L.A. port strike, Day 7: Estimated to cost $1 billion per day

[Hum]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Freighters with no place to unload their cargo lined up at anchorages off Los Angeles and Long Beach for a seventh day on Monday as shippers and striking clerks resumed talks to end a labor dispute that has idled most of America's biggest container port complex.

The two sides remained at loggerheads over the future of union representation for clerical jobs after individuals retire from those jobs, but the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 has so far resisted calls for outside mediation.

The 800-member clerical workers unit of the ILWU local walked off the job last Tuesday, with some 10,000 longshoremen and other union members refusing to cross picket lines, forcing a shutdown at 10 of the twin ports' 14 container terminals.

Four other container terminals remained open, along with facilities for handling shipments of automobiles, liquid fuels and break-bulk cargo such as raw steel.

The overall economic impact of the strike has been estimated to run at more than $1 billion a day, including lost wages of dock workers, truckers and others idled by the walkout, and the value of cargo rerouted by shippers.

The strike has prompted at least 11 freighters to take their cargo to other ports in northern California, Mexico and Panama, according to the nonprofit Maritime Exchange of Southern California, which tracks shipping traffic in the region.

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[Anibal P]

Fire the Union, hire people willing to work for the normal pay, which is already at market value

[Growled Member]

^ It's not always that easy.

[torrentthief]

surely losing $1bn even just for a single day is far more expensive than paying workers more for several decades?

[Hum]

OMG -- Wal-Mart is doomed.

[Original Poster]

surely losing $1bn even just for a single day is far more expensive than paying workers more for several decades?

sometimes its not about the money its about the principle ... also you give in once... they know you will give in again

[Sandor]

surely losing $1bn even just for a single day is far more expensive than paying workers more for several decades?

Which is why the strikers will win handsomely in this instance.

[farmeunit]

^ It's not always that easy.

It's probably not "quite" that easy, but for all the people complaining about not have a job, there ya go! Give it to someone that will appreciate it. Unions ruin everything sooner or later.

[Growled Member]

surely losing $1bn even just for a single day is far more expensive than paying workers more for several decades?

They have those executives that need their million dollar bonuses. They can't afford to pay the workers.

[Ph1b3r0pt1c]

It's probably not "quite" that easy, but for all the people complaining about not have a job, there ya go! Give it to someone that will appreciate it. Unions ruin everything sooner or later.

Yep, they ruin everything. I wished we didnt have unions PERIOD. That way people in the coals mines would be breaking their backs since they dont really know how to do anything else, for around 8.50 per hour. Thats all they are worth. I need that free electricity so I can hop here on Neowin and complain about other unions. Then maybe when the trickle down effect gets to me, I will 'just find another job' that I am not even sure I will be ABLE to find, but so what? The damned dirty unions are gone! Then MAYBE the price of basic human utilities, food, and fuel will not go through the roof, so I can still afford to eat, oh, and all those other people that were making the super expensive cars that were union, now they are falling apart, and NO ONE can buy them since only the 2% of people above 250k (your and my bosses) can afford them, but what the hell. I want to die to make sure they are taken care of. They are the ones that give me this killer job making 8.50 per hour every day. Hell yes! OUT WITH THE UNIONS.

[Argote]

Fire the Union, hire people willing to work for the normal pay, which is already at market value

I'm pretty sure some of the equipment there requires you to be certified which is not something one can do overnight.

surely losing $1bn even just for a single day is far more expensive than paying workers more for several decades?

Well, it's the economic impact, not money THEY are losing.

[siah1214]

^ It's not always that easy.

It worked very well for Reagan when he fired the controllers in the 80s.

I'm pretty sure some of the equipment there requires you to be certified which is not something one can do overnight.

See above :)