Categories
Moving Forward or Falling Behind?
Starting on October 1, 2024 thousands of members of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and related entities walked off their jobs at many of the most critical East and Gulf Coast import/export port terminals in the U.S. to extract higher wages and other job protections. Just before this strike, union leadership rejected a proposed 50% wage increase offer over six years along with other improvements in benefits.
Just as a condition to sit down to talks with these workers’ maritime employers, the ILA demanded to raise the base hourly rate for its roughly 45,000 members over six years to $69 from $39, a 77% pay increase. Just for context, in the financial year that ended in 2020, more than half of the dockworkers at the Port of New York and New Jersey made more than $150,000, and about one in five earned over $250,000. With a 60% pay increase over six years, one in five dockworkers would make over $400,000 annually by 2030.
What is even more egregious and short-sighted is that, in addition to the higher wage demand, the union wants a guarantee that the ports will not pursue the automation that many other modern ports on the West Coast and around the world are employing to increase port capacity and efficiency.
Bottom line, by being forced to agree to massive pay increases and a commitment to stay in the dark ages of port automation technology, the ILA wants to keep its hands around the necks of every American consumer and force them to pay every penny of spiraling shipping costs. Matthew Dombrowski, a crane operator and union member on strike, captured the irony of this situation when he said: “I am here to support the union and to support the middle class of America.”
The inflationary effects of these wage demands for thousands of workers of every class of Americans are very easy to understand. However, as I reflect on the ridiculousness of the union's demand to not modernize U.S. ports, I thought of an anecdote my father shared with me many years ago:
If you’re not moving forward, you’re falling behind.
Imagine for a moment the era when the first computers were hitting the desktops of America’s secretaries. What if the International Secretaries Affiliated (I made that up) demanded that secretaries who were members of their union get guaranteed 10% annual raises AND that their employers never purchase a computer to replace their union member’s electric typewriters? This sounds ridiculous, but it is an appropriate analogy. Maybe a small, protected class of secretaries who were union members and allowed into this hallowed and highly overpaid profession would be paid significantly more today than any other Americans. But would America exist as it does today?
In their infinite wisdom, the unions that are supposed to protect their members are guaranteeing that their members will actually be left behind by failing to embrace the potential technological advancement that America thrives on.
If you have any questions or comments, please email me, Pete Taylor, CEO and Chairman of the Board at Standard, at: ptaylor@standardexteriorsolutions.com.