Well, thank goodness the dock strike is over and a major economic crisis has been averted.
Except, you know, you'll be paying more for everything because we use unionized humans who make more than doctors to unload boats instead of cheap robots.
All it took was the kind of wage hike that will make your eyes bleed:
A historic United States port strike has been suspended and a tentative agreement was reached 'on wages,' according to the International Longshoremen's Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance. ...
The tentative agreement would increase workers' wages by 62% over the life of the 6-year contract, sources familiar confirm to ABC News.
How does that translate into wages? Well:
The tentative agreement would bring the hourly wage for a top dockworker to $63 per hour at the end of the new contract, up from $39 per hour under the expired contract.
Yep.
When the strike ends your first question is naturally going to be:
...and then someone tells you "62% increase, $63 per hour," and you're like:
Don't worry, though, the agreement "does not resolve differences between the union and shipping companies over the use of automated machinery." So there's still a chance for a strike in the future, even with a massive wage increase!
Meanwhile, you can tell the White House was profoundly relieved by the end of the strike. A statement attributed to President Joe Biden was all but dripping with simpering gratitude:
I want to thank the union workers, the carriers, and the port operators for acting patriotically to reopen our ports and ensure the availability of critical supplies for Hurricane Helene recovery and rebuilding. Collective bargaining works, and it is critical to building a stronger economy from the middle out and the bottom up.
Not only did this strike come before the most divisive election in our lifetimes (perhaps all of American history), but it came during the emergency relief efforts of the worst natural disaster in America since Hurricane Katrina. Someone in the Party must have explained that asking for more money by withholding aid to Americans who are dying in the mountains was a bad look.
Anyway, while we're stuck in the 19th-century, I'll leave you with this video out of China showing how cheap and efficient their ports are.
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