Dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas go on strike

[ssmjlm]

Shelves may not be impacted immediately, but if the strikes continues, could cause significant issues in the coming weeks.

apnews.com/article/port-strike-ila-dockworkers-begins-e5468e760f46a64e4322d1702beb1f72

[meanie]

Same in Boston, our friend who works there said every strike day sets them back 5 days so there is a lot of motivation to get this resolved quickly.


www.wcvb.com/article/boston-port-strike-us-dockworkers-sept-30-international-longshoremens-association/62452753

[AJL]

I hope that it is resolved quickly with all that the strikers are asking for. Fuck big business. Union strong!

[neverfstop]

Oct 1, 2024 9:27:53 GMT -5 AJL said:

I hope that it is resolved quickly with all that the strikers are asking for. Fuck big business. Union strong!

I saw a headline that one of their demands is NO automation/robots.  I'd like to learn more- I would think that would be the exact type of thing (dangerous, repetitive) that would be a great fit for automation.  In my mind, it would be similar to adding robots or automation on a factory production line (a la the automakers).  It's interesting that this is very similar to the last major strike being about technology & the future (the actors guild with AI).

[katfco]

Oct 2, 2024 5:51:02 GMT -5 neverfstop said:

Oct 1, 2024 9:27:53 GMT -5 AJL said:

I hope that it is resolved quickly with all that the strikers are asking for. Fuck big business. Union strong!

I saw a headline that one of their demands is NO automation/robots.  I'd like to learn more- I would think that would be the exact type of thing (dangerous, repetitive) that would be a great fit for automation.  In my mind, it would be similar to adding robots or automation on a factory production line (a la the automakers).  It's interesting that this is very similar to the last major strike being about technology & the future (the actors guild with AI).

They’re making a distinction between full automation and partial. They want no full automation, and partial automation to be union approved.

Another demand is a $5 wage increase every year for five years, bringing the average pay from $39 an hour to $64 in the next five years.

[rubytue]

Apparently people are freaking out with memories of 2020, and every Costco in the Dc area was cleaned out of toilet paper yesterday (per the local Costco Fb group).

Handy, since we actually needed toilet paper 🙄. H came home “there was a guy in a full suit, like lawyer type, with a cart and two packs of toilet paper and two pack of paper towels. Nothing else. What the heck is going on?!”

[lilac05]

Oct 2, 2024 7:25:00 GMT -5 rubytue said:

Apparently people are freaking out with memories of 2020, and every Costco in the Dc area was cleaned out of toilet paper yesterday (per the local Costco Fb group).

Handy, since we actually needed toilet paper 🙄. H came home “there was a guy in a full suit, like lawyer type, with a cart and two packs of toilet paper and two pack of paper towels. Nothing else. What the heck is going on?!”

My parents sent the message that there’s going to be a TP shortage again. Ugh. No idea where they heard it…probably Boomer FB. So, yes…now there will be a temporary shortage of TP…because of rumors and runs on the product! Different, but similar to Covid in that if people only bought what they need, we’d be just fine.

My non-sensationalizing news sources do say, however, that it will almost immediately impact bananas. They all come through the east coast, and there’s no cold storage of them. They basically go straight to stores, so there is no backup supply. I also saw sugar mentioned, but that was a longer term thing. If there’s no agreement for awhile, things might get more expensive and a little harder to get. But we’ve got lots of sugar in warehouses. The reporter said basically “Except for bananas, as long as no one panics and only buys what they need, we will be just fine.”

I’ve always been a bulk shopper. Because of my ADHD and inability to remember to buy things when I need them, I generally have an extra package of frequently used items at my house (flour, sugar, toilet paper, paper towels). I’ve been working to break that cycle…but now I’m literally almost completely out of sugar & TP and both were on my list to buy when I shopped today.

[Jalapeñomel]

Someone mentioned that this could have an impact on weight loss RX drugs, so I went looking for an article:

www.cnbc.com/2024/10/01/port-strike-blockbuster-weight-loss-drug-supply-trade-shutdown.html

[anodyne]

Oct 2, 2024 7:25:00 GMT -5 rubytue said:

Apparently people are freaking out with memories of 2020, and every Costco in the Dc area was cleaned out of toilet paper yesterday (per the local Costco Fb group).

Handy, since we actually needed toilet paper 🙄. H came home “there was a guy in a full suit, like lawyer type, with a cart and two packs of toilet paper and two pack of paper towels. Nothing else. What the heck is going on?!”

Same here!  TP is manufactured in the US, it's not transported through the docks.

[Velar Fricative]

Yeah I noticed the TP fears among boomers on social media.

[wildrice]

Oct 2, 2024 8:29:27 GMT -5 anodyne said:

Oct 2, 2024 7:25:00 GMT -5 rubytue said:

Apparently people are freaking out with memories of 2020, and every Costco in the Dc area was cleaned out of toilet paper yesterday (per the local Costco Fb group).

Handy, since we actually needed toilet paper 🙄. H came home “there was a guy in a full suit, like lawyer type, with a cart and two packs of toilet paper and two pack of paper towels. Nothing else. What the heck is going on?!”

Same here!  TP is manufactured in the US, it's not transported through the docks.

People are ridiculous! I hope that news spreads so people will stop buying stuff they don't need!

Though I have to admit that I seem to have some trauma related to 2020 shortages because I immediately got anxious thinking about TP being limited, too. We have plenty for several weeks, but I am now remembering my vow to have an extra Costco size package on hand at all times after 2020 and I haven't exactly followed that! I'm not going to be rushing out to buy more now, I just had thought that at times when things were plentiful I'd keep an extra around just in case. 

I hope this is resolved quickly and that the workers get what they are looking for. 

[fernweh]

Oct 2, 2024 8:43:06 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

Yeah I noticed the TP fears among boomers on social media.

My parents never stopped hoarding TP after the 2020 shortage. My dad buys a pack literally every time they go to the store. I was visiting last weekend and they don’t use the tub in their master bathroom so they store TP. It’s insane, they are both in their early 70s and I think if he never bought another pack of TP they would still have enough to last the rest of their lives.

[Patsy Baloney]

Someone needs to start a charity called Bidets for Boomers.

[sunshineandpinot]

I just got back from Costco. It was a little insane. So much toilet paper and cases of water in everyone’s cart. I was embarrassed that I was even buying one pack of toilet paper, but it was already on my list.

[rubytue]

Oct 2, 2024 11:03:44 GMT -5 sunshineandpinot said:

I just got back from Costco. It was a little insane. So much toilet paper and cases of water in everyone’s cart. I was embarrassed that I was even buying one pack of toilet paper, but it was already on my list.

The cases of water… just 🤦‍♀️ Do people really think we are shipping cases of tap water in from overseas? Sorry, your Kirkland bottle water is from some municipality’s tap. I mean, it’s good to have spare water around from disasters, but you don’t need 3 cases or water for a port strike, and maybe just fill up the bazillion reusable water bottles in your cabinets.  

[candreco]

OMG, was joining a Teams meeting, pre-meeting chitchat was about the strike (maritime industry-adjacent) and someone actually complained that their BMW was stuck on a ship. Like, yeah, I'm sure it's disappointing to order a new car, have it be on its way, and then have it delayed, but have some perspective! He got ROASTED by someone else in the meeting.

[wawa]

Oct 2, 2024 12:14:14 GMT -5 candreco said:

OMG, was joining a Teams meeting, pre-meeting chitchat was about the strike (maritime industry-adjacent) and someone actually complained that their BMW was stuck on a ship. Like, yeah, I'm sure it's disappointing to order a new car, have it be on its way, and then have it delayed, but have some perspective! He got ROASTED by someone else in the meeting.

this is hilarious.

Of course car deliveries is right where my brain went because it's so much of the port of balitmore's traffic, and it's been kind of a crapshoot already.

I feel really really badly for businesses that rely on the port of baltimore.  They already had one huge disruption this year with the Key Bridge, and now this.  I hope they're able to meet the union demands quickly and get this resolved.

[wildrice]

Oct 2, 2024 11:49:34 GMT -5 rubytue said:

Oct 2, 2024 11:03:44 GMT -5 sunshineandpinot said:

I just got back from Costco. It was a little insane. So much toilet paper and cases of water in everyone’s cart. I was embarrassed that I was even buying one pack of toilet paper, but it was already on my list.

The cases of water… just 🤦‍♀️ Do people really think we are shipping cases of tap water in from overseas? Sorry, your Kirkland bottle water is from some municipality’s tap. I mean, it’s good to have spare water around from disasters, but you don’t need 3 cases or water for a port strike, and maybe just fill up the bazillion reusable water bottles in your cabinets.  

I bought a Costco case of water in 2020 for who knows what reason, probably because everyone else was doing it and I thought I was missing something. 

I was cleaning up my storage room the other day and noticed that I still have about 1/3 of it sitting there! I am guessing I need to just pour it out at this point because it's almost 5 years old and I imagine the plastic has leeched (leached?) into the water at this point.

I will not be buying another for this port strike, or probably ever. 

[Nugget T. Brain, The OG]

So they were offered a 50% pay increase, better healthcare and triple retirement contribution and they said no.

Because they want no automation and a 77% raise.

I need someone to explain to me why I should be fully on their side on this.

[underwaterrhymes]

Oct 2, 2024 19:53:14 GMT -5 Nugget T. Brain, The OG said:

So they were offered a 50% pay increase, better healthcare and triple retirement contribution and they said no.

Because they want no automation and a 77% raise.

I need someone to explain to me why I should be fully on their side on this.

The person who represents them is a wealthy businessman by the name of Harold Daggett. He is friends with Trump.

I think it’s him that is pushing this rather than the workers themselves.

[litebright]

Can confirm that at least my locale of the greater DC area has once again pretty much cleared the shelves of TP. SIGH. I actually needed to get some and the single-ply brand that we need for our septic was totally out at the grocery store. I scrounged up two rolls to move to the main bathroom and hopefully that will do until I can get some.

I hate seeing the empty shelves, it gives me a little visceral gut-drop that takes me back to 2020.

[neverfstop]

Oct 2, 2024 8:46:46 GMT -5 wildrice said:

Oct 2, 2024 8:29:27 GMT -5 anodyne said:

Same here!  TP is manufactured in the US, it's not transported through the docks.

People are ridiculous! 

Kind of like turning a thread about a union strike into local reporting on toilet paper shortages...lolz

[SusanBAnthony]

Person at my company: do we know when the strike will end?

Sourcing Person: no, i, a random Sourcing employee at a medium sized Midwest company, do not have any special secret information about when the strike will end.

[livinitup]

Since 2020, we installed two Bidets and got a big pack of tp that H won’t put into our household rotation because it’s too thin and scratchy. The empty bottles I filled with water and stored in the basement were used to flush toilets the last time we had a plumbing repair & mostly re-filled for the next disaster.

So, I think we are good on those fronts.

Plus, tp being manufacturing in the U.S. & our facets running clean water.

[laladypoet]

Oct 2, 2024 20:12:18 GMT -5 neverfstop said:

Oct 2, 2024 8:46:46 GMT -5 wildrice said:

People are ridiculous! 

Kind of like turning a thread about a union strike into local reporting on toilet paper shortages...lolz

that's how the flow of conversation works, wtf

[jlt19]

Oct 2, 2024 19:53:14 GMT -5 Nugget T. Brain, The OG said:

So they were offered a 50% pay increase, better healthcare and triple retirement contribution and they said no.

Because they want no automation and a 77% raise.

I need someone to explain to me why I should be fully on their side on this.

I struggle with this too, and I used to be heavily involved in CBA’s for a large labor Union. I fully support them wanting all of these things and giving a big fuck you to the corporate world.

But also, let’s be realistic. Anything they get will be paid for by consumers. It’s not coming out of profit margins. So it’s all a lose-lose for the “middle class” per usual.

[Bad Dingo]

I'm no expert, but starting salary is $20, so working a full 40 hours, 52 weeks, that's $41,600 annual for a dangerous job that is hard on your body. They aren't looking for an immediate raise, but over 6 years.

[fernweh]

Tentative agreement reached; strike paused until January. I hope everyone enjoys the 7 years worth of TP they bought.

apnews.com/article/longshoremen-strike-ports-dockworkers-agreement-86fac07d1189e11ca4816b2cbf37affb

[bugandbibs]

I was very happy to hear they have a tentative agreement since I have to buy TP tonight at Costco. Now I won't seem like a crazy person for my 2x annual purchase.

But seriously, I think the labor agreement started off legitimate dispute and was corrupted by a pro-Trump leader who was willing to screw his workers over to help elect Trump. I am glad that didn't happen. There are some serious corrections that need to be made in labor that are going to seem greedy, but are actually long overdue catching up.

[pinkdutchtulips]

Oct 2, 2024 19:53:14 GMT -5 Nugget T. Brain, The OG said:

So they were offered a 50% pay increase, better healthcare and triple retirement contribution and they said no.

Because they want no automation and a 77% raise.

I need someone to explain to me why I should be fully on their side on this.

They settled on a 62% raise. 

The no automation thing is a head scratcher for me too. These jobs are repetitive and dangerous, some automation is not a bad thing (thinking decrease in wrongful death litigation, increase in efficiency). Sometimes unions shoot themselves in the foot by dismissing automation so someone w a clipboard can manually write down numbers and continue to earn an above average salary. This only feeds into the public's distain for them. 

Full disclosure, J is a union member, he's not crazy about it but he sees the benefits. The utility he works for uses some automation for efficiency reasons but they'll never go full automation.