Zack Kass

What did he want?

He didn't want more money and he didn't want safer working conditions.

The two tenants of every labor union since we organized labor, he wanted a guarantee from the ports that they would not automate their jobs.

The picket signs read robots don't pay taxes and automation harms families.

And I mean, I stared at this and I was like, I had this unforgettable sense that this was the first of many such incidents.

And so I sent him a long, thoughtful email.

I talked about how I understood the plight of the worker and, you know, et cetera, et cetera.

And he sent me something very different, very different back.

He did not want to meet with me.

But we met with a bunch of the long Sherman and we interviewed these guys.

And we interviewed about 30 of them quite extensively off the record.

And the results are in the book, so I won't spoil too much.

But suffice it to say, these conversations changed how I understood this problem.

And we asked them a battery of questions, of which four I will tell you about.

The first question we asked that told us everything we needed to know.

Was anyone in your family in the union?

Of the respondents, 91% said yes.

Second question, do you believe you could be gainfully employed outside the union?

Over 90% of the respondents said agree or strongly agree.

Third question, do you want anyone in your family to join the union?