By Free Republic | Created at 2024-12-06 16:56:25 | Updated at 2024-12-22 21:39:23
2 weeks ago
Stone Age Ports
Townhall ^ | Dec. 4, 2024 | John Stossel
Posted on 12/06/2024 8:09:43 AM PST by re_tail20
Some union leaders are self-destructive idiots.
America's ports have fallen behind. Not a single one ranks in the top 50 worldwide.
A big reason is that dock unions stop innovation.
Advertisement This fall, the International Longshoremen's Association shut down East and Gulf coast ports, striking for a raise and a ban on automation. They got the raise.
Now union president Harold Daggett says longshoremen will strike again in January if they don't get that ban on automation.
His statement in my new video makes it clear that he knows how badly his strike would damage other Americans.
"Guys who sell cars can't sell cars, because the cars ain't coming in off the ships. They get laid off," says Daggett. "Construction workers get laid off because materials aren't coming in. The steel's not coming in. The lumber's not coming in. They lose their job."
Obviously, labor leaders aren't necessarily "pro worker," says Mercatus Center economist Liya Palagashvili.
"They're saying, 'We don't care if these other jobs are destroyed as long as we get what we want.'"
Daggett is unusually clueless. He doesn't understand that a ban on automation will also hurt his members.
As Palagashvili puts it, "They'll save some jobs today, but they'll destroy a lot more jobs in the future."
That's because today's shippers have options. Daggett's union only controls East and Gulf coast ports. Shippers can deliver their products to ports that accept automation.
"We're going to see less activity in 'Stone Age' ports," says Palagashvili.
"Stone Age?"
"They want to ban automated opening and closing of port doors," she points out, requiring workers to pull heavy doors themselves.
Weirdly, the union boss makes his demands while also pointing out that dockworker jobs are dangerous.
"Very dangerous ... We've had 17 people killed in the last three years!”...
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: ports
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1 posted on 12/06/2024 8:09:43 AM PST by re_tail20
To: re_tail20
Unions are essentially communist, and produce the same results: lack of innovation, inefficiency, incompetence, corruption, and ultimately, complete failure.
2 posted on 12/06/2024 8:12:58 AM PST by Sicon ("All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." - G. Orwell)
To: Sicon
Trump is the man with the answers
To: re_tail20
Sounds like the Navy Department needs to take charge of port logistics until a port is automated. Longshoremen want to strike? Treat them like air traffic controllers under Reagan.
4 posted on 12/06/2024 8:15:32 AM PST by USAF1985 (Joe McCarthy is a hero...he was absolutely, 100% correct! (Let’s go Brandon!))
To: re_tail20
Texas, Louisiana, Florida. Bring it all in there and run the ports with Naitonal Guard. Screw the union. The jobs aren’t that hard to learn.
5 posted on 12/06/2024 8:16:13 AM PST by Sequoyah101 (Donald John Trump. First man to be Elected to the Presidency THREE times since FDR.)
To: re_tail20
IIRC, the LA Ports had container cargo ships backed up for hundreds of miles.
6 posted on 12/06/2024 8:17:38 AM PST by Gaffer
To: re_tail20
Speaking of ports and ship stuff, America will be now expecting the new Francis Scott Key bridge to be named the Francis Scott Key bridge!
7 posted on 12/06/2024 8:19:36 AM PST by FlingWingFlyer (America-hating Democrat "core values" really suck. All Marxist fascists have the same ones.)
To: re_tail20
“Very dangerous ... We’ve had 17 people killed in the last three years!”
Trump’s OSHA should right on it.
To: Sicon
Have we evolved in any meaningful way since this film? 
9 posted on 12/06/2024 8:27:47 AM PST by desertsolitaire ( Lee Harvey Oswald and the Bands final performance)
To: re_tail20
The problem is that it’s not a level playing field. Unions can strike, but employers cannot permanently replace them.
Fix that, and we’re back to a level playing field.
10 posted on 12/06/2024 8:29:34 AM PST by Leaning Right (It’s morning in America. Again.)
To: re_tail20
Very interesting piece. I can speak to this issue professionally, as I’ve worked on projects at U.S. ports specifically aimed at assessing different types of automation.
The author is flat-out wrong on several points. The biggest constraint on port operations in the U.S. isn’t a lack of automation. In fact, on one of my high-profile projects we demonstrated that using human operators is MORE efficient than an automated system.
11 posted on 12/06/2024 8:30:13 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("Well, maybe I'm a little rough around the edges; inside a little hollow.” -- Tom Petty, “Rebels”)
To: re_tail20
And while we’re at it, we need to go back to elevator operators. Those jobs need to be protected.
12 posted on 12/06/2024 8:35:33 AM PST by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
To: re_tail20
Sounds like a RICO case - simply extortion.
13 posted on 12/06/2024 8:36:12 AM PST by larrytown (A Cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do. Then they graduate...)
To: re_tail20
CHINESE PORT......................
14 posted on 12/06/2024 8:36:20 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
To: Sicon
Unions are essentially communist, and produce the same results: lack of innovation, inefficiency, incompetence, corruption, and ultimately, complete failure.
I a real communist country, the unions don't exist. In despotic and tyrannical countries, like China and Russia, the government 'leaders' control how things are done, and they dictate who is going to be in charge of business and industries. What we have in the U.S. is worse than what communist countries have to live with. The union bosses and the union members don't have the best interests of the general population in mind. Unions are about getting and protecting jobs, to the detriment of the population at large. Teachers' unions operate the same way. The people suffer with the unions get the backing of the government 'leaders' who want complete control of government and industry and people.
Unions are just a means to an end for the progressive movement, and the unions are just useful tools for the progressives. Once the progressives get control of everything, they then move towards complete communism, and the unions will have died.
15 posted on 12/06/2024 8:37:47 AM PST by adorno ( )
To: desertsolitaire
He coulda been a contender.
16 posted on 12/06/2024 8:37:56 AM PST by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
To: larrytown
Sounds like a RICO case - simply extortion.
17 posted on 12/06/2024 8:39:15 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
To: Larry Lucido
18 posted on 12/06/2024 8:42:28 AM PST by desertsolitaire ( Lee Harvey Oswald and the Bands final performance)
To: Alberta's Child
> The biggest constraint on port operations in the U.S. isn’t a lack of automation. <
Interesting observation. But then what is the biggest constraint?
19 posted on 12/06/2024 8:47:57 AM PST by Leaning Right (It’s morning in America. Again.)
To: Sicon
Do NOT forget “Fell off a truck”!
20 posted on 12/06/2024 8:50:53 AM PST by Ex gun maker. (Free thinking is now a radical concept, I will not be assimilated by PC or EV group-think!)
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