Longshoreman strike in CA, overseas orders are stuck in transit!

[Carbon Footprint]

First Base player on my high school baseball team @ 0:52. I was centerfield and used to throw out runners trying to hit a single to center.

 

[Ironworker]

Ah, the life of an union iron worker in NY state...
View attachment 406391

Wow look at all that lubrication, that must have been the weekend your sister was in town.

 

[Ironworker]

I worked for General Dynamics in San Diego, where we made these:
View attachment 406392
And these:
View attachment 406394
as well as a lot of other military stuff.

We had 5 unions there. Actually there were 6, but we engineers voted ourselves out of the union because we no longer wanted to be represented by them. They were rife with corruption and BS. We were far better off without the union and there was never a vote to reinstate them (even though they tried to get one many times). In my 5 years there, I would say that half the union employees there were complete turds and useless. The other half were a mixed bag. There as a standard go slow policy at GD every time there was a union contract being negotiated. So that was once or twice a year with typical 3 year contracts. GD was the largest single employer in San Diego Co. at that time. After the gov't pulled the plug on the defense spending, GD folded up shop in San Diego and the Kearny Mesa plant was torn down. The union jobs were all canned. Most replacement companies there were non-union. Funny thing, the collapse of the union jobs did not end the world in San Diego, any more than it did for us engineers after we voted them out.

Most of the high tech companies in the SF Bay area were non-union. Funny, they worked just fine without any unions as well. They worked far better than GD did in my experience. I have 3 different union cards someplace. I do not give a rat's ass about any of them.

You built stuff that kills humans, great.

 

[barneyrb]

How do you know this in a previous post you stated that you are not in a union mill. If you were in a union mill would your opinion of unions change?

I do a lot of service work in mills, I never stated the mill was nonunion, I am not eligible to be in a union nor do I ever want to be.

Nope, my opinion of a union will never change when you see what I have seen.......can't promote a man on his merit, only his seniority....

Years ago I watched a crew of electricians running a 24" cable tray stop at a brick wall and wait (3 hours of so) for masons to arrive and cut a hole so they could go through..

Go back and reread my post

 

[cus_deluxe]

keep striking dummys, you'll be in the unemployment line.

No sir, their union rep will make sure that doesnt happen. Unions have a very limited time and place in our country but more often than not these days they just allow worthless lazies to keep getting mandatory pay increases, without possibility of getting fired.

 

[mdavlee]

I do a lot of service work in mills, I never stated the mill was nonunion, I am not eligible to be in a union nor do I ever want to be.

Nope, my opinion of a union will never change when you see what I have seen.......can't promote a man on his merit, only his seniority....

Years ago I watched a crew of electricians running a 24" cable tray stop at a brick wall and wait (3 hours of so) for masons to arrive and cut a hole so they could go through..

Go back and reread my post

That sounds like the nuclear world. Stop and wait on someone to do a certain job for you.

 

[SAWMIKAZE]

Wheeew im glad my grandfather died 2 years ago and couldnt use a computer , if he could get rollin on the collapse of the " mon valley " in pittsburgh and all the steel with it.. and the greed that accompanied it..he said the unions down there were the beginning of the end.

 

[square1]

Wow look at all that lubrication,

Wow, uncalled for.

 

[Jeff Lary]

My heart goes out to the guy making $9100 per year. I fear in Maine this is all too common as well , good luck i hope things will get better for you.

 

[Ironworker]

Wow, uncalled for.

No it wasn't.

 

[Ironworker]

Maybe if you weren't forced to pay those BS union dues that go to those politicians you could go on that vacation. If those union bosses were so concerned for their underlings they are "protect" them for nothing.

Dues really are not that high. Cost of living is, taxes, gas, food and three active kids.

 

[Ironworker]

unions you say? not sure about those we are one of those right to work states i feel rich taking home my check weekly from my part time job 140$ per week
i couldn't imagine drawing close to 200,000 per yr.

This is the problem with this country. A man happy with making 140 a week. They got us conditioned in thinking that we should be happy with table scraps when there's enough steak for everyone.

 

[noshow74]

Support them

I support firing them.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

 

[anlrolfe]

unions you say? not sure about those we are one of those right to work states i feel rich taking home my check weekly from my part time job 140$ per week
i couldn't imagine drawing close to 200,000 per yr.

Kentucky is NOT a right to work State.

"Right to Work" is a catchy phrase for the weak minded.
These are the same people that show up at the picnic empty handed expecting to get fed. If you are going to serve up a plate and sit at the table pay your F-ing dues and contribute.
Go to the rod and gun club you pay your dues
Golf - your greens fees
Doctors have medical associations
Lawyers have the bar associations
NRA- You want representation.... well, pony up!
There's a saying "a man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client", same with workers.

Enough said!

 

[anlrolfe]

Oh, and in construction work there is little to no security concerning seniority.
As good as it gets my be 1st man on the job would most likely be the last off. Something to consider in construction is that when the job is done and the building finished you either rotate to the next job, the house or the Union Hall to "sign the book". If you're worth your salt you may get a foreman call out. If you have special skills and certifications listed on the work request you could go from 200th back to #1 because of your training and knowledge abilities. A good Union wields a strong Executive Board with the power to discipline and dismiss the ne'er-do-wells. In the USMC we would say that you've got to "police your own".

 

[goosegunner]

Blah blah blah... what a bunch of BS. Typical union crap. You have obviously never worked in a union shop. Every union shop I have worked in (I have worked in many, including Matson, INC in Alameda, CA) had a go slow policy during contract negotiations, just like the one that the Longshoremen are doing now. If you want the reason that the US is failing, its because unions have priced the US out of the global markets, and companies are going off-shore for cheaper labor. That's where my last job went, bucko, right to China.

Would you want your old job back if it stayed here but payed China wages?

Smoke and mirrors blaming unions and turning middle class against each other.

gg

 

[Ironworker]

Oh, and in construction work there is little to no security concerning seniority.
As good as it gets my be 1st man on the job would most likely be the last off. Something to consider in construction is that when the job is done and the building finished you either rotate to the next job, the house or the Union Hall to "sign the book". If you're worth your salt you may get a foreman call out. If you have special skills and certifications listed on the work request you could go from 200th back to #1 because of your training and knowledge abilities. A good Union wields a strong Executive Board with the power to discipline and dismiss the ne'er-do-wells. In the USMC we would say that you've got to "police your own".

That's what people who don't belong to a union don't understand, we are a bussiness and if we can't make a contractor money we will be replaced. If you can't carry your weight you will be replaced. Yea we make a lot of money per hour, but if no one wants you you will not get the hours. Our union hall does not operate on a list that hires by order you came in they send out guys according to reputation and skill level, sure there is nepatism and chronyism but where doesn't that excist.

 

[mdavlee]

Oh, and in construction work there is little to no security concerning seniority.
As good as it gets my be 1st man on the job would most likely be the last off. Something to consider in construction is that when the job is done and the building finished you either rotate to the next job, the house or the Union Hall to "sign the book". If you're worth your salt you may get a foreman call out. If you have special skills and certifications listed on the work request you could go from 200th back to #1 because of your training and knowledge abilities. A good Union wields a strong Executive Board with the power to discipline and dismiss the ne'er-do-wells. In the USMC we would say that you've got to "police your own".

Yep. That's the way it works. A sorry worker will end up setting on the bench longer than the others.

 

[Ironworker]

I worked as an engineer for a company that made plastic thermoforming machinery. A bunch of local farmers worked in our shop using equipment you might find in an average farm shop. We sold equipment to the auto makers. I made many trips to the auto plants for various projects. I was constantly amazed by the number of highly skilled tradesmen who spent the day reading newspapers and drinking while sitting around state of the art machine shop equipment that was not being used. And then they give these guys a $10,000 bonus if the company has a good year. I fail to see the value in that. The cost of the underutilized skilled trades is passed on to the consumer. Looking at the price tags on new cars and trucks is enough to make me puke. Only a longshoreman can afford to buy one.

Did you spend the whole day watching them or were you doing your job. You see you guys all hear these horror stories about Union workers which are usually spread by non union guys out of jealousy and then spread them as facts.

 

[Ironworker]

I spent many days working around them and eating lunch and playing cards with them. I ran an experimental cooling oil filter project at a GM engine plant for 12 hours a day 7 days a week for several months. It was a batch operation and I had about 20 minutes of free time every hour while the centrifuge cycled. That gave me 4 hours a day to just hang out. The production workers and assembly guys work their tails off. The skilled trades guys play buy a different set of rules.

My best friend is a retired a pattern maker at G.M. He used to make all kinds of cool stuff and bring it home in his lunch box. He built a two stage snow blower, a log splitter, a 15 inch power feed wood planer and a bunch of other shop equipment and specialized tools for working on our motorcycles. He is a very skilled guy and would make the difficult parts at work and the stuff to large for the lunch box he would fab at home.

He told me that most of the other guys just sit around and read in their spare time and he didn't like to read all that much he liked keeping busy. It was several years later that I got to witness it first hand. He was telling me the truth. The production workers in an auto plant earn every penny they get. The are time studied and work their buts off.

Skilled trades are a whole different ball game. I have talked to many guys in skilled trades that made 6 figures and laughed at how little they actually had to do to earn it.
I have personally worked on GM assembly lines for several years. I paid my union dues and was happy to have a job. After I figured out how the system worked I bailed out.

My dad was a teamster and I have friends who worked the docks on the east coast. I have no desire to support a bunch of extortionist. The pendulum has swung to far.
Our state aid to public schools is almost $8,000 a year per student, the kids are learning less and districts are still going bankrupt. Because we are not buying enough lottery tickets?

And the beauro rats continue to get richer. Is that why Chevy moved to Mexico or was it the cheap labor.