner, I'd be salivating over an opportunity to shut down most of an adversary country's major seaports.

I agree that the timing is suspicious, though don't most unions typically strongly favor Democrats? It seems like this is basically a no-win situation for the incumbent party (Democrats in this case). If they let the strike go, they can be cast as weak, inept, and dangerous to the country's economy & security. But if they take action to force the strike to end, they get attacked as anti-union, which is a major political base for the Democrats. If politics were a motivating factor, it would seem that they'd want to do this AFTER the election...? But I'm (happily & gratefully) no political expert.
And besides, it sounds like the union is getting a pretty good offer....? Is not a good look for the union to reject clearly good/generous offers in a negotiation.

[kork13]

As a totally off-topic aside, but not wanting to create a separate thread that I know will only become emotionally-charged with politics .... I just want to highlight an unfortunately rare positive note in today's existing (toxic) political climate.

I'm impressed by how generally civil (almost gentlemanly) and policy-focused the VP debate was. Bravo, gents.

(Admins, feel free to delete this blatantly political post + any responses with extreme prejudice)

[Fishindude77]

The longshoremen might just negotiate / strike themselves right out of their jobs?

[disneysteve]

I agree that the timing is suspicious, though don't most unions typically strongly favor Democrats?

Yes, unions are generally more supportive of and more supported by Democrats. However, the president of the ILA apparently opposes President Biden because he didn't like the deal negotiated by the west coast longshoreman last year. So he's going scorched earth with this strike even though it is very much against the best interests of the union and its members and the nation overall. Hopefully it will be short-lived and have limited impact on the economy.

[ua_guy]

Nothing would help a failing campaign against the incumbent's party than manufacturing an economic and supply crisis overnight, just in time for an October Surprise. The Ports have been more than generous and appear to have come to the table earnestly, ready to negotiate, but here we are. And that's why Federal powers should end this. Crippling an entire coast worth of ports is what Kork described...the kind of destruction that is the envy of our worst enemies, and we did it to ourselves.

[ua_guy]

In good news, the ports are back to work, and nobody suffered a TP shortage. Mostly because TP is a domestic (US and Canada) product produced within our borders and wouldn't be affected by port traffic anyway This seems like the right thing to do, acknowledge the need to put together an equitable deal, and kick the problem down the road until after the election. Then we can blame whichever politician is in power at that time. Ha.

In bad news, recent hurricanes have disrupted supply chains. I got word that hospitals out here on the West Coast are having to conserve IV fluids because a major manufacturer was hit during the storms. If it's not one thing, it's another!