To My Fellow Readers,
We do make a very good living on the waterfront. A good amount more than many recent college graduates, and more than most teachers. The reason for this is we have given up much to attain this wage. Mostly, we work in a hostile environment. Everything moves on the waterfront, and the injuries we incur are always serious, if not fatal. Harry and the people who came before us saw the mechanization of the waterfront as its future, and negotiated our wages as we suffered the attrition of our membership. The ships move through the ports at record speeds, with fewer people doing the job. The employers will always want to make more money for their company, citing labor as the cause why their profits are not high enough. This is why the ship owners hire the superintendents to put forth their agenda.
I would be happy to invite anyone who works in a comfortable office to join me for a day on the waterfront. It is often in a noisy piece of machinery, or on a windy rainy day under the hook, or in the hold of a ship. As for those longshoremen who are lazy or don’t want to do their share of the work, you will find these types of people in any workplace. The ships would not get out of the port, if the majority of us did not do the jobs we are paid to do. And we do them quite well.
Proud to be a Longshoreman
James Long
Local 10
