"Although they might have little else in common with a longshoreman in the 1930s, **many modern workers might relate to the longshoremen’s schedule**, as it was described by [[Frank P. Foisie]], later the leader of the [[Waterfront Employers Association]]: [Their labor] suffers the full brunt of a depression, the slack of seasons, and in addition must deal with fluctuations daily and hourly peculiar to itself. Discharging and loading vessels is subject to the variables of uncertain arrival of ships, diverse cargoes, good, bad, and ordinary equipment, regrouping of men and different employers; and is at the mercy of the elements of time, tide, and weather … Hiring is by the hour, not the day, and never steadily. "**Before the unions, the longshoremen’s experience of time was completely beholden to the ups and downs of capital**. While the 1932 law enabled union organizing, the tides had already begun to turn against organized labor with the 1947 [[Taft–Hartley Act]], which among other things prohibited the coordination of strike efforts among different unions." ([Location 1603](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07RHWKD7N&location=1603)) --- **Tags** -- [[quotes]], [[unions]], [[work-life-balance]], [[saying-no]] **Source** -- [[20251230081807 - B - How to Do Nothing]]