Unions in the news - California

From Michelle Malkin:

Port strike update: SoCal at a standstill, shippers moves to Mexico, retailers beg Obama for help
In case you missed it last week during the holiday, I discussed the port strike chaos on the Cavuto show and pointed out that shippers were redirecting traffic to Mexico. As the L.A./Long Beach port strike drags on this week, southern California is losing even more business.

One container ship laden with goods to be imported into the U.S. has already been diverted to Oakland because of the strike, which that has idled 10 of the 14 cargo terminals at the nation�s busiest seaport complex, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California.

A second ship that was also bound for San Pedro Bay has been diverted to a port in Mexico, said Capt. Dick McKenna, executive director of the Marine Exchange, which tracks local ship movements.

Three more container ships that were expected to arrive at either Los Angeles or Long Beach but are significantly overdue are presumed to have also been diverted to other ports, McKenna said.

This means that a strike that began at just one cargo terminal Tuesday and spread to nine more on Wednesday is already resulting in lost work for product supply chain employees such as truck drivers, railroad workers, warehouse workers and logistics employees, among others.

I am going to continue to post and re-post the FACTS about the striking ILWU clerical workers because pushback against Big Labor�s false narratives is vital. The rest of America�s workers (and those seeking work) need to know what these goons are really up to as they monkey-wrench the economy.

Michelle goes on to talk about the ludicrous wages and benefits this union gets:

annual compensation packages to over $190,000 in wages and benefits by 2016, including:
� Average annual wages up to approximately $90,000;
� Pensions of up to $75,000 per year;
� Maintenance of all benefits in the OCU�s extremely generous health plan, for which the OCU pay nothing (benefits include, e.g., $0 co-pay for generic drugs; $0 for x-rays, diagnostics, and lab tests; $5 office visit co-pays; 90% coverage for infertility; and more);

They also get up to three and a half months paid leave -- sick days, holidays, vacation, etc... The retailers have asked for help from the White House Rotsa ruck on that one... The article includes this charming bit of data:

The National Retail Federation noted that in 2002 a 10-day lockout at West Coast ports led to significant supply chain disruptions, which took six months to remedy, and cost the economy an estimated $1 billion a day.

And this is the key port for imports from Asia right at the Christmas buying season. I would hate to be the logistics manager for BestBuy or WalMart.