Friday, 06 Dec On this day ...
Marlon Brando plays a longshoreman who coulda been a contender in "On the Waterfront," courtesy Columbia Pictures, 1954.
Q1. On Friday, members of US dockworkers union International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) agreed to return to work after port operators upped their contract offer from a 50% to a 62% wage increase over six years. The agreement ends a 3-day strike of 45,000 longshoremen from Maine to Texas that had the potential to enormously disrupt the economy as the ports account for 65% of US imports.
Longshoremen pay varies widely, from $25k a year to $450k (before this raise) depending on location and seniority, with a median of $175k.
Port operating companies earned record profits during COVID, some as much as 10 times their previous annual take.
With whom do your sympathies lie?
Longshoremen pay varies widely, from $25k a year to $450k (before this raise) depending on location and seniority, with a median of $175k.
Port operating companies earned record profits during COVID, some as much as 10 times their previous annual take.
With whom do your sympathies lie?
male
female
rep
ind
dem
18-29
30-44
45-64
65+
Union
44%
32%
55%
8%
47%
79%
46%
44%
39%
50%
Management
7%
9%
6%
14%
9%
0%
1%
9%
8%
10%
Both
11%
12%
10%
13%
10%
10%
17%
8%
11%
11%
Neither
35%
45%
25%
63%
28%
8%
35%
34%
39%
27%
Don't know
2%
1%
3%
1%
3%
3%
0%
5%
2%
1%
Don't care
1%
1%
1%
1%
3%
0%
1%
0%
1%
0%
Q2. The strike ended with a tentative agreement between the ILA and port operators that expires Jan 15. Among the points still to be negotiated is automation on the docks — many of the largest ports outside of the US, such as Shanghai, Singapore, and Rotterdam, are much more automated than US ports.
Do you think it is in the best interest of the US to automate dock work to the fullest extent possible?
Do you think it is in the best interest of the US to automate dock work to the fullest extent possible?
male
female
rep
ind
dem
18-29
30-44
45-64
65+
Yes
56%
63%
49%
67%
56%
44%
39%
56%
57%
63%
No
30%
28%
32%
26%
28%
35%
51%
28%
26%
23%
Don't know
14%
9%
18%
6%
14%
20%
10%
15%
14%
14%
Don't care
1%
0%
1%
1%
0%
0%
0%
0%
1%
0%
Q3. Generally speaking, whom do you think has the upper hand today in companies across the US, labor or management?
male
female
rep
ind
dem
18-29
30-44
45-64
65+
Labor, and that's a good thing
16%
13%
19%
8%
15%
26%
11%
20%
13%
22%
Labor, and that's a bad thing
18%
24%
12%
35%
15%
1%
8%
11%
25%
21%
Management, and that's a good thing
4%
6%
1%
7%
3%
0%
0%
6%
3%
4%
Management, and that's a bad thing
48%
42%
54%
28%
53%
66%
68%
50%
43%
39%
Don't know
12%
11%
14%
17%
14%
6%
5%
13%
14%
13%
Don't care
2%
4%
1%
4%
1%
0%
7%
0%
2%
0%
This poll's author was a union dockworker in the 1980s.
Sept 2023 56% approve, 40% disapprove President Biden backing striking auto workers (Biden had 40% approval rating), 53% said unions were a political force for goo, 33% force for bad, 19% no longer a force. In April 2015 that same question was 30/44/19
July 2023 80% backed the actors in their strike
April 2022 by 56/25 people said Amazon workers voting to unionize was a good thing
April 2018, by 54/28 ppl sided with striking teachers
28 Comments on the Poll