Longshoremen: $2OO OOO/yr?

[oscar111]

another poster claimed this was the income.

true?

PS are you guys still forced to do the daily hiring routine? does this create great insecurity? can you ever get a mortgage?
thanks for helping clarify all this.

[expatriot]

1. Longshoremen are paid very handsomely i have heard

true, our major seaports double as coastal metro areas with the highest cost of living in the nation, but even with the cost of living factored in, they are paid much more handsomely than teachers and Wal-Mart employees.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

5. yeah right!

Maybe if they work year round, at foremans wages, with LOTS of overtime. Nahhh, not even then.

Now, CEO's, $40,000,000.00 a year? easy! Your company can tank, with you at the helm and this kind of income is the norm. Talk about performance pay?

[DBoon]

2. West Coast longshoremen have a strong union

ILWU. I've heard some positions like dispatchers can make up to 130,000 per year. I doubt that the guys loading ships make this much, but I'm sure it is still very good money.

When I was growing up, longshoremen were definitely middle class folks in income

[lenidog]

3. I found this site that had what they called the top ten most overpaid

jobs in America. I am not sure of their reliability but they state that a West Coast longshoreman makes an average of $112,000 a year, clerks who log the shipping records in $136,000 and foremen $ 177,000. They also stated that they make more than those in the northeast because those dockworkers have to compete with non-union ports in the south and Gulf of Mexico.

Another place to confirm this would be straight to the source.

http://www.ilaunion.org/home.asp?h=1

Its the union web site and they have a link to contact them. So you could also ask what the average pay is.

[demosincebirth]

4. Its true

Thats what a good union can do for workers. Not to that extent, but at least you are able to support and raise a family on it...and send your kid to college.

UNION/YES!

[lenidog]

6. It depends on you point of view I think the average teachers salary

in the US is now at 43,000 dollars. They go through four years of school, have to perpetually take classes and have the job of teaching the next generation. One might get pissed, especially when you think the dockworkers job really requires only a strong back and the ability to follow instructions.

[idlisambar]

7. Even with school violence as it is today

Working on the docks is still a bit more dangerous than teaching kindergarten. One has to take that into account.

[lenidog]

9. True but its also not as back breaking as it was say when my grandfather

did it in the nineteen teens. Then it was all manual labor. Now you have things like forklifts, conveyors, etc.

[pnorman]

8. The job now, and for the past 30 years or so.

required a lot more than that. Automation and Containerization changed EVERYTHING. That was one of the disinformation canards floated around during the west coast LOCKOUT a few years ago. And the idea that it was a "STRIKE" rather than a lOCKOUT by the industry (PMA), was another canard that they managed to "sell" to many. The BushCo DOL invoked the Taft-Hartley Act, the first EVER for a lockout. But it was clearly aimed at the union who did NOT strike, rather than the employer that declared that lockout.

In the late Seventies, longshore labor commanded good wages --- about equal to skilled (and unionized) labor elsewhere. But from that time to the present, most unions were beaten down, and some almost destroyed. ILWU was one of the few that did NOT "go on the defensive", and consequently kept apace. That makes most other wage scales look SICK, but ONLY by comparison.

Busting ILWU was a major part of the BushCo agenda. They failed that time, but will NEVER give up. If you're a member of another union, realize this: Your wages, working conditions, and SELF-RESPECT, is totally dependent on a strong ILWU. As needed, give them 100% support.

pnorman
Incidentally, those "high" figures apply to the upper strata ... those with much seniority and experience.

[lenidog]

10. That is why I included the link to the ILWU web site

I wasn't sure of the reliability. It was the only site where I found actual wages most of the google entries were about various contract agreements.

[DBoon]

11. ILA != ILWU

ILWU = West Coast, very left wing militant

http://www.ilwu.org

ILA = East coast

[dcfirefighter]

16. Union or not

Workers in the south and on the gulf have similar lifestyles, at least in my particular union trade. We (on the east & west coast) get paid more, but it all goes to real estate and other costs of living. You've got to be careful comparing salaries, even when using a 'salary calcuator'. $112,000 in the Bay area probably doesn't go as far as $30,000 in Mississippi.

Get the wages up, and the people we buy houses from will get rich, and we'll still be barely making it.

[Lefty48197]

12. A union tradesman in Michigan makes about $20-25 per hour cash

Add about $10-15 in benefits, and they're up to about $40 per hour. Their salary would be $40-50,000 per year. Somebody doing very dangerous work, or working lots of overtime could make up to 50% more I imagine. Toss in the high cost of living in Southern California, or New England, and I wouldn't be surprised if somebody there makes $100,000 per year.

[cap]

13. yes, it is true...but Longshoremen work is very dangerous

people get killed and maimed regularly.

[fortyfeetunder]

14. Overpaid? I don't think so...

From a safety perspective, I think longshore workers are worth every dime...

[Name removed]

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