I know..slightly, a couple of guys who work in the longshoreman's union. They are young, and starting out. Their dad belonged and was one of the higher paid guys when he died. He had to travel a lot for that wage. He became ill and died. The union has rules that his card can be passed on down to his children so one son got in that way. The other also got in. They don't make the $140,000 a year. In fact, they work part time because they are starting out. I'll try to talk more with them if they come to the next gathering.
This area had unionized lumber mills and unionized logging crews when I first came here in the 1980s. I am an evil, retired, gubmint worker for those of you who do not know. In the 1980s, the wages for logging crews were 3 times what we "foresters" made. Then things went bad. The logging pretty much came to a halt due to enviro law suits. Mills were sold, shut down for a couple months and folks were hired back at lower wages and benefits. The mills were no longer union. Eventually, five out of eight mills shut down forever and were dismantled with parts going overseas. This wasn't because of unions, but because of a decrease in available timber.
The big company logging crews which were unionized were also done away with. The mills contracted out logging to the lowest bidding loggers.
My job here was done away with too. I moved away to work elsewhere.
After years in exile I came back in 2005. My wages had increased, the logging wages stayed at the same or less than in the 1980s. This isn't just due to the doing away with of unions. I can't say that. I think it is a combination of all the above mentioned things.
We saw the race downward start when work that was done by Forest Service crews--precommercial thinning, brush piling, and some tree planting was ordered to be contracted out. The contractors did OK at first, but the bidding competition became fierce and some of the bids were ridiculously low. That's when we started seeing folks from the southern countries on crews, and there were a few incidents of illegals being kept against their will and forced to work, and not paid much if anything.....slavery.
Things have improved a bit. We were told to check for documentation of workers, ask them how much they are paid, etc. Some contracts consider past work quality as a bid item so lowest bid does not guarantee the award of the contract.
Maybe the private business world needs to hit the bottom too before they realize that you get what you pay for.
Disclaimer: Not all private businesses treat their workers badly. Those that have good benefits and wages seem to have a better quality worker.
