ILWU here - the West Coast longshoremen’s union, now retired. Everything in this article is 100% accurate. Unions are working people’s only chance at getting a fair share, because the bosses sure aren’t going to share voluntarily.
This is such a great post. You captured something I think about a LOT: "Work makes a little money, but money makes a lot of money. Inequality is a system that perpetuates itself, no matter how well meaning all the nice rich folks are. An economic advantage will compound itself to ever greater economic advantages, which no amount of day to to day wage work will ever catch up with."
I wrote about one little facet of that a few years ago, how homes in Boston had been out-earning actual wage earners, but you captured it more broadly and succinctly, thank you!
I don't understand why people are not just placidly acceptant of the ways we've given our economic system over entirely to the laziest, greediest, most boring and self-serving amongst us - but instead we idolize and promote the people who are destroying multiple industries from all sides (healthcare workers, people who need healthcare, no one is getting what is necessary and they aren't allowed to do their jobs in the best way because of the system they're working in, people aren't receiving decent healthcare even though billions of dollars are being spent- the same assholes are getting richer off of our suffering literally). Punching down is the only direction Americans seem to know. Or at least they believe they're punching down. Really most of the time we're punching ourselves in the face.
It’s concerning to me longshoremen are striking against oncoming technology- automation which is proven and used effectively in China and elsewhere. For better or worse, I’m afraid this will always be a losing position.
Instead of trying to outright prohibit automation across the board why aren’t they asking for training and seeking ways to integrate themselves into it.
Great to find HamNo on Substack. Wondering- how’s the yogurt over there?
"The most efficient way to earn a lot of money is to start with a lot of money, and get paid interest on it. This is banking, this is finance, this is investing, in a nutshell."
I'd say rather than finance, this is inheritence. The only true democracy will be one where we abolish inheritance. That also eliminates the incentive of accumulating outrageous amounts of wealth that you could never consume in your life time. It's also a sincere "leveling of the playing field".
The idea that a rich guy is taking every worker’s money is a “fact,” only according to Karl Marx.
Assuming everyone who has a boss, who put his or her money at risk to build a business is rich, is actually far from fact.
I own a productive, established business and I recently bought a small Inn that actually loses money.
I have employees. We strike our deals. Everyone is happy. This is how most of the world works.
Your point about those born rich, who make their money in finance is fair, but you leave out a massive segment.
My neighbor is a blue collar, bad side of Detroit kid who was digging ditches for a plumber. He now owns the company.
Kirk owns the company because that’s what he put his mind to, both on and off the clock.
When his coworkers were out drinking, he was studying for his license. He worked harder than anyone else and earned the loyalty of the owner who then trusted Kirk to take it over, take care of his loyal customers and not ruin it.
His workers are very happy and make really good money. I know hundreds of non-union contractors and this story is the rule. One guy, or gal, put in more hard work than anyone else, and earned a buy out deal from the previous owner.
Here is a fact for you. Most of the non-union tradesmen don’t want to unionize because 1. they make better than union scale (or love their owners enough to work for a little less) and 2. they want a chance to be the owner someday and they are willing to work for it.
Your us versus them worldview is both opinion (not fact) and incredibly cynical and happens to be the one world view that has created the worst violence man has ever known. Stalin, Mao, Che, and even Hitler, built their empires on your marxist argument. Those who put community before the individual are the ones with no qualms forcing conformity or otherwise killing everyone who doesn’t fit in their plans, rich, poor, intellectuals and artists, clerics; no one is safe.
Community before individual is why Obama, Harris, and Walz endorse censorship and the use of executive agencies to determine what “facts” will be allowed and which will be censored. It’s what shuts down our businesses, forces us to mask up and take a deadly jab.
Try individual liberty for a change. It’s awesome.
“There is nothing wrong with a system of financial incentives to promote better and more efficient work.” Love the column but have some doubts about this sentence. In my experience as a union organizer, no management “right” was more abused than various forms of “merit” pay. Mostly workers do “better work” when treated with respect and when they have security based in solidarity. Al Davidoff, Unionizing The Ivory Tower, Cornell Press
I’ve never heard an annual raise referred to as merit pay. Increases for longevity reward people for longevity, they don’t incentivize better work. There’s a capitalist competitive mind game premise to ideas around monetary incentivizing better work. In practice these approaches are rife with subjectivity and favoritism. Longevity bonuses, annual raises, even profit sharing don’t do that. As far as what does incentivize better work…I’d say respect, security, fairness, health and safety, decent wages and benefits. A strong union… In my experience, most workers want to do good work, it’s the absence of the aforementioned basics that strip away commitment once a worker sees it as a one way street.
Again- I’m with you on the whole column, just found that sentence odd.
I heartily agree with all of this but it seems like the ILA is controlled by old school mafia connected thugs. I would like to see what you have to say about cruddy corrupt unions and how to fix them though it is obviously a no fun kind of discouraging subject.The west coast ILWU seems hugely better.
There is a fine print underlying corporate Unions. These are not our grandfather's Unions The Union leadership at every Union in the nation are all not so distantly related to the people in Corporate leadership, do the genealogies of the CEOs, executives, managers and people in Union leadership positions. All sides are controlled. Members pay union dues it's not free, add up 10-30 years of dues, many feel it's a decent tradeoff if they can keep their jobs. Membership does not guarantee employment protection. Every discharge goes to an arbitrary meeting. Favoritism deals are made and employers can let 30 people go if the company keeps these 10 people employed, and these meetings happend every month. Increased immigration means that everyone is replaceable, and the hiring can be a rotating door. Union corporations send a percentage to the Democratic parties andhave to abide by that parties agendas, they cannot protest it. The Union leadership also get kickbacks in the millions of dollars for every one of these contract negotiations. So most of the money is still going to the top of the pyramid structures and not to the working class. These recent strike deals in the media are simply showing an overprinted fiat bonanza. We are going to soon have bigger problems than employment issues.
Great question, especially considering the evidence that the remaining workers in automated shops make more than their counterparts.
It is the interest of the worker and the union is taking the best care of themselves, not flooding their shop with more members who might dilute their power or opportunities for advancement.
The answer is that because well over 90% of union political donations go to Democrats, the party bosses and their Democrat politician allies trade member power for politician and union leadership power. That’s all it is.
I formerly union teacher once testified to my committee that she was disgusted seeing union members “bargain away” the jobs of junior teachers in exchange for higher pay for themselves. How are we to believe that 45,000 union members are worried about the jobs of members thousand of miles away?
In 1995, the AFL-CIO reversed course and endorsed open borders.
The foundational principle of looking out for “the working man” and putting members first was jettisoned for the cynical political goal of importing Democrat voters, “replacing” American voters, if you will.
The Green New Deal has millions of union jobs in its cross hairs.
The Democrat Party has become so extreme on these American job killing, positions that they can no longer hide it. The GOP has become the new home of blue collar voters and are within 9 points of parity with union voters.
Man, you are a real moron. I appreciate having you here, to remind me to vote against everything you stand for, year in and year out. Thank you for your service.
Relevant (TL;DR American workers used to make 2/3 of the income of firms, but very recently that declined to barely over 1/2): https://kottke.org/24/10/whats-the-labor-share-of-national-income
ILWU here - the West Coast longshoremen’s union, now retired. Everything in this article is 100% accurate. Unions are working people’s only chance at getting a fair share, because the bosses sure aren’t going to share voluntarily.
Great post
Thanks, Hamilton, for this important perspective.
I wish people would stop believing in what Hollywood produces and the fairytales it generates.
Well said.
Corporations get rich while the workers stay poor....yes Unionise.
This is such a great post. You captured something I think about a LOT: "Work makes a little money, but money makes a lot of money. Inequality is a system that perpetuates itself, no matter how well meaning all the nice rich folks are. An economic advantage will compound itself to ever greater economic advantages, which no amount of day to to day wage work will ever catch up with."
I wrote about one little facet of that a few years ago, how homes in Boston had been out-earning actual wage earners, but you captured it more broadly and succinctly, thank you!
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/02/03/magazine/how-is-it-that-average-boston-area-house-made-more-than-minimum-wage-worker-last-year/
I don't understand why people are not just placidly acceptant of the ways we've given our economic system over entirely to the laziest, greediest, most boring and self-serving amongst us - but instead we idolize and promote the people who are destroying multiple industries from all sides (healthcare workers, people who need healthcare, no one is getting what is necessary and they aren't allowed to do their jobs in the best way because of the system they're working in, people aren't receiving decent healthcare even though billions of dollars are being spent- the same assholes are getting richer off of our suffering literally). Punching down is the only direction Americans seem to know. Or at least they believe they're punching down. Really most of the time we're punching ourselves in the face.
It’s concerning to me longshoremen are striking against oncoming technology- automation which is proven and used effectively in China and elsewhere. For better or worse, I’m afraid this will always be a losing position.
Instead of trying to outright prohibit automation across the board why aren’t they asking for training and seeking ways to integrate themselves into it.
Great to find HamNo on Substack. Wondering- how’s the yogurt over there?
"The most efficient way to earn a lot of money is to start with a lot of money, and get paid interest on it. This is banking, this is finance, this is investing, in a nutshell."
I'd say rather than finance, this is inheritence. The only true democracy will be one where we abolish inheritance. That also eliminates the incentive of accumulating outrageous amounts of wealth that you could never consume in your life time. It's also a sincere "leveling of the playing field".
The idea that a rich guy is taking every worker’s money is a “fact,” only according to Karl Marx.
Assuming everyone who has a boss, who put his or her money at risk to build a business is rich, is actually far from fact.
I own a productive, established business and I recently bought a small Inn that actually loses money.
I have employees. We strike our deals. Everyone is happy. This is how most of the world works.
Your point about those born rich, who make their money in finance is fair, but you leave out a massive segment.
My neighbor is a blue collar, bad side of Detroit kid who was digging ditches for a plumber. He now owns the company.
Kirk owns the company because that’s what he put his mind to, both on and off the clock.
When his coworkers were out drinking, he was studying for his license. He worked harder than anyone else and earned the loyalty of the owner who then trusted Kirk to take it over, take care of his loyal customers and not ruin it.
His workers are very happy and make really good money. I know hundreds of non-union contractors and this story is the rule. One guy, or gal, put in more hard work than anyone else, and earned a buy out deal from the previous owner.
Here is a fact for you. Most of the non-union tradesmen don’t want to unionize because 1. they make better than union scale (or love their owners enough to work for a little less) and 2. they want a chance to be the owner someday and they are willing to work for it.
Your us versus them worldview is both opinion (not fact) and incredibly cynical and happens to be the one world view that has created the worst violence man has ever known. Stalin, Mao, Che, and even Hitler, built their empires on your marxist argument. Those who put community before the individual are the ones with no qualms forcing conformity or otherwise killing everyone who doesn’t fit in their plans, rich, poor, intellectuals and artists, clerics; no one is safe.
Community before individual is why Obama, Harris, and Walz endorse censorship and the use of executive agencies to determine what “facts” will be allowed and which will be censored. It’s what shuts down our businesses, forces us to mask up and take a deadly jab.
Try individual liberty for a change. It’s awesome.
“There is nothing wrong with a system of financial incentives to promote better and more efficient work.” Love the column but have some doubts about this sentence. In my experience as a union organizer, no management “right” was more abused than various forms of “merit” pay. Mostly workers do “better work” when treated with respect and when they have security based in solidarity. Al Davidoff, Unionizing The Ivory Tower, Cornell Press
I hear you but even union contracts have pay scales, pay increases for longevity, profit sharing, etc. Even annual raises are a form of merit pay.
I’ve never heard an annual raise referred to as merit pay. Increases for longevity reward people for longevity, they don’t incentivize better work. There’s a capitalist competitive mind game premise to ideas around monetary incentivizing better work. In practice these approaches are rife with subjectivity and favoritism. Longevity bonuses, annual raises, even profit sharing don’t do that. As far as what does incentivize better work…I’d say respect, security, fairness, health and safety, decent wages and benefits. A strong union… In my experience, most workers want to do good work, it’s the absence of the aforementioned basics that strip away commitment once a worker sees it as a one way street.
Again- I’m with you on the whole column, just found that sentence odd.
I heartily agree with all of this but it seems like the ILA is controlled by old school mafia connected thugs. I would like to see what you have to say about cruddy corrupt unions and how to fix them though it is obviously a no fun kind of discouraging subject.The west coast ILWU seems hugely better.
There is a fine print underlying corporate Unions. These are not our grandfather's Unions The Union leadership at every Union in the nation are all not so distantly related to the people in Corporate leadership, do the genealogies of the CEOs, executives, managers and people in Union leadership positions. All sides are controlled. Members pay union dues it's not free, add up 10-30 years of dues, many feel it's a decent tradeoff if they can keep their jobs. Membership does not guarantee employment protection. Every discharge goes to an arbitrary meeting. Favoritism deals are made and employers can let 30 people go if the company keeps these 10 people employed, and these meetings happend every month. Increased immigration means that everyone is replaceable, and the hiring can be a rotating door. Union corporations send a percentage to the Democratic parties andhave to abide by that parties agendas, they cannot protest it. The Union leadership also get kickbacks in the millions of dollars for every one of these contract negotiations. So most of the money is still going to the top of the pyramid structures and not to the working class. These recent strike deals in the media are simply showing an overprinted fiat bonanza. We are going to soon have bigger problems than employment issues.
#agedlikemilk: https://nypost.com/2024/10/02/business/harold-daggetts-sprawling-nj-mansion-has-bentley-5-car-garage-and-guest-house/
Curious what your thoughts are on the union demands about restricting automation.
Great question, especially considering the evidence that the remaining workers in automated shops make more than their counterparts.
It is the interest of the worker and the union is taking the best care of themselves, not flooding their shop with more members who might dilute their power or opportunities for advancement.
The answer is that because well over 90% of union political donations go to Democrats, the party bosses and their Democrat politician allies trade member power for politician and union leadership power. That’s all it is.
I formerly union teacher once testified to my committee that she was disgusted seeing union members “bargain away” the jobs of junior teachers in exchange for higher pay for themselves. How are we to believe that 45,000 union members are worried about the jobs of members thousand of miles away?
Any insight into why some unions are either endorsing Trump, or not endorsing anyone?
In 1995, the AFL-CIO reversed course and endorsed open borders.
The foundational principle of looking out for “the working man” and putting members first was jettisoned for the cynical political goal of importing Democrat voters, “replacing” American voters, if you will.
The Green New Deal has millions of union jobs in its cross hairs.
The Democrat Party has become so extreme on these American job killing, positions that they can no longer hide it. The GOP has become the new home of blue collar voters and are within 9 points of parity with union voters.
Man, you are a real moron. I appreciate having you here, to remind me to vote against everything you stand for, year in and year out. Thank you for your service.
Haha! Always the personal attacks and never sticking to the issues.
Please tell me. What did I get wrong?
I mentioned this post to my buddy. He elaborated.
The union wouldn’t take him so he found a non-union program that he had to pay for himself.
Once he was licensed, the union begged for him.
He had guys constantly telling him to slow down his work pace because he was making them look bad.
“What would the owner say?”
“Screw him,” was the reply.
Screw the man who’s giving you a job. Great foundation for a nation.