I waited a few days and reread the article by Andrew about the dockworkers strike. I wanted to make sure I had the same interpretation.
I am a retired IBEW member. I worked for a communication company that used paper records in the analog world. It was eventually computerized and now I don't think a human performs the job. I was able to adapt but some of my workers couldn't handle the changes in technology. They actually retired much earlier in their careers and I was heartbroken for them. And I bet they never heard of the Luddites.
Have you ever worked at a dock ? It looks pretty hard to me. The shipping companies made record profits these past couple of years off the backs of their workers- maybe it would nice to reward them ? You obviously dont agree with their pay. Do you think the inflated rate included their actual pay plus the cost of their benefits?
Some fast food companies are required to pay their workers a living wage. The profits of these companies are enormous. But do you think it is a low level job doesn't deserve a decent wage ?
Maybe your job as a writer will no longer exist and be replaced by AI. You probably wont join the Luddites because your work is different. It is original !!
Maybe rethink your attitude towards workers trying to make a decent living. The old saying of walk a mile in my shoes comes to mind. Maybe people earning a decent wage might splurge for your original writing and not settled for a cheaper AI version.
Hello Eva, Thanks for your comments. I thought I had included the link to my long essay that explains at length what happened on January 6, 1941 and its historic significance. Below is the link to it on medium.com. Kindly, Robert
Ok Andrew, so why is it that the longshoremen are supposed to care about their fellow workers while the bosses and chattering classes need not even think about them?
I think Andrew now needs to apologize for this round of union bashing, particularly with his figure of union members being paid $200k a year. The actual average pay at the ILWA is $43k a year.
I read the last time ILA went on strike was 50 years ago. Collective bargaining is the power of unions, and I’m glad they fought and got a good deal. The disinformation is continuing by saying there’s a 62% increase in wages! Yes, but over six years. I can spot a non union person at a hundred yards and I’m not surprised by the Bulwark attitude. I am disappointed, though.
I’m a labor attorney. I can’t tell you how many heads in my firm exploded when they demanded a 60% pay increase and assurances of no automation. Not only will automation make everything cheaper (hello answer to inflation?), but it will also reduce workplace injuries. These workers need to adapt, not hold our nation hostage with their insane demands.
The strike is over and all the union members will go back to voting for Trump no matter who the union leaders endorse.
And Trump is absolutely correct the most recent disclosures relating to the J6 case do "look" like an October Surprise intended to influence the election every bit as much as the Comey announcement did in 2016.
When the criminally corrupt Trump has used political interference by the weaponized judicial system a cornerstone of his campaign (ridiculous as it is) why hand him another hand of cards to play?
I am also not sure how meaningful John Kasich's or any other Republican's "non-endorsement endorsement" of Harris matters even to undecided voters. I have a hard time imagining anyone any where going "Wow, John Kasich has endorsed Harris. Well, that seals the deal for me..."
Any reasoned outright declaration of non support for Trump is fine for me---the "permission structure" is already in place for rational Republican voters to walk away from Trump and they can read between the lines when someone says they won't be voting for Trump.
1) Of all the things surrounding the conspiracy theory of the stolen 2020 election, the one that I find the most unbelievable is that so many people believe it despite the fact that Trump told us BEFORE the election that he was going to cry foul and HOW he was going to do it. We all knew the game plan. In a same world, that would pretty much destroy any credibility that someone like Trump would have.
And, yes, Dems should be pounding on Trump’s attempt to overturn the election. All day, every day. And they should ask this question: if attempting to overturn the results of an election and interfere with the peaceful transfer of power doesn’t disqualify a person from being President, what would?
2) Unfortunately, the results of polls as reported in the Bulwark lead me to the second most unbelievable part of the stolen election conspiracy theory – apparently, a lot of people don’t care that much about it.
3) Kudos to Liz Cheney for going the extra mile when so many of her fellow conservatives are only willing to go halfway.
I have friends that live in MD that have voted for Hogan before but aren’t this time because they don’t want to give the numbers to the R party. 🤷🏻♀️. He should have run independent or even Dem
If I were of a conspiratorial mindset, I'd suggest that the managers manipulated the union to strick, knowing that this would redound to Trump's benefit. The reality is I just think Trump is the luckiest SOB on earth.
If it's lopsided for Harris, yeah Nov 5. If Harris wins in a close vote, it's gonna be a long, tense and possibly violent slog that may not end until Jan 20, 2025.
I think that we can count on a certain level of violence if Trump loses, no matter by how much. He has basically promised it to us, and that's one promise that he means to keep. We can deplore it, but we can't fear it, and must meet it resolutely and defeat it.
That ILA guy is going to lose. He might get a contract but he has sealed the fate of a lot of dock workers by being an asshole about it. If and WHEN the word gets out that he is helping shut down the commerce of the US over 2250 jobs where the worker gets paid 39 bucks an hour, he is going to come across as a total asshole and that will paint all dock workers with a very dark brush. He also can't stand in the way of automation. Automation has won in every single contest it has ever had with manual workers. Remember, John Henry died at the end of of the contest with the automatic steel driver. The steel driver went on to drive the same amount of steel the next day. John Henry was dead.
I am going to withhold my judgement of the unions until I get more info. This seems like a former Republican getting to feel like a true conservative type of thing. Nothing says conservative like beating on a worker organization.
Diana—
I think we all aspire to look like Don Jr. I, personally, aspire to his inheritance.
I waited a few days and reread the article by Andrew about the dockworkers strike. I wanted to make sure I had the same interpretation.
I am a retired IBEW member. I worked for a communication company that used paper records in the analog world. It was eventually computerized and now I don't think a human performs the job. I was able to adapt but some of my workers couldn't handle the changes in technology. They actually retired much earlier in their careers and I was heartbroken for them. And I bet they never heard of the Luddites.
Have you ever worked at a dock ? It looks pretty hard to me. The shipping companies made record profits these past couple of years off the backs of their workers- maybe it would nice to reward them ? You obviously dont agree with their pay. Do you think the inflated rate included their actual pay plus the cost of their benefits?
Some fast food companies are required to pay their workers a living wage. The profits of these companies are enormous. But do you think it is a low level job doesn't deserve a decent wage ?
Maybe your job as a writer will no longer exist and be replaced by AI. You probably wont join the Luddites because your work is different. It is original !!
Maybe rethink your attitude towards workers trying to make a decent living. The old saying of walk a mile in my shoes comes to mind. Maybe people earning a decent wage might splurge for your original writing and not settled for a cheaper AI version.
Hello Eva, Thanks for your comments. I thought I had included the link to my long essay that explains at length what happened on January 6, 1941 and its historic significance. Below is the link to it on medium.com. Kindly, Robert
https://rlberko-42995.medium.com/the-other-1-6-and-the-fate-of-democracy-d6e74022786c?source=friends_link&sk=b412722b3873949d1cb1786ce324ffd3
Ok Andrew, so why is it that the longshoremen are supposed to care about their fellow workers while the bosses and chattering classes need not even think about them?
Hand me that scalpel... I'd like to try and make JD actually look like the picture on the left.
Flash forward to 2026...
I know we are being rounded up into prison and they are burning our homes to the ground... but he was really polite when he did it. So there's that.
I think Andrew now needs to apologize for this round of union bashing, particularly with his figure of union members being paid $200k a year. The actual average pay at the ILWA is $43k a year.
Agree, those that make $200k are working 100 hours a week! They start at $20/hour and go up to about $40 after 6 years.
I read the last time ILA went on strike was 50 years ago. Collective bargaining is the power of unions, and I’m glad they fought and got a good deal. The disinformation is continuing by saying there’s a 62% increase in wages! Yes, but over six years. I can spot a non union person at a hundred yards and I’m not surprised by the Bulwark attitude. I am disappointed, though.
"Trump Can’t Escape Jan. 6th"
If only I were so sure. Truth is, he's one thunderstorm in Philadelphia on Election Day away from getting away with all of it.
But I cannot applaud Cheney's "let the lie even flourish but not through me" stance enough.
I’m a labor attorney. I can’t tell you how many heads in my firm exploded when they demanded a 60% pay increase and assurances of no automation. Not only will automation make everything cheaper (hello answer to inflation?), but it will also reduce workplace injuries. These workers need to adapt, not hold our nation hostage with their insane demands.
The strike is over and all the union members will go back to voting for Trump no matter who the union leaders endorse.
And Trump is absolutely correct the most recent disclosures relating to the J6 case do "look" like an October Surprise intended to influence the election every bit as much as the Comey announcement did in 2016.
When the criminally corrupt Trump has used political interference by the weaponized judicial system a cornerstone of his campaign (ridiculous as it is) why hand him another hand of cards to play?
I am also not sure how meaningful John Kasich's or any other Republican's "non-endorsement endorsement" of Harris matters even to undecided voters. I have a hard time imagining anyone any where going "Wow, John Kasich has endorsed Harris. Well, that seals the deal for me..."
Any reasoned outright declaration of non support for Trump is fine for me---the "permission structure" is already in place for rational Republican voters to walk away from Trump and they can read between the lines when someone says they won't be voting for Trump.
and the strike is over.... thank you Joe ;)
A few comments...
1) Of all the things surrounding the conspiracy theory of the stolen 2020 election, the one that I find the most unbelievable is that so many people believe it despite the fact that Trump told us BEFORE the election that he was going to cry foul and HOW he was going to do it. We all knew the game plan. In a same world, that would pretty much destroy any credibility that someone like Trump would have.
And, yes, Dems should be pounding on Trump’s attempt to overturn the election. All day, every day. And they should ask this question: if attempting to overturn the results of an election and interfere with the peaceful transfer of power doesn’t disqualify a person from being President, what would?
2) Unfortunately, the results of polls as reported in the Bulwark lead me to the second most unbelievable part of the stolen election conspiracy theory – apparently, a lot of people don’t care that much about it.
3) Kudos to Liz Cheney for going the extra mile when so many of her fellow conservatives are only willing to go halfway.
I have friends that live in MD that have voted for Hogan before but aren’t this time because they don’t want to give the numbers to the R party. 🤷🏻♀️. He should have run independent or even Dem
Management has no fault in the dock workers strike ? Color me skeptical.
If I were of a conspiratorial mindset, I'd suggest that the managers manipulated the union to strick, knowing that this would redound to Trump's benefit. The reality is I just think Trump is the luckiest SOB on earth.
Lucky?
I wouldn't trade my post-earth future with his for all the golden toilets in the universe.
One can only hope there is divine (or post-earthly existence) justice, since it's unlikely he'll face it on this earth.
Hope his luck runs out after Nov. the fifth.
If it's lopsided for Harris, yeah Nov 5. If Harris wins in a close vote, it's gonna be a long, tense and possibly violent slog that may not end until Jan 20, 2025.
I think that we can count on a certain level of violence if Trump loses, no matter by how much. He has basically promised it to us, and that's one promise that he means to keep. We can deplore it, but we can't fear it, and must meet it resolutely and defeat it.
That ILA guy is going to lose. He might get a contract but he has sealed the fate of a lot of dock workers by being an asshole about it. If and WHEN the word gets out that he is helping shut down the commerce of the US over 2250 jobs where the worker gets paid 39 bucks an hour, he is going to come across as a total asshole and that will paint all dock workers with a very dark brush. He also can't stand in the way of automation. Automation has won in every single contest it has ever had with manual workers. Remember, John Henry died at the end of of the contest with the automatic steel driver. The steel driver went on to drive the same amount of steel the next day. John Henry was dead.
I am going to withhold my judgement of the unions until I get more info. This seems like a former Republican getting to feel like a true conservative type of thing. Nothing says conservative like beating on a worker organization.