Community Chat

[SharkE]

Isn't potassium in table salt ?  When my husband would get muscle cramps in legs from losing salt while playing softball he would pour some in hand and lick

[Isobel Archer]

So according to CBS (I assume that is an acceptable news source) the latest offer to the dockworkers - which was unacceptable - was a 50% raise, triple the employer contriution to their retirement fund and enhanced health care benefits.

"That top-tier hourly wage of $39 amounts to just over $81,000 annually, but dockworkers can make significantly more by taking on extra shifts. For example, according to a 2019-20 annual report from the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, about one-third of local longshoremen made $200,000 or more a year. 

A more typical longshoreman's salary can exceed $100,000, but not without logging substantial overtime hours. Daggett, the ILA president, maintains that these higher earners work up to 100 hours a week. 

Across the industry, including in nonunion jobs, pay for some dockworkers can be far more modest at around $53.000 a year, according to job site Indeed.

Late Monday, USMX said its latest offer would boost dockworkers' wages by nearly 50%, triple employer contributions to employee retirement plans and enhance health care coverage, while also preserving existing safeguards against automation."

[jubilant]

"Today's longshore industry demands highly skilled workers. Longshoremen operate multimillion-dollar pieces of equipment with precision, maintain them with the expertise of highly skilled technicians, and clerks who manage complex operating systems for gates, vessels, and yard". 

This is a recent article I read today.  Pretty much what Love's to Run said.

[Isobel Archer]

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@jubilant wrote:

"Today's longshore industry demands highly skilled workers. Longshoremen operate multimillion-dollar pieces of equipment with precision, maintain them with the expertise of highly skilled technicians, and clerks who manage complex operating systems for gates, vessels, and yard". 

This is a recent article I read today.  Pretty much wha Love's to Run said.

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According to the Washington Post, the strike is really because these workers are worried about being replaced by automation:

Today, the shipping industry is at the forefront of a second revolution.. It is now possible to run a dockyard with almost no humans present. The two key jobs — operating cranes and moving containers around — can be automated. Cranes pick up the heavy containers from the ships and sort them on shore. Then trucks carry the containers from the dock to wherever they need to go next — a railroad or trucking hub or storage facility. People are needed to oversee things, but their role is now more akin to air traffic control. Maintenance and IT jobs also remain. But the bottom line is: Fewer workers are needed.

[Kachina624]

@Tinkrbl44.  I've often frozen whole bananas for smoothies.  I just peel, cut in halves and put in a plastic sandwich bag.

It's not much of a process.

[Kachina624]

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@Greeneyedlady21 wrote:

Anyone who puts down the job of these men and women should try doing it for a day.

These are the people who help keep you living in your creature comfort and necessity filled world, while you put them down. 

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@Greeneyedlady21.  You've got to wonder how hard their jobs are now when they insist they want LESS automation to assist them.

[Kachina624]

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@SharkE wrote:

Isn't potassium in table salt ?  When my husband would get muscle cramps in legs from losing salt while playing softball he would pour some in hand and lick

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@SharkE.  No, that's iodine.

[jubilant]

@Isobel Archer   I appreciate "progress" at times...but I guess.....  I agree with what some are saying,  "Machines don't feed families". Just glad most of my life has been spent 

in the era it was. I understand that more of this is coming and I appreciate your words.....not so sure it is "progress".

[Kachina624]

@JoyFilled Warrior.  A couple of years ago, I bought myself a small upright freezer from Wayfair.  After it was delivered, I discovered they recommended it not be kept in a garage due to heat so I've got it on my covered patio.  Now I wish I'd gotten a larger one.

[Isobel Archer]

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@jubilant wrote:

@Isobel Archer   I appreciate "progress" at times...but I guess.....  I agree with what some are saying,  "Machines don't feed families". Just glad most of my life has been spent 

in the era it was. I understand that more of this is coming and I appreciate your words.....not so sure it is "progress".

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Agree, but have to wonder if striking isn't just pushing automation closer - robots don't strike.