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In Portland OR, the longshoreman's union (ILWU) organized a slowdown at the port. Things ended with the only customer of the port pulling out because they were

In Portland OR, the longshoreman's union (ILWU) organized a slowdown at the port. Things ended with the only customer of the port pulling out because they were losing money on parked ships. The port shut down completely, but the operator of the port managed to successfully sue the union for over $90 million dollars in damages. Here's the kicker, they were sued for unlawful labor practices. The entire slowdown was organized over two jobs. That they wanted taken away from the electrician's union. There are other such stories you can find about dealing with the ILWU. They regularly attack other workers and unions. They even pulled out of the AFL-CIO so they could be free to beef over turf with its' members. Don't buy into any of their media BS - they are not a union, they are a racket. https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-11-29/longshore-union-ilwu-bankruptcy https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-11-29/longshore-...

throwawaysea 5y ago
It looks like there is a long history of "slow work" racketeering at California/West Coast ports. From 2002, "The Fine Art of the Slowdown" (https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-sep-21-fi-slow21-story.html https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-sep-21-fi-slow2...). From 2015, "How 14,000 Workers Managed to Slow Down the Entire Economy" (https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/02/how-only-14000-workers-briefly-slowed-down-the-entire-economy/385858/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/02/how-onl...).
cletus 5y ago
This is history all over: the pendulum ends up swinging too far and it has to correct. Unions came about to bring about workers rights in the industrial revolution to correct terrible working conditions. This is something that needed to happen. Fast forward to the 1970s and the problems weren't anywhere near as severe. But power not used is power lost. If your members begin to view you as unnecessary, it's an existential threat to not only the union but those who had built their careers (political and otherwise) on the backs of that. So what happens? Any remote sleight is blown out of proportion to create controversy and fan the flames of fear among members. In the US this dovetailed into the Reagan years. Americans had started to view unions as unnecessary and corrupt and union membership and power waned. It also didn't help that there have been many ties between unions and organized crime. Your story about the Portland ports comes as no surprise to me. There are countless stories like this and the "go to" defense used in making a mountain out of a mole hill is the slippery slope fallacy ("well if this electrician can be fired for coming to work drunk and killing two people then you'll be next"). It should come as no surprise that worker wages in real terms stagnated from 1980 until now. What I hope is that the pandemic is a catalyst for this pendulum to start swinging back. I think we've had enough of Reagonomics (trickle-down economics anyone?).
- amznthrwaway 5y ago
  [dead]
wahern 5y ago
The book The Box explains that the ILWU, which represents West Coast dock workers, handled containerization much better than its East Coast counterpart. The ILWU was more flexible and proactive, partnering with ports for the upgrades that would in time substantially reduce labor requirements, but saving and prolonging many more jobs than if they had been as intransigent as East Coast workers. It really comes down to leadership. The ILWU had great leadership that was able to manage relationships better. It's difficult to find that kind of leadership today, especially because people are so quick to cry "corruption" when a leader does anything except be a zealous, loud, and inflexible advocate for their group. (And when they inevitably fail, that's "corruption", too.) Compromise is a dirty word, and no one can maintain the necessary reputational capital amidst relentless character assassinations on social media.
- hangonhn 5y ago
  Another vote for "The Box". That book was so eye opening and touches on standards, globalization, efficiency, and stevedore unions. You can even read about an early instance of a submarine patent.
  - idoh 5y ago
    Add another vote here. Are shipping containers in the top ten list of innovations for the 20th century? My vote is yes.
ur-whale 5y ago
> they are not a union, they are a racket. There's a difference?
- serf 5y ago
  >There's a difference? the difference occurs when the primary shift from 'employee-empowerment' to 'organization-for-profit' occurs. This is sooner rather than later for certain unions.
- dang 5y ago
  Please don't post unsubstantive and/or flamebait comments. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
roenxi 5y ago
> they are not a union, they are a racket. The core leverage of a union is a mafia-style "wouldn't it be a shame if your business burned down?". How are you drawing the line between union and racket? Is there something more nuanced than what you find socially acceptable?
- diordiderot 5y ago
  In civilized societies, like the ones across the Atlantic, labor representatives work cooperatively with management in non adversarial manner because children aren't indoctrinated into thinking they're the star of there own Hollywood film
  - batch12 5y ago
    What? This point made sense until the tangental snark after 'because'. Should've stopped there.
  - adventured 5y ago
    > In civilized societies, like the ones across the Atlantic, labor representatives work cooperatively with management in non adversarial manner because children aren't indoctrinated into thinking they're the star of there own Hollywood film Yeah right. The unions in Europe have always been more violent and dangerous than the ones in the US. The French labor unions would like a word with you about being civilized (they're anything but). And which societies would those be? The forever dictatorships in Eastern Europe? The regressive monarchies all over Western Europe? Look up how many constitutions the French have had, because they can't get anything right. Most of Europe was a backwards, primitive disaster until the last 40-50 years. Mass genocide, tens of millions butchered in wars, millions cast into slavery in North and South America, monarchy, dictatorship, totalitarianism, Communism, Socialism, Colonialism. Oh yes, those glorious enlightened Europeans, we have so much to learn from their ... wisdom. Europe largely are constitutional and democratic infants compared to the US, crawling from behind by more than a century. It'll take a miracle for Europe to not be back to killing itself before another few decades is up. The sole reason they didn't spend the post WW2 era slaughtering each other is thanks to the US occupation of Europe, which prevented war with Russia and largely kept the major powers from being allowed to attack other weaker nations.

throwawaysea 5y ago

It looks like there is a long history of "slow work" racketeering at California/West Coast ports. From 2002, "The Fine Art of the Slowdown" (https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-sep-21-fi-slow21-story.html https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-sep-21-fi-slow2...). From 2015, "How 14,000 Workers Managed to Slow Down the Entire Economy" (https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/02/how-only-14000-workers-briefly-slowed-down-the-entire-economy/385858/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/02/how-onl...).

cletus 5y ago

This is history all over: the pendulum ends up swinging too far and it has to correct. Unions came about to bring about workers rights in the industrial revolution to correct terrible working conditions. This is something that needed to happen. Fast forward to the 1970s and the problems weren't anywhere near as severe. But power not used is power lost. If your members begin to view you as unnecessary, it's an existential threat to not only the union but those who had built their careers (political and otherwise) on the backs of that. So what happens? Any remote sleight is blown out of proportion to create controversy and fan the flames of fear among members. In the US this dovetailed into the Reagan years. Americans had started to view unions as unnecessary and corrupt and union membership and power waned. It also didn't help that there have been many ties between unions and organized crime. Your story about the Portland ports comes as no surprise to me. There are countless stories like this and the "go to" defense used in making a mountain out of a mole hill is the slippery slope fallacy ("well if this electrician can be fired for coming to work drunk and killing two people then you'll be next"). It should come as no surprise that worker wages in real terms stagnated from 1980 until now. What I hope is that the pandemic is a catalyst for this pendulum to start swinging back. I think we've had enough of Reagonomics (trickle-down economics anyone?).

amznthrwaway 5y ago
[dead]

wahern 5y ago

The book The Box explains that the ILWU, which represents West Coast dock workers, handled containerization much better than its East Coast counterpart. The ILWU was more flexible and proactive, partnering with ports for the upgrades that would in time substantially reduce labor requirements, but saving and prolonging many more jobs than if they had been as intransigent as East Coast workers. It really comes down to leadership. The ILWU had great leadership that was able to manage relationships better. It's difficult to find that kind of leadership today, especially because people are so quick to cry "corruption" when a leader does anything except be a zealous, loud, and inflexible advocate for their group. (And when they inevitably fail, that's "corruption", too.) Compromise is a dirty word, and no one can maintain the necessary reputational capital amidst relentless character assassinations on social media.

hangonhn 5y ago
Another vote for "The Box". That book was so eye opening and touches on standards, globalization, efficiency, and stevedore unions. You can even read about an early instance of a submarine patent.
- idoh 5y ago
  Add another vote here. Are shipping containers in the top ten list of innovations for the 20th century? My vote is yes.

ur-whale 5y ago

> they are not a union, they are a racket. There's a difference?

serf 5y ago
>There's a difference? the difference occurs when the primary shift from 'employee-empowerment' to 'organization-for-profit' occurs. This is sooner rather than later for certain unions.
dang 5y ago
Please don't post unsubstantive and/or flamebait comments. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

roenxi 5y ago

> they are not a union, they are a racket. The core leverage of a union is a mafia-style "wouldn't it be a shame if your business burned down?". How are you drawing the line between union and racket? Is there something more nuanced than what you find socially acceptable?

diordiderot 5y ago
In civilized societies, like the ones across the Atlantic, labor representatives work cooperatively with management in non adversarial manner because children aren't indoctrinated into thinking they're the star of there own Hollywood film
- batch12 5y ago
  What? This point made sense until the tangental snark after 'because'. Should've stopped there.
- adventured 5y ago
  > In civilized societies, like the ones across the Atlantic, labor representatives work cooperatively with management in non adversarial manner because children aren't indoctrinated into thinking they're the star of there own Hollywood film Yeah right. The unions in Europe have always been more violent and dangerous than the ones in the US. The French labor unions would like a word with you about being civilized (they're anything but). And which societies would those be? The forever dictatorships in Eastern Europe? The regressive monarchies all over Western Europe? Look up how many constitutions the French have had, because they can't get anything right. Most of Europe was a backwards, primitive disaster until the last 40-50 years. Mass genocide, tens of millions butchered in wars, millions cast into slavery in North and South America, monarchy, dictatorship, totalitarianism, Communism, Socialism, Colonialism. Oh yes, those glorious enlightened Europeans, we have so much to learn from their ... wisdom. Europe largely are constitutional and democratic infants compared to the US, crawling from behind by more than a century. It'll take a miracle for Europe to not be back to killing itself before another few decades is up. The sole reason they didn't spend the post WW2 era slaughtering each other is thanks to the US occupation of Europe, which prevented war with Russia and largely kept the major powers from being allowed to attack other weaker nations.