Thought Crimes Episode 20 – Pierless
The docks had been closed for months now, its runners knee deep in one of the last and most powerful labor strikes in the city. No scab dared cross the picket line, the union bosses cold as ice and deeply respected by their allies. But as infrastructure in the city became ever more unwieldy, and liquid cash became easier than ever for the ever-larger shipping companies to dredge up, they simply didn’t need scab workers anymore. They had scab industries. Boatloads of shipping containers slowly moved from idle docks to scores of self-driving double-decker big rigs that clogged the arteries of highway travel. They moved to ever larger airshipping fleets, specializing in short-term contract deals that took up airport gates at random. They moved to new contracts demanding the receiving companies come pick it up themselves. And in special interest story after special interest story, the cable news shows mourned the losses of the average American at the hands of this noble yet thuggish strike. They didn’t need the dock workers anymore. But cutting ties wasn’t enough. They had to make it hurt.
After all,
It’s Only Business.
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