OK, what do you want? was....Re: Still "another" and possibly "better" job/career path....

[Brian Moore]

In article <971p2g$n7h$0 at 216.155.0.50>,
Arthur Sowers  <arthures at magpage.com> wrote:
>
...
>How about you contacting your brother and tell him to tell you, so you can
>post it here, how to become a longshoreman and what the pay is like. 
>

Well basically you just go down there and present yourself.  The
key is finding work.  The longshoremen organize themselves into
A, B and C categories (at least where my brother works).  A and B
are in the union, C is "casual."  All of them only work when there
is enough work.  The ships come in, and there is an order of names
by which the jobs get handed out.  A & B men come before casual,
and I think when you worked last is also a factor.  Only if 
they have exhausted the A & B guys do they go to the casuals.

Typically you have to work casual for a long time before you
get an opportunity to enter the union.  In the town I grew up,
they used to hire casuals a lot (say, back in the 70s & 80s).
Over time work has dried up and I don't think casuals work
much.  I believe no one has been taken into the union in a
long time now.


-- 

Brian G. Moore, School of Science, Penn State Erie--The Behrend College
bgm4 at psu.edu , (814)-898-6334