Follow-up: Longshoreman Strike Ends After Three Days

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance agreed to a tentative deal to end the strike. The terms of this deal include an over 60% raise for workers over six years and includes rules for automation for ports, bringing the contract for the East ad Gulft Coast union members closer in parity to the terms of the deal with the West Coast union.

The ILA walked off the job and onto picket lines following the expiration of their contract at midnight on the night of September 30, as reported last week. In the three days of the strike, billions of dollars in consumer goods were anchored offshore unable to be unloaded and thousands of shipping containers had been dumped at the wrong ports.

A longer strike would have dramatic effects on the tabletop gaming industry as products shipping from European publishers and distributors to the United States would be affected, while the knock-on effects of container shortages and increase of traffic at West Coast ports would affect imports for all over the country.

The strike has been suspended until January 15 to allow both sides to negotiate the finer details of the deal and for union members to vote on the deal. Americans responded to news of the strike in typical American fashion, by panic-buying milk and toilet paper, two products that are produced domestically and would be unaffected by the strike.

 

[Umbran]

There are plans in motion to fully automate Houston's unloading facilities in the wake of this incident (they are semi-automated at the moment). Had the strike continued, the Texas Army National Guard was prepared to move in and re-open Houston.

Had the strike continued, victims of Hurricane Helene would not be getting desperately-needed support. Milk and toilet paper may be made domestically, but a lot of material in disaster relief efforts isn't, and knock-on effects of having ports closed would have impacted recovery.

I expect a major motivation for the compromise was that none of the parties involved wanted their negotiation failures to get in the way of aid efforts - because that would make them all look extremely bad to the public.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Had the strike continued, victims of Hurricane Helene would not be getting desperately-needed support. Milk and toilet paper may be made domestically, but a lot of material in disaster relief efforts isn't, and knock-on effects of having ports closed would have impacted recovery.

I expect a major motivation for the compromise was that none of the parties involved wanted their negotiation failures to get in the way of aid efforts - because that would make them all look extremely bad to the public.

That makes sense.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Which means absolutely nothing except the platforms are working as intended by prioritizing showing you content you want to see. By design they create an echo chamber.

Given the volume of posts, and the volume of supporting comments, it proves the that the unions were taking fire. There's a reason why union breaking has has such success in the last couple decades: unions do not have as much public support as they did fifty years ago (as Aramis already pointed out).

Not to mention the vast number of port-affiliated workers whose jobs were threatened by the strike, and others, including small farmers, whose livelihoods depend on export-fueled prices.

Unions are not all that popular in the USA. The recent layoff of 1600 UAW workers elicited no public outcry, and Biden's anti-union actions in the rail contract, and killing the blackrock pipeline did not hurt his administration.

Unions have been losing the PR battle for decades. You're probably too young to remember the textile union's desperate 'look for the union label' ads of the late 70s, as the bulk of the textile industry went overseas.

 

[Velderan]

Given the volume of posts, and the volume of supporting comments, it proves the that the unions were taking fire. There's a reason why union breaking has has such success in the last couple decades: unions do not have as much public support as they did fifty years ago (as Aramis already pointed out).

Not to mention the vast number of workers port-affiliated workers whose jobs were threatened by the strike, and others, including small farmers, whose livelihoods depend on export-fueled prices.

Unions are not all that popular in the USA. The recent layoff of 1600 UAW workers elicited no public outcry, and Biden's anti-union actions in the rail contract, and killing the blackrock pipeline did not hurt his administration.

Unions have been losing the PR battle for decades. You're probably too young to remember the textile union's desperate 'look for the union label' ads of the late 70s, as the bulk of the textile industry went overseas.

Again, social media is a horribly flawed way to measure public opinion on anything. Horribly flawed.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Again, social media is a horribly flawed way to measure public opinion on anything. Horribly flawed.

Its a good enough indicator, that both political parties watch it closely, so I shall note with confidence that I am right.

 

[Umbran]

Its a good enough indicator, that both political parties watch it closely, so I shall note with confidence that I am right.

Mod Note:
And with that, this thread is no longer about gaming, and is closed.