Paul158

They must have been reading our thread here and decided that the timing was bad for a strike. I think someone was going to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act if the union wasn't going to make some sort of temporary compromise. So cooler heads prevailed for now.

I think the no automation is going to be a point on contention. This is 2024. Automation in every industry has been around for a long time. Most of the ports around the world have been automated already for 20 years.

I have no problem striking with reasonable demands. In 2024 you are demanding no automation. That seems like a death wish. The 77 percent raise over 6 years seems a little unreasonable especially when you can be replaced with machines. I believe after a few weeks of this and the cost of everything starts to go up and products become scarce on the shelves public opinion of the unions will turn. I wonder how the unions would feel if they were replaced by 45,000 illegal immigrants. That would take away their maximum pressure. They, the unions may get by this time around, but they are sealing their fate.

Just looking at the timing of this. It's really bad. One of the worst Hurricanes just hit a large portion of our country causing well over 100 billion dollars of damage. It's been a week now and it's really bad. You have a huge mess in the middle east. With a much larger war possibly going to break out. You have the entire country struggling from the high inflation with no end in sight. Then you have the election in 30 days. So, you a large union going on strike wanting a 77% raise over 6 years. Thats a 12% per raise per year. They make around 81,000 per year with lots of overtime available. That puts them over 100,000 a year. the crane operators with overtime are at 300,0000 a year. If the strike lasts more than a few days most Americans will not be very supportive. The strike will make inflation worse. Then the union does not want to allow any automation. That I think will be a huge problem for them. They will need to compromise on that. This isn't 1940 anymore. Every industry has had to automate over the last 80 years in order to stay competitive. Most of all the ports in the world have already automated their ports. This is not a good time to strike with unreasonable demands.

In the past 2 people who were going to testify against him in court did didn't fair to well. I think one was found in a lake drowned and other was found dead in a trunk of a car.

No, but he did congratulate them for their recent success in the Olympics.

The terrain in the mountains is another huge factor. Funneling all that water into 20 or 30 creeks and rivers is a recipe for disaster. Had that area been flatter the flooding would have been bad but not nearly as destructive. But the stalling of that massive storm really made this a huge destructive disaster.

I live about 80 miles east of all the damage. I was watching on the radar as it was coming up Georgia and South Carolina. It moved very fast until it got to North Carolina then it stalled out over western North Carolina. The storm on the radar grew as it was coming up through. The rain that normally would have been dumped in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina was still in the Helena when it arrived in North Carolina. Then it stalled when it hit the mountains for some reason. Some areas got 20 to 30 inches of rain in a very short period of time. Worse flooding I've ever seen.

Kind of an odd statement or joke. In addition to all the damage I believe there are34 deaths in North Carolina alone so far. There are over 130 deaths from Helene so far. Certain areas in western NC received 20 to 30 inches of rain.

His comeback story could be one for the books. I'll be rooting for him.

Sorry to hear that. Hurricanes show no mercy.

I'm in central North Carolina. Early this morning lots of wind until 8am. Then all hell broke loose. Really strong winds and lots of rain now. Tornado 20 miles NW of my house. On the radar this storm is almost 1000 miles wide. Tremendous flooding in Western part of the state.

I remember you telling me about the previous episodes with nature. You were due for a break. Take care.

I'm glad you are ok.. Thanks for your updates.

That just might work.