Longshoremen vs Media (NWS?)

[bme30]

http://mynorthwest.com/646/544095/NewsChick-Longshoremen-upset-with-media

[Killacortes]

What's going on?

[reelizmpro]

Long story short, Longshoremen are upset that a grain terminal in Longview, WA is trying or has already hired other people to work the terminal so they have been picketing and disrupting operations at the terminal. Outraged, some of them even overwhelmed a guard and crashed his car as they stormed the terminal and dumped grain.

The ILWU has worked grain terminals up and down the West coast under a master grain agreement that's been in place since 1934. EGT leased a Longview port terminal and just decided they'd use an outside contractor to side step the union and maximize profits.

[Killacortes]

Oh damn that's fucked up.

[djjerme]

Union's served a purpose back in the day, but now they just hinder growth, market competitiveness, and keep people around that should have been fired long ago.

Having worked in union's before, it's just too easy to do the least amount by finding the koosh job, and then just "hang around" still you top out on the payscale.

Unions = FAIL.

[Alpine30 Wolf]

Union... also known as the business mafia

[Alpine30 Wolf]

Union's served a purpose back in the day, but now they just hinder growth, market competitiveness, and keep people around that should have been fired long ago.

Having worked in union's before, it's just too easy to do the least amount by finding the koosh job, and then just "hang around" still you top out on the payscale.

Unions = FAIL.

Should of read this before i posted. Very well said. :D

[dball4]

Man that guy has such an extensive vocabulary.

[PNWDan]

Union's served a purpose back in the day, but now they just hinder growth, market competitiveness, and keep people around that should have been fired long ago.

Having worked in union's before, it's just too easy to do the least amount by finding the koosh job, and then just "hang around" still you top out on the payscale.

Unions = FAIL.

Agreed

[Lance Racing]

What's also funny is there are other guys in there, but nobody else comes out to "have his back". Life's too short to walk around with such bitterness.

[Mlarsen]

I can only think of one union thats ok and that the teachers union.

[reelizmpro]

Okay, I don't want to get into an argument over it but Union's exist today for the same reasons they did back in the day. They aren't perfect but at least they protect the workers in the community. These are the same people who stimulate the local economy with those good paying jobs...remember that and remember who you are siding with, the employers (who are mostly all foreign owned!) or the local workers? Take that away and you're just putting more money into the employer's pockets. So a foreign owned company or companies move into your town, use your resources, pollute the land/air/water in YOUR town, why shouldn't the locals get great jobs and benefits out of it? We've been through this before which is why a union even exists. Don't hate on the ILWU because they have jurisdiction over the West Coast ports. They negotiate with the employers every 6 years and have a contract. They didn't just bully a single company (EGT) into forced employment out of nowhere. The ILWU has been there since 1937. So in regards to hindering growth, this is not entirely accurate. If it were, there would be no mechanization, just people carrying cargo off ships by hand like the old days! Can you imagine how long that would take today or how many people that would take? Today we have mechanization, computers, GPS, RFID, etc all these technologies that help cargo move faster but what else does it do? It eliminates jobs. Is that really what you want? The economy is shit and unemployment is already high and you want to help the employers make more money by cutting labor? If it were up to them, there would be no humans on the docks just robots. So be careful what you wish for and look at the bigger picture. The US is losing more and more jobs to Asia which means more imports and more cargo in our ports. If we can't keep jobs in manufacturing/engineering we better keep the jobs on the waterfront when the imports come in.

The ILWU is a rather large union with over 60,000 members and it does NOT discriminate. They needed more women, so they hired more women. They needed more workers in 2004 so they had a post card lottery and hired 19,000 people (myself included). Everyone gets in more or less the same way and get promoted through hours or seniority. That's the only thing that sets us apart from each other, not race, not gender, not religion, not education, not who's related to who, not how fast you work, or who's ass you kissed, etc....like your average job. And when you get a job, all you do is THAT job. You don't do the job of 2 or 3 people without the title or pay like most jobs. Think about it, that's how it should be.

I think what's going on here is that most people really don't know or think about the ILWU and what they stand for but believe me the employer's are twice as ruthless than you think the ILWU is. They are here for one reason, to make money. They don't care about the environment (unless they HAVE to or get compensated) and don't care about workers. We're just numbers to them but there is power in numbers and we have a Union. For the record, I don't condone the violence in Longview but sometimes it's inevitable. ILWU workers carjacked a security guard and crashed his car, broke windows and dumped grain. Ok, what about the EGT employee who tried to run over ILWU protesters picketing outside the terminal with his SUV? Was that not a criminal/violent act? I'm just sayin...

[djjerme]

Sorry, but I side with the owners. They have a business to run, and in a free market, you have to stay competitive.

That's the only thing that sets us apart from each other, not race, not gender, not religion, not education, not who's related to who, not how fast you work, or who's ass you kissed, etc....like your average job. And when you get a job, all you do is THAT job. You don't do the job of 2 or 3 people without the title or pay like most jobs. Think about it, that's how it should be.

That is exactly the reason I am not a fan of unions. Just think about what you are saying.. Hmm, should I try harder at my job, nope it won't net me any better pay or advancement. Maybe I should take some classes or learn a new skill to better educate myself so I can advance or earn more, nope won't work either. So if I just have zero drive, do the least amount of work possible, and just rank-and-file my job day in and day out, then that means I am guaranteed step increases? Sign me up!

I can only think of one union thats ok and that the teachers union.

Maybe in Washington, but here in Oregon, they are the worst.

And because this can of worms was opened, true story:

Wife and I were at the Oregon Coast a few weeks back sitting at a small pub. This older gentleman pull's up on his brand new BMW bike, in full on BMW leathers. He grab's a quick bite, and then answers a cell call and starts yaking away (wasn't hard to hear his conversation..) During the course of the call he begin's to brag about how he retired from the Teacher's Union last year, and with his PERS pension, he is making more than he ever did as a teacher. Great, so the person charged with educating our youth makes more when he has nothing to do with our children's future. So what's the point in him trying harder at his job? Nothing, because as a senior union member he would have never been able to be fired..

Show me one Union in the last 10 years that has encouraged growth in an industry (and not by shear employment numbers, by revenue.)

Can we lock and move this thread, it's going to do nothing but breed hatred between people on this board.. and it has nothing to do with E30's. Seriously.