Posted originally on the CTH onOctober 2, 2024 | Sundance
October 2, 2024 | Sundance | 491 Comments
I have outlined my general opinion about labor unions [HERE]. Now we are going to focus on the realities, politics and economic outcomes from an International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) strike.
I mostly support the strike. I even mostly support ILA President Harold Daggett, a man of notoriously intemperate and sketchy disposition. Daggett grew up in Queens, New York, directly at the same time and place as another wildly attacked industrialist turned titan of politics. It is safe to say, they know each other; but I’ll get to that later.
Let’s turn to the issues that matter. The dockworker strike has the potential to have major ramifications against the U.S. economy. If the docks don’t work, the imports and exports don’t happen. This could be a big mess, a really big mess if it goes on for a long time.
U.S. MEDIA – The US port workers launched the strike due to a labor dispute with employers’ group United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), after their six-year contract expired.
For their new contract, ILA wants USMX to increase wages by 77 percent over six years and bar any automation, which they believe threatens workers’ jobs.
While USMX offered to raise wages by 50 percent and keep current automation checks in place, ILA said that was not enough, especially in light of the industry’s massive profits during the COVID-19 pandemic, and inflation that has affected how far their previous paychecks went.
“We are prepared to fight as long as necessary, to stay out on strike for whatever period of time it takes, to get the wages and protections against automation our ILA members deserve,” ILA head Harold Daggett said in a statement Tuesday. (read more)
Notice how the media always present the verbiage of the dockworker’s employers as “employers’ group USMX,” without actually noting the employers’ group are the port owners, multinational shipping conglomerates and as a consequence, foreign countries.
In material fact, most critical ports in the USA are owned by foreign entities. As a result, the ILA are striking against the ideological, political and financial interests of mostly foreign entities (USMX).
Also, the ILA wage increase demand is spread over six years and vehemently opposed by the same people who tell me I just need to accept the 70% price increase in food, insurance, housing and general stuff I use all the time. I digress.
Yes, it is true that Harold Daggett is not exactly the Lech Walesa of organized labor. The ILA president is reported to earn $900,000 per year in salary, drive a Bentley and even own an expensive 76-foot yacht. There is also a better than average likelihood he may be familiar with violence.
Obviously, Daggett’s propensity toward foul language infers he did not attend Harvard and Yale, and his compensation in representing 50,000 members is heretofore designated as mafioso type income. Because only those of high-brow disposition who sit around mahogany desks in pin-striped double vested acumens, should be afforded such financial indulgences as they shuffle papers electronically to generate such personal revenue.
I understand. No, really, I do.
Remember, back when the people in Chicago were orchestrating the rise of Obama, we were confronting the purple orcs of the SEIU and AFSCME. Back then, I often said that opposing or supporting organized labor is akin to riding a dragon.
The organized labor dragon holds a self-interest that can turn quickly against any short-term issue of unified interest. It is impossible to avoid risk of getting burned, when you accept the risk of dragon-riding. Barack Obama knew how to ride dragons. Until 2016 and the rise of President Trump, our team had no dragon riders.
On the demand side of the equation, beyond the compensation demand of the ILA (Daggertt), the ILA wants to eliminate the threat posed by automation. Many voices say this is a ridiculous demand; after all, when you combine artificial intelligence, automation, robotics and remote access capabilities, it is clearly predictable that a time will come when 80% of the ILA jobs can be replaced by remote controlled operational systems.
In China, many industrial ports are already fully automated and operated remotely by people using what look like gaming consols, robotics and computer screens.
This brings me to the main point that most overlook.
In Asia and Europe, port automation is happening rapidly. However, in Asia and Europe they have rules and regulations against foreign ownership of their ports. In Europe, Asia and particularly China, ports are considered critical national security infrastructure by the politicians who represent the people. In the USA our politicians represent the multinational corporations and as a result we have sold the majority of our ports to Saudis, Qataris, Europeans and Chinese owners.
If Chinese ports are automated in China, they are operated by Chinese owners. If American ports are automated in the USA, they are operated by Chinese owners. It doesn’t take a genius to see the problem.
Fast forward to 2035, all of our critical ILA members have given up and gone to work for Wal Mart in the face of overwhelming opposition against them by a short-sighted American electorate. The children of the dockworkers are now addicted to prescription narcotics, and the docks are automated by German industrial machinery, facilitated by Chinese technology that was purchased by Chinese owners. The machinery is operated remotely by Chinese, Indian and Pakistani workers getting $5/hr.
After seamless integration, China decides to take the geography of New Zealand as the latest strategic notch in their Belt and Road initiative. Wait, wha… the American politicians shout, “this cannot stand.” But it does, because if the USA tries to make a move against it, the docks in the USA are brought to a halt by China.
Sound crazy?
‘Crazy’ was 9-years ago when CTH was warning about a weaponized FBI operating like the Russian FSB. ‘Crazy’ was our warning that a DC-based intelligence apparatus was conducting surveillance of a presidential nominee. ‘Crazy’ was our alarms ten years ago that various interests of the DoS and DHS were deep inside the mechanisms of social media, controlling the content of private conversations. THAT was then considered “crazy.”
What we are talking about now against the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and remote automation, is not crazy; it’s predictable reality if the efforts of the ILA fail.
Now do you see why I support them.
.
We have a dragon rider who not only understands the stakes. He’s also smart enough to ride the dragon while wearing an invisible suit. That invisible suit is why we call him the “blue-collar billionaire.”
Just because Silicon Valley has shifted to replace wingtips with sneakers, doesn’t mean the outcome changes. And yeah, keep using class warfare in your arguments and efforts to make me hate Harold Daggett, and I’ll pretend not to notice the Balenciaga label on your T-shirts.
Perhaps the best compromise would be a two-issue dynamic:
♦ First, all foreign ownership, influence and control over USA ports must be eliminated. ♦ Second, 100% of all equipment, machinery, hardware and software, used in every aspect of the port automation process, must be manufactured inside the United States of America.
Put those two qualifiers into the port contract negotiations as expressed by ILA President Harold Daggett, and watch what happens.
