Western Railroad Discussion > Strike at the Port of Los Angeles

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/29/us-usa-port-losangeles-idUSBRE8AS04J20121129?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&rpc=76

Bob

ATSF100WEST......Out

Forget about railfanning Cajon Pass until this mess is sorted out.

Have fun, be safe
Bruce "Doc" Jones
Sierra Madre CA

DocJones Wrote:
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> Forget about railfanning Cajon Pass until this
> mess is sorted out.
>
> Have fun, be safe
> Bruce "Doc" Jones
> Sierra Madre CA

I'm looking forward to a little train congestion when it is sorted out... like on Monday after the rains are gone. :-)

Another reason to bypass SoCal when widened Panama Canal opens.

Read in the SUN this morning, that some ships are
anchored, while others are being rerouted and the
shipping companies are evaluating as to the feasability
to bypass LA-LB in the future....

I sure hope this strike ends soon. Does anyone know if San Diego will be affected by the strike? Mainly the autoports that is.

Posted from Android

BobP Wrote:
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> Another reason to bypass SoCal when widened Panama
> Canal opens.


Won't happen. The twin port complex covers a vast market. No other port can do that, not even the Port of Oakland. The maritime companies and the big retailers can complain and wring their hands all they want. If the Port of LA and Long Beach weren't that important they would have already moved their business elsewhere.

The Panama Canal won't effect the Port of LA and Long Beach as much as believed. OOCL and K-Line have already made strong future commitments to the Port of Long Beach and China Shipping to the Port of LA. Evergreen is likely to do the same in the next year or two.


Allen

And don't overlook Maersk at Pier 400 at Port of LA.

The clowns at Hostess killed the cow that gave the milk. Looks like LA-LB port is on the same path.

I was up at Cajon today about 2:30 to 5: 30 and saw one BNSF EB Railtrain and 7 Doublestack 4 Manifest a Coal Train and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

MEKoch Wrote:
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> The clowns at Hostess killed the cow that gave the
> milk. Looks like LA-LB port is on the same path.

Ports of LA and Long Beach are no different than any other port. Look at whats going on in the PNW:

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2012/11/northwest_grain_terminal_opera.html

Looks like the trolls are having a field day on that comment board...



Allen



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/12 20:43 by bradleymckay.

The clerks say harbor employers want to oursource jobs they currently handle....
The Assication counters the union wants to hire unneeded workers. I've heard this before....the company begins laying off employess as their work is sent over sea's....Bank America begain sending work to India and in the process made the same statements.....The cities who banked with B of A told B of A that if you send your work over sea's we will bank else where....This is a big company ploy to reduce expense's and make more profit at the expense of the employee's...This is a on going game big companies play and is one of the reason's we have so much unemployment...Its nice to pay$2.00 or $5.00 a day to oversea's units verses what the clerk's recieve....How do you put a stop to this or control it is a serious question....

Barstool Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The clerks say harbor employers want to oursource
> jobs they currently handle....
> The Assication counters the union wants to hire
> unneeded workers. I've heard this before....the
> company begins laying off employess as their work
> is sent over sea's....Bank America begain sending
> work to India and in the process made the same
> statements.....The cities who banked with B of A
> told B of A that if you send your work over sea's
> we will bank else where....This is a big company
> ploy to reduce expense's and make more profit at
> the expense of the employee's...This is a on going
> game big companies play and is one of the reason's
> we have so much unemployment...Its nice to
> pay$2.00 or $5.00 a day to oversea's units verses
> what the clerk's recieve....How do you put a stop
> to this or control it is a serious question....


Maybe if the clerks got off their duff and actually earned the bloated salaries they receive...

As noted above, the issue is not wages or benefits but rather job security for the clerks. The clerks fear their jobs will be outsourced or automated. There have been zero layoffs of clerks at POLA/POLB marine terminals over the last 7 years, even though business dropped and has not yet returned to the 2006 peak (albeit this year it must be getting close to that level again).

I find it kind of odd for labor to strike for fear of what management MIGHT do rather than for something management already did. There just seems to be so little trust in Southern California.

Best regards,

Rob L.

Good lord, those salaries / benefits are very high for clerical work. Unions gotta be reasonable here.

My mother belonged to a union--she was a nurse--but every penny of her retirement came from her paycheck. The County of Alameda invested it, and is now returning it. ZERO taxpayer payment, all from my mothers very generous union paycheck. She worked with HIV people and others, so she earned her hazard pay, for sure.

If they can do that in Alameda County, they can do it elsewhere, and reduce the costs to companies. Expecting a company to pay union pay AND pay for almost all the retirement is asking too much, I believe. Low pay? Company pays the retirement. High pay? You pay for your retirement.

MEKoch Wrote:
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> The clowns at Hostess killed the cow that gave the
> milk. Looks like LA-LB port is on the same path.

Wrong, a revolving door of management killed the company and they're blaming it on the workers who continually gave up wages and benefits while no promiwsed improvements in product, physical plant, etc. were made in return for the give-backs. They couldn't even deliver product due to so many of their trucks being bad ordered. But executive compensation continued to increase, surprise. There was an article in the LA Times a few days back that named names.

I question Hostess mgmt bonuses also, and I am mgmt oriented. But it was the union guys that refused to report for work, wasn't it?

By most accounts, Hostess had older less efficient factories than Flowers and Bimbo. Tougher distribution agreements, and less flexible arrangements with the operating unions. Six owners in 20 years and a buyout that saddled the company with debt didn't help.

The unions gave up a lot in benefits over the past five years, but nobody there demanded that their give ups go into plant improvements. So at the end of the day it still took Hostess more people earning more money to deliver the same kind of food products to the grocery stores and bodegas than it cost the competition. Which is now picking over the bones of Hostess.

Twinkles will live on, but now it will be Nabisco or other company.