If It’s Not One Thing It’s Another

I’m only now catching up.

Determined to thwart the automating of their jobs, about 45,000 dockworkers along the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts are threatening to strike on Oct. 1, a move that would shut down ports that handle about half the nation’s cargo from ships. 
The International Longshoremen’s Union is demanding significantly higher wages and a total ban on the automation of cranes, gates and container movements that are used in the loading or loading of freight at 36 U.S. ports. Whenever and however the dispute is resolved, it’s likely to affect how freight moves in and out of the United States for years to come.
If a strike were resolved within a few weeks, consumers probably wouldn’t notice any major shortages of retail goods. But a strike that persists for more than a month would likely cause a shortage of some consumer products, although most holiday retail goods have already arrived from overseas. A prolonged strike would almost certainly hurt the U.S. economy. Even a brief strike would cause disruptions. Heavier vehicular traffic would be likely at key points around the country as cargo was diverted to West Coast ports, where workers belong to a different union not involved in the strike. And once the longshoremen’s union eventually returned to work, a ship backlog would likely result. For every day of a port strike, experts say it takes four to six days to clear it up. The longshoremen’s union and the United States Maritime Alliance, which represents the ports, haven’t met to negotiate since June, when the union said it suspended national talks to first complete local port agreements. No further national contract talks have been scheduled. Harold Daggett, the union president, warned earlier this month that the longshoremen stood ready to strike once their contract expires on Sept. 30.
“We are very far apart,” Daggett said. “Mark my words, we’ll shut them down Oct. 1 if we don’t get the kind of wages we deserve.”
Top-scale port workers now earn a base pay of $39 an hour, or just over $81,000 a year. But with overtime and other benefits, some can make in excess of $200,000 annually. Neither the union nor the ports would discuss pay levels. But a 2019-2020 report by the Waterfront Commission, which oversees New York Harbor, said about a third of the longshoremen based there made $200,000 or more.
Daggett contends, though, that higher-paid longshoremen work up to 100 hours a week, most of it overtime, and sacrifice much of their family time in doing so.
The Maritime Alliance has said it’s committed to resuming talks and avoiding the first national longshoremen’s strike since 1977. It has accused the union of having already decided in advance to walk off the job.
“We need to sit down and negotiate a new agreement that avoids an unnecessary and costly strike that will be detrimental to both sides,” the alliance said in a statement.
In the case of a short-lived strike, industry experts say consumers wouldn’t likely notice shortages of store goods during the holiday shopping season. Most retailers had goods transported ahead of the usual pre-holiday shipping season, and they’re already stored in warehouses.
“It would be an inconvenience, but it’s not going to be ‘Santa’s not showing up,’ ” said Jonathan Chappell, senior managing director of transportation at Evercore ISI, an investment research firm…
The longshoreman’s union, Nolan suggested, commands some leverage going into a presidential election, with memories still fresh of jammed ports and clogged supply chains that followed the pandemic recession. Unions also have drawn support this year from political candidates who have been courting the labor vote.
If a strike were to extend beyond a month or so, spot shortages of goods could develop. Some manufacturers could run short of parts, notably in the auto and pharmaceutical industries, which generally don’t stock large parts inventories. Exports of autos and other goods that move through the East Coast also could be affected.
Most analysts don’t expect President Joe Biden to intervene, as he and Congress did to head off a railroad strike in 2022, at least not before the Nov. 5 presidential election. Robinson, of the logistics firm C.H. Robinson, noted that the administration cannot legally impose a contract on the dockworkers before a strike. But if a strike were deemed to endanger national health or safety, Ginter said, Biden could, under the Taft-Hartley Act, seek a court order for an 80-day cooling-off period. This would suspend the strike…

https://apnews.com/article/longshoremen-strike-pay-automation-ports-jobs-consumers-3aa66e0a05db25a49645fad404a5f000

Craig: Blaze is one of the outlets in the recent DOJ indictment alleging they got Russian money and propaganda.

 
Yikes! Didn’t know that. Thanks, Craig. Going straight to junk file if they show up again. 

I think JD, like Mary Trump, was a child deeply damaged and lastingly affected by a parent’s severe disease of addiction. Difference is Mary Trump went on to receive an education in the effects of the family disease and to seek personal recovery to help heal herself and others. JD has used his experience and education to spread the madness. His mother, according to accounts, has gone on to treatment and lasting recovery. As evidenced by his public behavior, he sadly is still suffering. 

He’d rather be a problem that solve a problem. 

Seems to me they got nothing to throw at Tim Walz but fly shit and pepper. 

I’m ready for another eclipse. Beam me up, Scotty.
 
https://www.space.com/watch-annular-solar-eclipse-2024-online

I think the maggers know the jig is up.