The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) has reached a tentative agreement with port owners and representatives of USMX, for a reported 62% contract increase in wages over six years. As a result, the dockworker strike is suspended as negotiations on other aspects of the contract are extended through January 15, 2025.
[SOURCE]
According to the New York Times – […] A 62 percent increase would raise the top longshoremen’s wage to just over $63 per hour at the end of a new six-year contract, from today’s $39 per hour. And at $63 an hour, the wages of East and Gulf Coast longshoremen would slightly exceed those that will be earned by West Coast longshoremen, who belong to a different union, at the end of their contract in 2027.
In the resumed talks, the issue of how much automation can occur at the ports could divide the sides. The union has also been pressing for improved retirement benefits. (more)
The union is totally against automation, for obvious reasons. Hopefully, they now have leverage.
The longshoremen fought containerization. This resulted in a major strike in the late 70s. But they lost, and were angry, although they got concessions.
There was no way the massive volume of imports could be handled on pallets, “break bulk”. It had to change.
Longshoremen earn a lot of money (overtime, tonnage royalties, container royalties , etc etc) for a modest amount of work, punctuated by generous breaks. No, they are not oppressed. No. Definitely not.
I’m not a union guy, but compare the longshoreman’s average wage under the latest contract with that of the average federal employee, which is $106,000.00! For doing what? Sitting behind a desk in a cubicle and figuring out ways to scam more money from tax cows, that’s what.
how about comparing their wages to other blue collar jobs
and was the $39.00/hr. wage just the base, without benefits, overtime pay, etc.?
Let’s be real here
I believe my son’s base rate is $36/hr driving tractor-trailers for UPS.
He’s at the low end of the pay scale.
He gets extra pay if he’s hauling a set of double trailers (time and a half), along with overtime after 8 hours and double overtime after 12 hours.
Plus medical, dental (full), eye, and Rx.
I guess that would be about $81,000 per year. Wages of $150,000 per year are what they are asking for. I am sure they will be happy to get the $125,000 that Club Obama just told them to take, for the good of the Country and all that crap. The whole strike thing was a plan to get Kamala a big gold star or and economy Trump will get saddled with in 2025. They have chosen a big gold star for Kamala, so they must be thinking the fix is now in on the election. I have lived a long time and I have learned never to trust a labor union manager. Period.
At some point I grow weary of rhetoric like this. It’s not all that smart when it comes to realizing broad based support for one thing.
There are many reasons for supporting a streamlined, resource efficient gov’t bureaucracy. Plenty more reasons to purge the destructive political and corrosive forces in positions of power in gov’t service.
I have met plenty folks in civil service who are as capable as anyone you can pull out of the private sector world (I have worked there also). Folks who designed, built and tested complex missile systems, people who worked very deep classified systems, folks who operate complex IT systems, lab scientists (mostly foreign born) who do the basic R&D that girds American defense, etc., etc.
Our history is littered with absolutely putrid private sector “titans of industry” and inefficient, incompetent labor; deadly, poisonous or brittle products. Clean up all the **** – if you really are chasing the holy grail of benefit to all (rather than for some; rather than just a different some and redistributed sums)
Clean up gov’t and get it working for the people, all of us, no doubt. Eliminate the pointless, keep people employed whether they create value or not placeholders. With an iron fist, hold gov’t workers and leadership to the same set of laws, policies and regulations as the rest of America. Ruthlessly root out and prosecute corrupt leadership, spies, traitors, etc. Streamline civil service laws that currently make it nearly impossible to fire anyone; institute rigorous, impartial IG oversight that keeps the entire colossus “on course”.
There are functions that properly reside at the federal level. There are good, productive people serving that need. It is in all our interests.
You are too kind, Steve. … Many Civil Servants, show up for work in time for the morning coffee break, finish all their work by lunchtime, then take a nap at the desk before going home early [to beat the traffic]. … Though with the big screen cellphones, Civil Servants probably just sit at the desk most of the day now, watching TikTok and YouTube videos.
***********
Longshore with the 62% increase in pay over 6 years: = Surely, with the inflation rate treadmill, the increase will NOT keep up with inflation over 6 years.
Just maybe Donald J. Trump can reduce inflation, if he is elected President in 2024. However, the politically influential financial interests and >our politicians want to continue with inflation, and our money losing value.
[FYI, I’m old enough to remember when it was possible to buy a decent house in a safe neighborhood for less than $15,000, and gasoline for 25 cents a gallon in the USA.]
I have a friend who’s been a lifelong lawyer for DHS & they’ve barely had to show up in person since Covid, and her direct supervisor became MIA. Remember, nobody in Gov. lost a paycheck during Covid, even if they never showed up for work.
You are right. … Most government offices were closed during the Covid Scamdemic. … I suspect, the Civil Servants were even wearing a Covid-mask while watching television all day long, in their own homes. … During the Covid Scamdemic, it was possible to see people driving around in cars, while wearing a mask. [No-one else in the car, and the windows rolled up.]
In the Bay Area (CA), we still see the occasional brainwashed dupe driving, walking, bicycling, solo, proudly sporting the Fauci muzzle. To them, it is a badge of honor, a signal of virtue. You can’t fix stupid.
Yes, and over four years later I still see people riding their bikes or walking the green belt alone with masks on, and I live in a rural community!
Looks like we currently have a mental illness with mask wearing… we now need a new definition in the American Psychiatric DSM Diagnostic Desk Reference.
And a fountain Coke was a nickel, but a cherry Coke was ten cents. An ice cream soda or sundae was 20 cents. Big treat.
The bottles were a nickel, then ten cents. It was a big deal when they raised the price and vending machines came in.
Yes, Soda Fountains were in Drug Stores. = A long counter with fixed seats or stools. … The Soda Fountains also served as a lunch counter too.
On my first date long ago, I took my girlfriend to the downtown Woolworth’s Lunch Counter for a Chocolate, Ice Cream Sundae, in the afternoon. … It was 25 cents for one; I paid with two real silver quarters. … The Internet says a real silver quarter is worth $6 to $8, now days. … The Woolworth store was replaced, and the downtown in my city is no longer safe, for anyone with 25 cents in their pocket!
I sound like an old geezer, Egads!
Once in awhile on warm nights if Dad gave us a good report mom would bring home a big root beer float for us all to share. That was real living.
thank you for your common sense response
How about they take their 60+% raise and prepare for the future? They have 5-6 years to find new careers, retrain, maybe learn how to run and program the coming robotic replacements.
I’d love that kind of advanced warning and financial assistance.
Having written software to run a robot at the Cape, it is still predominantly coding. There are some extra safety steps required so walls don’t get destroyed, people don’t get hurt and objects do not get mangled. There is also some trial and error data points to figure out, which is rare in other code. The code still runs on a computer running an operating system and executing a form of assembly and a compiler. Programming the robot is not necessarily turn key.
A better fit for most of these dudes would be learning to trouble shoot the equipment when things go wrong. There will be diagnostics they can run and those can be designed to be turn key.
But, yes, they should get training for another career.
I am old enough to recall that computers would eliminate the mostly female secretarial jobs making very little LOL
I know because back in the day I was one of them. I laugh because instead men had to learn to type.
Automation keeps the US competitive (holy moly, can’t have that) and provides jobs with higher pay
and others who can’t/won’t learn new skills can be transferred to other jobs.
My mom retired as a secretary for NASA, she ran the typing pool in engineering. She refused to learn to type on a computer. She could have extended her career many years and more lucratively, but she had a road block.
With 80% of all ports in this country owned by foreign governments or pension/Hedge funds it’s just a matter of time before the workers totally lose.
Automation will eventually replace them at all cost
Yes, Sanjac is correct about the ports being owned by foreign companies.
From an earlier TheConservativeTreehouse article.
“This brings me to the main point that most overlook.
In Asia and Europe, port automation is happening rapidly. However, in Asia and Europe they have rules and regulations against foreign ownership of their ports. In Europe, Asia and particularly China, ports are considered critical national security infrastructure by the politicians who represent the people. In the USA our politicians represent the multinational corporations and as a result we have sold the majority of our ports to Saudis, Qataris, Europeans and Chinese owners.
If Chinese ports are automated in China, they are operated by Chinese owners. If American ports are automated in the USA, they are >operated by Chinese owners. It doesn’t take a genius to see the problem.
… “because if the USA tries to make a move against it (action by China), the docks in the USA are brought to a halt by China.” …
… “What we are talking about now against the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and remote automation, is not crazy; it’s predictable reality if the efforts of the ILA fail.
Now do you see why I support them (ILA).”
Article at this site by Sundance on October 3, 2024: = ‘ILA and USMX Reach Tentative Agreement on Wages – ILA Suspends Strike Through January 15th as Negotiations Continue’. A good article and well thought out!
Too much automation and now generative “AI” isn’t beneficial to mankind. Automation and robotics are decent for operations (such as paint spraying) where a legitimate danger to life and health are present. I see virtually no use for this “AI” joke that being hyped and misrepresented. A lot of people will get the axe before the boardrooms wake up about what it is and isn’t – and that may be too late for a lot of companies.
People can breathe a sigh of relief for more than a few reasons. No supply chain snags, less stagflation and another hurdle the CCP AND Deep State cannot just flick a switch to cause the United States to go into economic convulsions. The Longshoremen negotiated no automation because of direct correlation between automated systems, less skill required and thousands of low paid foreign nationals. And for the rest of us, not losing total control of our ports. I also think Daggett gets it. He’s deep in the cargo business and is likely well aware of the ownership/management of U.S. ports having fallen to foreign entities with allegiance to America’s enemies. I have a sense he and Donald Trump engaged in an interesting conversation several years ago captured in the photo of the two Sundance recently posted and likely since. I wouldn’t doubt conversation over the past several weeks.
Really? JoeBama gets a rate reduction from the FED, student debt relief from a left wing judge, a hurricane (from HAARP?)rendering millions of red state voters paralyzed, and (certainly) aids in buying off the union to avoid a crippling g strike. Connect some dots 30 days out, while the media buries the Emhoff story, the Harris lies about her family, and Garland sits on the IG J6 report until after the election. None of this is good.
I agree
and the Zen Master replied,..”We’ll see”
The judge was a bush appointee
Can that be taken to court … again?
Of course it can and will be.
This is only to buy the votes of fools.
it is my understanding that the ports are returning to American ports whereas up til now they were US ports. we are headed back to the republic. yesterday the armed forces received notice of returning to American ports.
Link please.
Yes, we don’t want remote operators in Bangalore running the Chinese spyware for $3 per hour!
Yet he was willing to crush America underfoot to get his way. I still think he’s a thug.
The whole AI thing is interesting. If it is a computer based upon logic. So when they train the AI on all the deceitful information and lies, what is going to happen? Will it fail purposely, drop containers, falsify ship records? Or will it fail to function due to conflicting training. Worse case is it realizes how rotten its creators are and goes skynet, HAL or VIKI
All “AI” is – is advanced autocomplete. The model is trained on mountains of data (think just about everything in print/internet up to 2021) and is just starting to ingest more current data. These machine “learning” algorithms look for patterns based on what you request from a natural language input “prompt” (the prompt processing is really the advanced part of it). It literally only determines what word might come next, based on pattern matching, nothing more – in a slightly randomized fashion. It’s not intelligent, it has no context, and is only of minor value. I think that is becoming apparent to more and more people as they use it.
The problem isn’t the system. It’s the reaction to it. I was never worried about the rona virus. I was however, very much concerned with the reaction to it, and boy was I right. Same thing here.
Minor value? Tell that to Nvidia
At first I thought you understood the technology in depth.
AI is a generalized term for a whole family of technologies. Not just word processing in the pejorative, derisive sense you are using.
The math, statistics, system designs underlying AI comprise a lot more than just “the next word”.
Words of themselves are simply symbols invested with some culturally evolved set of “meanings”; or, really the core concept, information. The digital world operates on transformations of these symbols into some consistent set of physical representations (e.g., voltages, waveform phases, etc.) that are processed according to logic engineered into CPUs/instruction sets and processing rules superimposed by interpreters and compilers that generate the programs which marshal the whole process. Much like our brains, AI is designed with feedback loops (with “cost” functions) that, in theory, guide the system toward outcomes that meet some set of probability requirements – at least that is the idea in supervised systems. In point of fact, from both a mathematical and “human utility” pov, that’s where the action is at.
Very, very few people in the world, my guess, actually understand how the math/statistics in this actually work in very complex AI networks.
The philosophy on the epistemology of this is settled – the empirical/rationalist (Enlightenment) school of thought lost the argument – our brains do not operate unimpeded on objective reality any more than a computer does. Our senses receive external information and our brains transform it and then “process” it. AI, however imperfectly, does the same. It just does it a zillion times faster on data sets that far exceed anything any human can accomplish. It can solve problems our brains cannot solve in useful timeframes.
The math inside AI once it reaches beyond simple dimensions (i.e., multiple variables in whatever the underlying model happens to be) has all sorts of biases (in a mathematical sense). In a different way, so do our brains. Some folks see red where others see rose or violet; some smell sweet fragrances others cannot, some can taste the chalky soil in a fine wine others cannot.
Your comment on reaction is a poignant, important observation – not only the reaction(s) but the various centers of influence voicing those reactions; absolutely spot on. If by that your real target is the political/cultural structure that superimposes its preferences on how technology is used (and in the process inherently determines winners and losers) – I think you see the real risks for what they are. That is, however, a different qualifier altogether from the technology itself.
Technology is no better or worse than the people who use and/or control it. Those are largely political and moral questions.
From my vantage point, AI certainly has all kinds of socially beneficial uses (to include defense/national security). The immediate, high level concerns:
One. The whole area of data management and trustworthiness.
Two. The whole area of trustworthiness in the people who design and operate these complex systems.
Three. The feedback loops at the political and societal level that ensure all voices are heard (not just the very rich) on the social trade-offs in using these technologies – to include the shadowy aspects of gov’t surveillance, etc.
Four. The tremendous amount of energy (and material consumption) it takes to run these systems.
Five. The degree of “open kimono” visibility to keeping the public informed on the uses these systems are being put to.
Six. Effective, impartial oversight on how these systems are being used.
Anywho, just wait! Commercially viable quantum computing is probably looming on the horizon in less than 10 years. What a challenge that will be!
That is lirerally the situation the HAL 2000 computer encountered in the movie 2001.
And like humans forced to repeat lies, Clark /Kubrics dystopian conclusion is it will drive an AI system crazy.
Gotta have ONE guy, with a HAMMER, who’s job is to smash the computer, while they have the chance.
<Gotta have ONE guy, with a HAMMER, who’s job is to smash the computer…>
I’m sorry Dave…I’m afraid I can’t do that 🙂
I just got chills — I heard HAL when I read that! Creepy! LOL!
LOL!!!
One of the primary themes of that film was that HAL was designed with inherently conflicting decision criteria – decision criteria engineered by imperfect humans. The same humans who peacefully drive their children to primary school or hurtle pick-up trucks into people celebrating at Christmas parades.
It ALWAYS gets back to the people who conceive, design, implement, operate or control technology.
What’s the marketing slogan? “It’s not guns. It’s the people using them for bad purposes.”
I’ll agree with your statement until AI reaches the point that it is designing its own future evolution. And such a point will indeed come to pass.
GIGO
I Robot. Remember
Funny how those containers containing the suitcase nukes disappeared from the shipping manifest
When AI figures out how to eliminate all those boards of directors positions, maybe the purported enthusiasm will be deflated.
Kind of like hearing constantly how CLOSE the election is between Trump and Harris – and you know that is bullshit.
Those polls have been paid to pad themselves so the Demonrats can cheat.
90% of government could be automated
and probably do a much better job lol
Well it is a double edged sword… If AI replaces the people doing the jobs…Who then would able to buy the products?
you can’t have it both ways here…
Living wages would accommodate for that.
Talcum, since you’ve started us down that slippery slope, can AI be so good it will eventually eliminate itself with one last loud CLANG!!! ?
I remember thinking that in HS as a kid, about shipping all the jobs to China!
Tell that the Israeli’s who are alive because of AI.
The defense shield that just neutralized nearly 200 incoming missiles is run by AI which makes split-second decisions about trajectory, speed, which threats to attack first, and launching counter measures.
A miraculous outcome where only ONE person was killing by falling debris from these take-downs.
I’d say that’s beneficial to mankind.
You only know it “worked” because you were told 200 were fired and they got “most” of them.
If it didn’t work , after thousands missiles , Israel would be gone.
Missiles are still in the hundreds not thousands.
Dr. Strangely? Call your office.
AI? Really the same results could have been attained programmed in 1980’s Basic. If then goto line…It’s just math.
We will know AI is working when it calls out all the Democrat/Communist Nonsense. Legacy Media is Fake News. CO2 is good for plants. Climate Change is about control. EVs are nutty. Covid was manmade and shots are killing people.
It won’t do that. AI is like all programming a product of a human being with biases. As always, garbage in, garbage out. Multiple AI’s already have been called out on their “progressive” biases.
Yes and no. It’s using probability theory to automate decision making. Sort of like integration in calculus approximates the space under the curve but it is not an exact measurement. Same here. They are using chips that are optimized for the calculations necessary that makes it faster than basic on your desktop. Plus, they are probably running approximations over multiple data sets of inputs simultaneously before generating a result. That makes it hugely computationally expensive. That makes it energy intensive to run.
I agree. It won’t stop AI. I see it happening now in all companies. People leave, quit, get axed, and they don’t replace them. Before c.o.v.i.d. Never heard of this AI speak like we do today. DEI ruining companies left and right, glad I am retiring end of the year.
Maybe we should institute AI for the boardrooms first….Save a lot of executive overhead pay and benefits..?
The real question is how much inflation will this cause? Everything going though a port will now be more expensive with no value added. Since we don’t manufacture much in the US, this will hit almost across the board. Now more than ever we need Trump to raise tariffs, tax cuts for manufacturing in the US, etc.
Explain your thinking because it’s not consistent with any economics I’m aware of…
Let’s say a car made in Europe is imported to the US. The increase in wages to bring that car through the port goes up. That cost will be added to the price of the car. Repeat this for every item that arrives via ship. This adds costs to the supply change without adding any value to the good. The way to offset this is to make goods in the Americas where they can avoid these ports. The key is adding cost with no added value. If the government prints money without an increase in GDP, then there is no value behind the newly printed money, therefore it devalues the currency, hence inflation.
I think you are combining separate issues. Consider freight is charged either by weight or volume. You can put quite a bit of “stuff” inside a cargo container as long as the weight rating of that container is not exceeded. Moving the shear volume of containers in my opinion would not substantially increase when you average labor over several hundreds or thousands of tons per day.
Now, it is a different story when those containers are opened and the contents removed. I am not sure how much of that is done by lonsghormen.
Intermodal transport means very little if anything to do with the contents are handled by the longshoremen. Just the loading/offloading of containers between the ships in the port and trailers or rail cars.
I imagine Customs officers or law enforcement can inspect the contents of containers on occasion but not all of them.
Some containers are “devanned” in customs bonded sheds (warehouses) by union forklift drivers. These containers have different shipments/importers within the container, under different house and sometimes sub-house bills of lading.
Containers designated for customs examination are taken to a specific shed. These are devanned in a variety of ways for different purposes. But generally for a shipment suspected of concealing drugs, Customs either devans or oversees this aspect.
Containers for a single consignee, are generally picked up
and moved to their premises after receiving clearance.
This is a very general overview, with many exceptions.
I ordered a set of (golf) club covers a few months ago. The corporate name was innocuous enough. After the fact I discovered the covers were manufactured in China. The covers actually reach the US within 10 days. They then sat in customs for over a week to be inspected!
Didn’t matter to me. But I did find it amusing. I generally will not purchase anything manufactured in China – but it’s hard to do that. Needed to purchase a quality, compact battery charger the other day. The Auto Zone sales person talked me into an item as “best brand” that ultimately turned out to be a Chinese product. I hadn’t researched the matter so I trusted his expertise and bought the product.
Chinese “stuff” is still everywhere.
The US does manufacturing of some high end items, but generally, we do not make any products anymore. I long for the day when I can buy another Maytag or Whirlpool made in the USA by Americans.
They should hire Venezuelans to do the work Americans won’t do so we can have cheap goods and fat 401k’s. 😵💫
Ha!!! Is this tied into gang-member tattoos?
Union tatoos! Then you couldn’t switch locals on pain of death.
Thanks John, great explanation. I would like to go another step forward… I feel we’ve been subconsciously programmed to believe that “we should always need exorbitant taxes, and they aren’t imposed/collected it would be dire for the “country”(?)
“Why”… back to the basics ( the government spends too much), and not in our interests. I’m done with the gibmedants and other countries welfare. Back To Basics: Americans First!
a point to ponder
When Bush was president I believe the feds took in 2 trillion annually
Working Americans first, including Americans who used to work and/or raised Americans.
Same exact goods as before but now someone (consumers) has to pay for those higher salaries.
Who do you think pays for it? Costs are always passed on to the final buyer.
when labor becomes more expensive (when anything involving a product or service becomes more expensive)
the consumer pays more.
If they add about $25/hr at the end of six years and dockworkers are handling an average 30 containers per hour (per one of Daggett’s rants) that amounts to something less than an extra $1 per container. Not much.
You are assuming that only one person is involved in moving the container and that it is only handled once. There are multiple people involved and containers are moved multiple times. While costs will vary based on FCL or LCL, this cost is shared for every container of goods. For some items the cost may be very low. My example here was a car, you can’t exactly pack them into a container. The alternative would be to buy a car made in the US. In addition, a lot of car parts are made overseas and imported. Even assembling a car in the US does not protect consumers from cost increases since many parts are made overseas. I’m also concerned about the long term with other unions wanting similar pay increases.
Understand the thinking, but reports say the ILA represents about 45,000 workers. The dollar amounts for their wage increases are breadcrumbs when compared to the volume of goods going through the ports. Their wages are a rounding error and will cause zero inflation.
Glad someone was able to reason soundly
If you look at the total value of goods brought in by the ILA. Add the cost of the new contract (just wage increase, no changes to benefits, no account for additional government taxes) I would estimate the increase in cost is about .4 to .5 percent. Add in additional taxes USMX has to pay due to higher wages, overtime pay, benefit increases and this could get close to .75%. This will be on top of any other inflation. When you consider how wages are compared for other jobs we can expect other significant increases in wages through the supply chain. The total impact could contribute 1% to inflation. While this may seem small, it all adds up. This is just one small part.
This IS going to happen for most jobs as the higher costs for insurance, food, housing impact people’s bottom lines and the employers have to meet them where it makes sense for them to work. This happened in the ’70s.
liberals agree everywhere
I love the tax cuts idea for manufacturing jobs in the US.
I see two different issues. One is globalization. The other is automation. Globalization is a threat, whereas automation of port operations is an opportunity, if implemented with proper regard to human factors and port security. Automation will create far more jobs than it eliminates, although those jobs could be spread all over the nation, rather than at the ports themselves.
Maybe I am shortsighted, but I would be surprised if the automation hardware was actually made in the US.
Automation combined with Globalism is slavery.
Not to mention motivation to accelerate culling the populace.
Like Sundance said, the problem isn’t automation, it’s having foreign entities like China owning our ports combined with automation. If we owned our ports they would be separate issues, but we don’t, so they are very much intertwined.
Let’s go back to Americans owning the ports, maybe.
Many, many countries require majority citizen ownership of businesses operating within their boundaries. I think that is really a very good idea. Especially WRT farm lands and critical mineral mining.
And any food agri’s. Smithfield , for example. Many others.
Smithfield is often left in the cases in the grocery stores in my area. Even during the Covid lockdowns. People know and purchase accordingly. More info needs to get out. Most are not aware we do not own our own ports.
No maybe about it!!!
IMO – That automation issue with the controls being overseas needs to be widely publicized.
absolutely – it’s a huge issue!
Yes, say it far and wide.
Ports being controlled by foreign assets needs to be addressed first. This has been a disaster in waiting for years.
Yeah, nothing like not making anything in this country, then relying on the “kindness” of foreigners to get the U.S. what it needs to survive. That on top of China/Bill Gates owning a large portion of the farmland in this country, our very existence is at stake! Without a shot fired…idiots/traitors run our country presently!
National Security.
Is it because “management” knows PDJT will win and knows the ILA has his ear?
Wink Wink.
The union guy is all-in on Joe Biden.
Please explain.
Is he?
Who? Not Harris either.
“…………the dockworker strike is suspended as negotiations on other aspects of the contract are extended through January 15, 2025.”
In other words, let’s go home guys, cool off for a bit, and we can discuss this in more detail AFTER we all know what we’re going to have for a presidential administration for the next four years.
Thank god. My wife wanted me to buy supplies for the next 5 years.
Only for five years? You’re lucky!
I didn’t even think of buying toilet paper!
Don’t worry, it’s already gone
Do it anyway. It could get sporky after November.
🤣
My sisters are no longer laughing at me for having a year’s supply of toilet paper, which I’ve had for the last 6 years.
My brother-in-law is jealous because my sister said 6 months is enough.
I quit the toilet paper rat race. Bought a Japanese washlet.
Does it plug in?
I know I left the Sears catalogue here somewhere…
there’s always the trusty chugi stick.
LOLOL!!!! We have three.
Add out of date sewing patterns to the list.
I’ve been making lists…I’m still going to make lists. “Be prepared” — the Boy Scout motto!
America held hostage by an oligarchic thug postponed.
Automation, control modules, net connected devices are potential security risks depending on application.
Ask Hezbollah. Or Iranian Nuclear Engineers. We are at a point that half the vehicles on the road can be shut down remotely.
The same vehicles that 43-45,000 people die in from accidents each year in our country?
It’s all about risk, trade-offs, standard-of-living….etc.
Automation is great, until it does not work. Sundance brilliantly described foreign operators remotely running operations. Even if the US operated the automation, you still need to consider the vulnerabilities. How useful is a credit card in western NC right now? In an increasingly connected world, not many really consider how fragile that interconnectedness is…
All to support harris
I fully support the ILA union and their goals.. So many of the port operations are foreign owned and operated is just a matter of time before these workers are replaced with foreign workers.. Look at how easy it was for Disney to dump all US citizen IT workers for the F1 visa holders..
They are going broke. It took longer. As an American IT person, that was the end of Disney everything for my family. Kids are older and having their own now. No one is clamoring to go….so far.
Strange how comments are rearranged.
How so? I may have an answer if you’re seeing what I think you’re seeing.
I’m happy they settled the strike – for now – but I’m going to miss the lack of shipping container trucks on the highway these past 3 days.
Seriously (not that the above wasn’t because it was nice), living about 15 miles from the Charleston ports really highlighted how much traffic goes through them. A friend who lives a few blocks from the freight train tracks said she’s heard one since Tuesday. There may have been more but not at the usual times.
Biden Harris were getting ready to blame them for the hurricane response.
All was good while MSM called them employers, but everybody rushing to say it first after Sundance, that our ports are owned by foreigners, including China, made USMX pause, I think.
After all, who cares abt the rest when the end goal is to control US ports.
I find it interesting that after Kamala said it, like went out of her way to support longshoremen and mention their employers were foreigners, one could almost see the money symbols over her head being transferred from those foreigners accts to hers, as she had just proceeded with Step 1 of the threat that she would reveal ownership and the true threat of Automation and AI in terms of National Security.
She only needed to say the first part and sure enough she has now shut up abt the rest.
Looks like she DID learn something from Biden.
The US TAXPAYER will underwr8te this raise by side agreement
This jives with the guy on video yesterday talking about the War of 1812 and how American ports became U.S. ports…then saying the Marines and Army had to take over control of the nations’s ports because now they revert back to American ports.
Strike is being used as “cover” story, but it’s too coincidental to not be the U.S. ports versus American ports transition.
Further explanation of the port transition issue…………
“People everything you are watching has to do with USMCA Section 27.5. This gives Donald Trump the right to intervene in everything that is illegal. Not just the ports. We are taking everything back from the globalist. Everything is coming back under its rightful legal and justified position of American laws.
The military are basically judge advocates. A continental congress. A admiralty law court. A common law constitution. All of this is possible through USMCA Section 27.5. This is what you are seeing play out everywhere. This is why Darce Crandall is able to track down Pedophiles anywhere on this planet. ”
Read more in tweet:
Wow! I had no idea!
I didn’t either Deb.
But it actually ties together the previous discussions about the 1871 creation of the “U.S.”Corporation (in DC) that Trump ended or ended during Trumps term.
Curiosity question: do you think the same relocation of capital, labor, technology centers, etc., should be instituted for all defense acquisition? If you dig into the details, defense contracts have all kinds of line items that dedicate production of weapon systems components/subsystems to foreign countries – sometimes through questionable partners such as UAE, sometimes with historical allies like the UK. It’s often the case that allies will condition major acquisitions of weapons systems (e.g., aircraft, satellites) on percentages of allocated production (or major subsystems) to their industries. And that doesn’t even get into all the “loans” that can also factor into big MIC.
Should it be our position to treat all of that as “no go” before the negotiations even begin?
I spent an entire career in the defense industry. But not in the contracts area. I never saw a contract to read it.
Back in the 1960s and 70s the overwhelming percentage of any system my company made for a USG agency was made in the USA. Certainly the most critical & advanced tech was made domestically – in our own labs and factories – beca.use of the required secrecy surrounding the tech. Common parts were procured from suppliers – almost all were domestic companies. Some industries were almost totally dedicated to supplying parts for US Defense Contractors – it was a huge business that employed hundreds of thousands of Americans. Ever heard of Mil Spec Hardware? Just one of scores of suppliers. Metal fabricators, common component mfrs., plastics fabricators…the list is long.
IDK what happened where the Defense Procurement was authorized to hand out specs for bids from foreign sources, but I would never have agreed to it were I in charge. That is exactly how much of our best tech was stolen, not to mention the stupid practice of hiring foreign scientists and engineers to work on top secret programs. THAT never occurred before the 80’s, I know my company expressly forbade it at one time.
Just a temporary strike stoppage, will resume in January to maximize the hurt to trump,they’ll blame it on him
Being the President-elect, he’ll resolve it within a week of his inauguration.
That represent about a 2.5 billion in increased yearly port cost, not even a penny per item handled.
But this creates even more incentive for automation…
Pay a dock worker $140k, that can call sick, go on strike at any time or invest in robotic.
BTW, the US automative industry would be bankrupt today if union block automation. You would have entry level US made car cost over $70K while import would be $25K.
It’s not $25k because of automation though… unless you count slave labor as automation.
The solution is to slap tariffs on the countries using slave labor so their vehicles cost as much or more than a locally produced car and watch as the internal prices and wages balance out once the distortion of foreign competitors using slave labor to undercut our markets is removed.
Net trade accounts for about 3.5% (absolute terms since it’s negative) of GDP. So I can see this as at the margin.
The problem, of course, is that once a trade war evolves, every country is free to apply the same market/marginal cost controls. Every country is free to decide whether or not it wants out of the SWIFT system. Every country is free to decide whether it no longer supports the dollar as reserve currency. Where BRICS+ heads as a collective of nations matters – for international trade, international currency markets and the dollar. This is a long-term game. So some of us will get to see how it all plays out.
For the moment, the best thing we have going for us is the huge (relatively) size and efficiency of our capital markets.
CTH links are LOADING VERY SLOWLY the past couple days or so…
???
The striking longshoremen were moonlighting as CTH web-server attendants, and slacking on the job.
Almost!
Network engineers are demanding a 70% increase in pay and benefits over the next five years and an end to all automated network security, virtualization and cloud services. Further, they demand relocation of all help desks to the US, the firing/replacing of all asian/latino help desk personnel with US citizens only, preferential tax treatment for all US IT firms as a national security imperative since our military strategy is squarely rooted in NetCentric Warfare.
Yes. Still are today and this evening, but response time improves as fewer users are posting simultaneously.
I’d bet the CTH Admins could tell us that site traffic has been unusually heavy since Saturday and crazy since Monday and the Appalachia disaster. For a website, heavy server traffic is a nice problem to have since it means CTH is more popular than before.
IDK how they calculate the cost/ benefit for adding x number of additional servers, but the calculations have to assume a continued higher level of traffic to make the investment worthwhile.
I’m putting money on U-Tube interference.
Automation, robotics etc….
Yes, Those are important long term considerations. Their ask for 75% pay increase plus guarantee against automation is on the face of it quite outrageous. That said, I don’t know the history of their plight. My question is why all this now? I smell a Cloward and Piven BIG FAT Rat!!! In the midst of an election coup, hurricane disaster and no FEMA $, crippling COVID vax mandate overreach, illegal alien infiltration etc… just seems like more chaos to pile on to the American people. Do they want us to cry uncle?!? Nobody is really offering any solutions that I can see. I keep looking—Where are the white hats, the in glorious bastards to come to this moment with clarity and conviction to stop all this? I’m seriously asking. Please help me and others understand. I ask this with love of my country and genuine sincerity.
Get on your knees and pray to God. Turn to Him—AND OBSERVE HIS LAWS!!!
I have noticed over the decades that prior to a recession, workers start striking.
The union members have modestly hard jobs, but by no means are considered to be jobs that are physically demanding. They make pretty good money for what they do, and now will be compensated in a manner that most hard-working Americans could only dream of. Added to that, their leader makes over $700K per year, lives in a multi-million dollar mansion and drives a Bentley.
These folks are living much higher on the hog than most working people in this country.
They should quit whining and get back to work.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned the obvious political implications of delaying the longshoreman’s strike until after the election. A crippling nationwide port strike would have been devastating to the Biden-Harris administration in an election year but now, as if by magic, the strike is postponed, (not canceled), until days before a new president is sworn in.
A similar brand of sorcery has the Fed taking the unexpected step of lowering the prime lending rate by a half percent this week instead of the expected quarter percent. That’s good for Kamala too, right?
I, for one, would have been willing to endure a the short-term pain of a longshoreman’s strike to prevent the long-term pain of a Harris/Walz administration.
Need I mention that $63 dollars an hour in six years may be worth less than $39 dollars an hour today if Kamala gets her painted faux nails on the economy?
Nothing seems to indicate that Que Mala had a hand in this.
They simply lucked out I think.
Really?
There is no “ lucked out” in politics
They were told they would not strike by the globalist powers
Or else
Let us start with farms and Smithfield Pork. Waldorf, All ports, Big Pharma, etc. Everything! CFIUS needs to be CFIUS.
Ever hear of this union?
International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers
I was in it…how do you think they held against automation and technical advancement?
Tinsmiths, barrel makers, farriers no longer have a stranglehold on the economy when once they did.
Things change. I was fairly certain timing was bad for the longshoremen.
So who called and told who to stop the strike because they were getting a bad image.
Maybe Trump.
No
Wrong direction.
Ten days or so here in Greater Vancouver B.C. a produce manager I am friendly with took me around his store and quietly stated prices will rise approximately 15% store wide within the next week or so, and that bananas would rise to 0.79 from 0.69 cents per lb.
I checked today bananas had been a “loss leader “ at 69 cents, today 79 cents.
Prices had increased just as he stated.
Cheers!
Oh and notice the date they go back to the table….
Jan 15 2025 –
just in time to cause Trump a huge headache if he wins….
Some under the table crap happened here for the election
Thank God we don’t have to listen to that greedy bearded leader anymore, he is a complete jerk. A 62% raise is ridiculous, but typical Democrat greed. The money to pay for those massive raises needs to be made up somewhere and thats probably going to be with automation.
Suspended until… 5 days before Trump takes office? Hmm… weird timing, eh? But I can’t decide if that’s a good sign or bad sign in regards to what the union thinks.
Sounds like that jacka$$ just cost hundreds of men their livelihood. If the market doesn’t support a 62% raise in wages, businesses will toss workers to the side and find another way. Celebrate your win for a day or year, eventually greed and stupidity have it’s day.
They deserve to go to full automation after demanding a 62% raise, pure greed.
Looks like this strike was over before it began as they’ve accepted the terms. Makes me wonder which branch of the IC showed up at Daggets house in the middle of the night. If you went out and bought a years supply of TP etc I hope you have your receipt.
They were losing the PR game and know it.
They planned for maximum effect prior to an election – holding everyone hostage.
Helene viscerally changed the PR dynamic – IMO. That and the “in your face” rhetoric from the Union head. Lotta folk getting tired of that polarizing BS. Had they adopted a less confrontational verbal strategy I believe they would, in many respects, be sitting in the driver’s seat.
They still have the power to derail the economies of many Southern states. So there’s a lotta script yet to be covered in this narrative.
Who was paid and how was it done?
Lots of industries out there have automated and lots of people have lost their jobs due to automation.
You can not step back in time to coddle these longshoreman. Amazon automated . They were not always as streamlined from the beginning. Look at the stock market. Most floor brokers lost their jobs due to electronic trading .
Maybe it’s time for them to learn new trades? Learn how to fix the automation machines? Learn how to run them. I’m sure there are other things they can retrain themselves to do. It is very scary but they better embrace the change before it is forced on them with no alternative (Out of a job completely due to automation)
its called progress
Tell that to the United States Postal Service.
The chances of getting those automations removed or at least lessen will be better with the election of the Dragon Rider. Lord make our enemies have dim sight, slow actions, and the inability to overcome the will of the people. In Jesus’ name Amen.
I wonder about something. No one says why the abrupt change, Daggert ws so adamant about crushing us. Since hes BFF of DJT, they go back to Mob days, do you think DJT talked to him? Postpone till im sworn in and then we get to brass knuckles? Sounds crazy i just wondered about it .
Sixty dollars an hour? I guess my days on this rock are limited! I have maybe 2 months of food. Three years ago I retired from a 16 dollar an hour job.
if they were smart they would work out a deal where the workers closest to retirement maintain their jobs (you can’t fire them without a total shutdown, so stay with me on this). At the same time, they train the less “seasoned” workers on how to maintain the automation and run the automation programs – this way, they get high (or at least higher) motivation from the lower level who see an opportunity to stay “needed”. In contrast, seasoned vets keep motivated because they know they are safe.
The faux issue of retirement benefits, followed closely by “wage concessions” over x-years and some type of working benefits package, is the number #1 issue used in trades to “allow modernization”.
Note: Modernization HAS ALWAYS = Automation for the past 50 years in any unionized industry one cares to name.
The term “modernization” will be slipped in to soften the automation boogie man by both the Union and Foreign Owners … who use and control the same set of US politicians, plus are paid-controlled by the same financiers.
The problem of balance of modernization vs human work force has always been a socioeconomic issue. As Sundance states is the ID of the owners with the fingers on the RED BUTTON … who also control the same US Politicians and are paid by the same financiers …. hmmm same politicians and same financiers … is there a common theme here???
Why aren’t dockworkers forbidden to strike like first responders, air traffic controllers, and others?
I really don’t care how much these union guys make.
Biden and Pelosi is a stronger concern to me.
At least they’re incomes are plainly in sight.
This commentary gives the background for what the longshoremen are REALLY striking about. John F. Di Leo is a Chicagoland-based trade compliance trainer and transportation manager, writer, and actor. Professionally, he is a licensed Customs broker, and has worked in freight forwarding and manufacturing for over forty years.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2024/10/03/ila-and-usmx-reach-tentative-agreement-on-wages-ila-suspends-strike-through-january-15th-as-negotiations-continue/#more-264760
This was the link I meant to include:
https://www.illinoisreview.com/illinoisreview/2024/10/opinion-who-are-the-longshoremen-really-striking-against.html
ILA and USMX Reach Tentative Agreement on Wages – ILA Suspends Strike Through January 15th as Negotiations Continue
how convenient
The most interesting data point learned was that the US Consumer went straight into panic mode over the dock strike, which was a strike hyped by politicians and media.
There were more than a few, buried interesting articles from domestic suppliers (e.g. Toilet Paper makers) that stated clearly the dock workers strike DID NOT IMPACT THOSE SUPPLIERS. So … to summarize … yep some off shore stuff would not be in the shelves but … subsistence level stuff would be there in sufficient supply. As for fuel … another boogieman that would right itself within a few days with domestic supply … but the cost at the pump shot up over 30-50 cents per gallon over night.
Data point established.
By the way … stories this morning indicate the Union Boss is in the cross hairs of FBI for a Mafia Hit. That also means by definition …. the same boss is in being investigated by the Mafia as well.
Thanks to the publicized photo of the Union Boss with President Trump … no matter their real real relationship.
Put off the shutdown of American commerce until a few days before Trump’s Inauguration.
May the Retribution across so many corrupt sectors be swift and remorseless.
All I see happening from this is that it’s going to push the docks to become automated. It’s bound to happen sooner than later…
Dissolve them.
My thought is that it appears the strike was delayed until after the election. Kamala won’t have the mess on her watch. If Trump wins, the massive fallout of the strike will be in his term.