With the longshoreman and the companies going round and round I see a lot of ships anchored all over, even some off the inside of Whidbey. Do you think that all those anchors could be detrimental to the bottom structure and the critters that live there? And wouldn't the ones anchored in Elliott Bay stir up some of that crap?

Glad all my Rvrfshr lure components are all made in the USA...would suck to have them all stuck on a container somewhere!

Fish on...

Todd

Hard for me to feel too bad for the workers, especially after a multi-month intentional work slow down.

"Unionized dockworkers are among the nation's best-paid blue-collar workers. The union has successively negotiated pay increases for its members over the years that compensate for vastly increased productivity, made possible through containerization of freight, that has dramatically reduced the number of workers needed to load and unload ships. As a result, the association said the average longshoreman union member earns $147,000 a year."

One month back orders on many of our products,
Some of the companies we represent are starting to fly products in.
SF

It's all BS. Get back to work.......$147,000.00 a year is great pay.Good luck,

SZ

not to mention the environmental impact to air quality. those ships sit at anchor idling those gigantic diesel engines burning the lowest quality fuel imaginable. I don't think they ever shut them down except for maintenance.

bad deal all the way around, except for the guys making $150k






willy

Rite......Lol. good luck,

SZ

Unions have been a good thing for the American middle class, . . . until they aren't.

I'm surprised the ports haven't imposed work completion requirements that if not met, result in layoffs and a notice for new-hires.

agreed.

Well, crap. Hell just froze over. Stam and I agree.

Worthless bastards. Fire them all. I know plenty of people that would gladly play with legos for half of their pay.















This is the current scene at the Long Beach port.

Just curious, is the Longshoremen's Union still a pack of Commies? They were during WWll and the Korean episode. FDR and HST both had to step on their toes to keep things for the war effort moving.

Toss the PMA CEO that makes six figures and only comes up with excuses.

Well as a longshoreman who works mostly at jobs that pay the highest skill rate for about 50 hours a week. I'd like to know where I could sign up for that $147,000 a year, because I've never made anywhere close to that number. Its easy for PMA to throw that crap out there but its simply not true. Since they brought it up PMA member companies profited $370 billion in 2014. Our labor is typically paid for with the production they get in the first 20 to 30 minutes of an eight hour shift. I make a good living and have great benefits, like many of my coworkers I'm very grateful for that. Those benefits were not given they were negotiated and fought for, much like what is going on now. We all wish this had been resolved months ago, negotiations have been going on since May. Many of our negotiators have been away from their families for most of the last 9 months. Much of the time PMA's negotiators have been stalling and have made excuses to not even be at the table. They have not taken this seriously, and they couldn't give a rats ass about our economy. After I read their contract proposal press release, I almost said "those lowdown dirty greedy longshore bastards" but I assure you there is more to it than what is in the press release. They're only going to sell the good parts. They want you to think this is about wages and greed on our part and by the looks of it they are doing a good job, but for most of us this is about making sure we have a job in the future. For me thats worth fighting for, and if you were in my position I'm confident you would feel the same way.

No, I don't know any commies. Although I think that anyone that was a problem for the government back then may have been labeled as such.

We always work the military cargo no matter what, and they're always happy with the work we do.

Unfortunately, not allowing us to work nights, weekends, and holidays is only going to make that ships on anchor problem worse.

Longie I cannot refute your data about pay and benefits. I do know who Harry Bridges was and the Longshoremen in Seattle caused so much trouble that the government had to step in.
Bravo that you take care of military cargo in an expeditious manner.

I like to get butthurt by a Longshoreman making 150K a year for working the docks and wash the balls of a fuckin' executive who makes 5 million a year for making fucktarded decisions like "New Coke".

That's what I like to do.

Hank, the way the employer represented the $147k figure in their press release, it insinuated that it was in addition too the other benefits because our pension and medical were listed as well. They do this every negotiation. They send out a press release about our average compensation and the tv and print media puts it out there, no questions asked. Whats the downside for them if they embellish the #'s. There is none. Their motive is to affect public opinion and clearly it works.

It is true our medical coverage is great and it is a so called cadillac plan. There are additional charges for out of network providers and dental is covered at 70 or 80%. AsIn 2018 you are correct, those plans will be taxed, if Obamacare is still in effect. The union and the PMA have a tentative agreement on medical, but I won't know what that entails until we have a tentative agreement on everything.

I'm not sure of the cost of the pension plan, but given the creativity with which pension plans can be raided by employers, I'm not sure it'll be there in 20 years when I'm ready to retire.

Out of time I'll try to follow up later.

JG the answer to the question you ask as the OP, no one cares about anchorage of any vessel except the Coast Guard. In Elliott Bay I believe there are many grain ships a week on the North side of the bay awaiting load out and dropping anchor. Elliott bay has a sustainable shrimp harvest so I believe moving anchors in different areas helps the biomass develop by moving ground similar to natural events.

What natural events moved the bottom in 100-200' of water?

Dude.. that's an understatement.

As a small business owner, I love to hear employees that refuse to see benefits as an actual cost or portion of their pay. Words like ungratefull, spoiled and insolent come to mind.

To top off the insult, these dock workers and their "collective," have the audacity to slow their production, shift the blame to management claiming intentional sabotage of negotiations and effectively hold the local, national and international markets hostage. They posess an overly inflated sense of importance presuming they are somehow exempt from rising costs of health care, require another holiday or another 2% at the end of the month. The act of negotiation ISNT the issue for me... It is the expectancy and willingness to indirectly destroy other businesses by intentionally restricting the flow of goods and materials required because it is their "right."

What about ALL those other families that are affected from manufacturers, shippers, reps, distributors and sales? Even consumers.




Screw the union- fire them all. Thankless-sons-a-bitttttccches. There are thousands of unemployed that would do anything for a chance for a job like this. There is nothing competitive about resorting to extortion.