I have spent the past year hauling ocean containers to & from the Ports of Seattle & Tacoma. In that time I have been continually amazed at the arrogance and greed of the ILWU members in Seattle and Tacoma. I am a former Teamster ( they didn't do me any favors ),and I will agree that there is a place for unions; mostly when a company treats its' workers like slaves and working conditions are dangerous. HOWEVER in the past 12 months I have become firmly convinced that the Longshore Union is The Biggest Bunch of Over - paid, Under - worked, Featherbedding @#$%& - OFF's in the U.S.A. These people make the Postal Service look efficient !!! The ILWU are sooo stupid, they need 90 minutes to take an hour lunch !!! If they are out on the yard working cans, they leave 15 minutes early, driving their over - sized " top pick " forklifts through the yard to the lunch room; then an hour ( or more ) later back again they come, lumbering through the yard, burning dirty off - road diesel @ 4 bucks a gallon. At 8 of the 9 Port Terminals in Seattle & Tacoma, when the Longshore go to lunch, EVERYTHING STOPS !!! No staggered lunch shifts ( except @ Seattle T - 5 ); the whole terminal shuts down. And if I'm inside the terminal, I'm stuck there until the longshore come back.
They have more paid holidays than the Federal Government or U.S.P.S., even having the day off to celebrate Harry Bridges' birthday !!! When a longshore top - pick driver managed to get his head squished in the mast of his forklift earlier this year @ Seattle T - 18, the Longshore all got the next day off with pay. It's in their contract. Not for a safety meeting or mass piss tests, but to Honor the Dead " Brother". Yea right -- Ill bet they were crying in their beer. I only wonder if the Port Terminal operators and Import - Export companies in the U.S. will ever grow the stones to stand up to the antiquated work rules and grossly over - compensated labor that is the ILWU.
And yes, that is my real name at the top of the post.