This interpretation is at odds with what happens in Rotterdam aka cocaine ground zero (or is it Antwerp now?). It's the most automated port in the world. They still routinely bust port insiders who help crooks there.
I would argue OP's point is still valid since any kind of change is bad when you're smuggling drugs. If they automate everything, then all of the old systems no longer work, and any new system would require people working at much higher levels.
The argument here is that the union is directly involved in drug smuggling, which is why some of the union reps live in multimillion dollar luxury homes. They're opposed to automation because it would mess up their system
Or they live in fancy houses because they're doing a great job at ensuring their union members get better wages and working conditions?
Harold Daggett has been the main labor leader getting criticized recently for a large salary. He's the leader of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), and makes somewhere in the ballpark of ~$1M a year. The ILA is striking right now in the hopes of getting a ~70% wage increase over the next 6 years, better healthcare benefits, and better retirement contribution.
If I were a longshoremen making $130k, and I stood to get a ~70% wage increase + benefits, I'd absolutely be okay with the person who could make that happen making a low 7 figure salary.
Generally, I think the discussion around labor leader salaries to be very insidious. The truth is that they're fighting for chump change against an industry that's pulling in hundreds of billions in profit. And the same goes for the Teamsters. I'll let the respective unions determine leadership profits, but I'll 1000% support whatever they agree upon, so long as the union leaders are making sure that workers get treated well.
Harold Daggett has also been credibly accused of having ties to the Mafia, which is especially consistent with the idea that the union is involved in drug trafficking.
> The ILA is striking right now in the hopes of getting a ~70% wage increase over the next 6 years, better healthcare benefits, and better retirement contribution.
And a permanent ban on automation, you forgot to mention that part. Also, the strike is on pause until January 15th.
> The truth is that they're fighting for chump change against an industry that's pulling in hundreds of billions in profit.
Ports aren’t private industry. They’re public infrastructure, owned by the public, and the ones that do turn a profit are a source of funding for public services.
And he just secured a massive salary increase for his constituents, in short time. As a member of the labor class of society, I can’t help but cheer him and the union on.
On some level I think everyone admires a mobster, but he and his union are parasites enriching themselves at literal public expense. This “labor class” nonsense is just an identity racket that helps them get away with it. You might as well have said “I’m a mark and I’m proud of it!”
If we follow the OP's point, a good port is one where insiders can be busted for facilitating drug traffic and a bad port is one where insiders get killed for trying to stop it.
Actually an improvement. Nowadays each truck goes through a scanner before leaving the terminal. So they have to get to the drugs when it's still waiting for transport.
The fact that we still waste fortunes pretending we can ban drugs, despite the drug trade preserving every single time without fail, irks me to no end.
Like a lot of nice-sounding but difficult things, it reaches "political exhaustion" and we end up with a half-assed "compromise" that's the worst of both worlds.
https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-59379474
https://www.vice.com/en/article/belgium-netherlands-cocaine-...
https://www.occrp.org/en/project/narcofiles-the-new-criminal...