Even though I'm an absolutely unabashed capitalist and, typically, a backer of business, my recent writings on corporate responsibility, greed and ethics might make you think maybe we need more unions. After all -- those greedy corporations are just stealing from the workers, aren't they? Ah. No. The West Coast U.S. ports from San Diego to Seattle are shut down right now over the issue of management wanting "to put in technology to automatically clear tricks in and out of terminals and track cargo within the terminals. Currently, much of that work is done manually by ILWU marine clerks." (Wall Street Journal, 10/1/2002)
I can understand a union wanting to protect its workers. But get a load of what these guys are paid:
"Annual salaries for ILWU members, who load an unload cargo, average abou $106,000 for those working 40 or more hours a week. Marine clerks, who type in data and keep track of cargo, earn about $128,000 a year on average if they work a similar number of hours. Foremen, working full time, have an annual salary of $166,000".
Wall Street Journal 10/1/2002
Unbelievable. I'm not slighting the skills of these people and I don't want to state that their job isn't important. Even so, this just seems astonishing to me -- $128,000 for a clerk! I'm college educated, fairly intelligent (or so at least people seem to think; I guess I'm continuing to fool them), very skilled and a world class expert at what I do well. Even so these are numbers that I've rarely made in my career for just 40 hours a week of work. Name me one person in high tech who makes more than $100,000 and works only 40 hours per week.
And lest you say "Why do you care? The company just makes less profits with this kind of union based salary scale." Oh no, no, no. These costs are directly passed on to consumers of all types of goods -- cars, electronics, etc. Anything that passes through one of these ports is going to be more expensive because of this (and since these ports are where most electronics from Japan enter the country".
Fundamentally it seems that everyone has forgotten the need to be fair and reasonable to their constituencies: Management to Customers, Managment to Workers and Management / Works to Customers. I hate to get on a podium and say "Why can't we all just get along?" but that really seems like what's needed.
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