Gabriel Campanario, The Seattle Times
I hope the port labor dispute is resolved soon [“West Coast ports are in rough seas due to slowdown,” Opinion, Jan. 24]. It has lingered destructively for too long.
A lot of people don’t realize just how many workers have been displaced from their jobs in recent months as a result. Whether it is due to congestion problems in Los Angeles, an unacknowledged slowdown in area ports or a nighttime West Coast lockout, the result is the same. The result is that innocent third parties are hurt as collateral damage from battling giants of labor and management.
A free-market economy is great and gives individual freedom and responsibility, but too often the worker understandably desires more fairness from owners. The worker, after all, does the work, not just moves the pencil. The problem is that neither the owners nor the workers in this dispute fully own our ports and neither can fully answer what is ultimately fair for everyone. The apple and wheat growers, in a real sense, are also owners and workers, and they need protections, too.
We’re all in this together, but you wouldn’t know it from the way things are going. I hope for a resolution.
Don Ricks, Brier