Only about 800 of them are making $39/hr or less. More than half of them make more than $150,000/yr, with the top quarter earning over $250,000/yr. These guys are labor union royalty. They even pay people to stay home and be available if someone calls in sick. That’s the kind of “work for home” we should all get. {{ LOL }}
Elsewhere I saw people complaining that ILA Union Boss Harold Daggett earns about $1 MM year. That’s 3% of the $32.8 MM David Calhoun took in 2023 compensation to run Boeing into the ground. Who’s doing the better job?
I suppose context is also important? How have the workers wages risen over the past 10-15 years? Have they been pacing middle and upper management? $250K is a lot to me. Heck, when I was still working, $150K would have been wonderful, but I do think the nature of the job and the vertical salaries of the overlords may be significant as reference points?
An issue I have with the WSJ article is the title itself: “Striking Dockworkers Are Top Earners—When They Work”. This ‘when they work’ implies that the workers do not actually work much or even most of the time. Is that true or is it sheer clickbait?
It is not about the wages. Yes the wages are on the table. It is about automation.
The longshoremen are all about to lose their jobs.
Before the strike began, USMX said it offered a wage increase of nearly 50% and increasing employer contributions to employee retirement plans. USMX said their offer would still retain the same language on automation. The employers filed an unfair labor practice complaint on Wednesday with the National Labor Relations Board in which they accused the union of refusing to come to the bargaining table.
Yes, they make an average of $150,000/yr even though they’re not working every day. Sometimes they’re assigned to sit at home and wait for someone to call in sick.
A 46-year-old longshoreman from Suffolk, Va., said he struggles to make $70,000 a year, even though he must make himself available seven days a week and works double-time and overtime to boost his pay packet.
“I’m relying on my wife right now and what she does to help make ends meet,” he said. Some people work so much, he said, “they don’t see their family just to make ends meet.”
Yes. Workers in the ports that are less busy make less. Junior union members and casual workers make less. Apparently you can sit in the union hall for ten years as a “casual worker” before getting the invite to join
I’m guessing that the very senior guy making $250,000/yr, mostly from standby duty waiting at home to see if someone calls in sick, is less likely to be willing to be interviewed by the Wall Street Journal.
Not at all. The union is maximizing pay & benefits for its members, with a tilt towards rewarding those with the longest tenure. Just like what Corporate Executives do.
“Work from home” isn’t just for David Calhoun. {{ LOL }}
OK, but my issue is still with the headline, “Striking Dockworkers Are Top Earners—When They Work”. This suggests that the workers do not work regularly. Seems a bit doubtful. Isn’t it more likely that some workers are paid to be on-call sometimes rather than most workers are paid to stay at home most of the time?
I’m pretty sure that “Stand-by Pay” assignments are reserved for the most senior union members.
In the construction trades in New York City they have the Operating Engineers. These are not guys with 4-year Engineering Degrees. They’re charged with keeping sump pumps, compressors, and diesel generators in working order. A lot of this equipment operates 24/7 on the construction site. Whenever something is running, an Operating Engineer is getting paid, with time-and-a-half and double time for hours over 40 per week. But they don’t need to be on-site. They get a page or a text message if a piece of equipment goes down, and then hurry over to the job site from their home to attend to it.
It’s not uncommon for these guys to be getting $500,000/yr or more.
If you’re in the right union, you can get paid like a Medical specialist.
I’ve known a couple guys who were longshoremen. Apparently, it is hard to break into those good paying jobs. Basically, you show up at the union hall every morning and the bosses pass out all the jobs. It is all corrupt and run by Italian and Greek families. The way it works is you get paid for a full shift no matter how long it takes, so the connected workers get all the plumb jobs that only take a couple hours and the schulbs (like my friends) are chipping coal out of barge for eight hours or maybe you don’t get a job at all that day.
The highlight was unloading cars. It is like Le Mans. Because you get paid for the whole day, there is extreme pressure to unload the cars as quickly as possible and if you don’t drive at ludicrous speed at all times you’d be back chipping coal the next day.
Separately, I knew I a guy whose job it was to repair vehicles that were damaged in transport from Japan. He said the longshoremen would routinely clip the mirrors and otherwise damage the cars in the unloading process. Interestingly, the damage threshold that triggers totaling the car is surprisingly low. The manufacturers don’t want to deal with warranty issues and such so they just scrap brand new cars rather than repair them in many cases.
A tentative agreement was reached “on wages” and extending “the Master Contract until January 15, 2025 to return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues,” the ILA and USMX said in a joint statement Thursday evening.
“Effective immediately, all current job actions will cease and all work covered by the Master Contract will resume,” the statement read.
According to ZipRecruiter, the average salary for a union longshoreman is $47,342 per year, with the following salary ranges:
25th percentile: $33,500
75th percentile: $53,500
90th percentile: $77,000
Here are some other salary ranges for longshoremen:
$21,000–$27,999: 9% of jobs
$28,000–$34,999: 20% of jobs
$35,000–$41,999: 30% of jobs
$42,000–$48,999: 12% of jobs
$49,000–$55,999: 7% of jobs
$56,000–$62,999: 6% of jobs
$70,000–$76,999: 3% of jobs
$84,000–$90,999: 1% of jobs
$91,000–$98,000: 1% of jobs
(added note that is 89% of the jobs.
2nd note What’s the most a Longshoreman can make?
A more typical longshoreman’s salary can exceed $100,000, but not without logging substantial overtime hours. Daggett, the ILA president, maintains that these higher earners work up to 100 hours a week.3 hours ago)
Longshoremen’s pay is based on their years of experience. For example, under a previous contract with USMX, starting pay was $20 per hour, rising to $24.75 after two years, $31.90 after three years, and $39 after six years.
The union is currently demanding a 77% raise over six years, which would increase the top-scale hourly rate to $69 by 2030.
A friend spouse of railroad worker noted business usually slows down first quarter. Her hubby after 10 yrs still did not have enough seniority to work full time. Routinely got no hours in slow season.
