Shipping companies raked in $400B in profits since 2020 and spent billions on stock buybacks. But many dockworkers saw average wages go down 12% over the last 20 years. They've now secured a well-earned 62% raise over the next 6 years. When workers use their collective power, they win.
I checked my last LES before I retired. I was a salaried government employee. My pay rate was $42.87/hour. I worked mainly indoors, in climate controlled spaces, and usually 40 hour weeks. Not terribly excellent pay, but fairly good pay. I was almost the lowest paid government worker in the office. Most of the people around me made more than I did, especially those living the precarious life of government contractors whose jobs could disappear at the end of the fiscal year or who might have to take a pay cut to keep the job they had when a new company "won" the contract.
In this case, there is money available. The company had decided for years that the money needed to [be] sucked up to the top and passed around up there. (So much for the beloved GOP "trickledown economics" chants.) Having seen the mayhem caused by their very short strike, they are of great value and should be getting a share of the profit they create.
