Posted: 3/14/2007 4:06:11 PM EDT
| anybody in the longshoremans union? when the next applicant cards will be sent out? |
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rumor is there is going to be another drawing after this group is finished testing. it is hard being a casual. no set work times or days. no bennies. the ports run 24/7 and your "letter" can come up anytime. you can't really have another job and still rack up hours. even if you work every time your letter comes up it will be years before you are full time. if you "flop" you will get passed up for the next elevation. lots of drugs,gangs, and violence down there. it's almost like being in jail. that said the pay is good as a casual. great as a B book. once you are an A book you are a king. ETA after you are a casual you can enlist in the military and you will recieve credit for hours. you will also recieve a check for holiday pay. 
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flop means you don't work when your letter comes up. as a casual you are given a letter. they cycle through the alphabet and when your letter is up you go down to the casual hall and get in line for a job. you can't work weekends as a casual only when your letter is up. thats why you can't have another job and rack up hours. i got in with this last lottery. from start to finish that was nearly 3 years. like i said before it is like jail you stick to your own race for the most part. lots of stabbings, jumpings, shootings, and "accidents" with containers and large trucks. also like the other poster said people try to intimidate you and screw you out of jobs. you have to hold your ground even if you get your head stomped in the parking lot. you will see crane operators shoot heroin in the parking lot then climb up and start to remove containers off the ship right over your head. people stagering drunk and high. management only cares about unloading containers as fast as can be done. they can always replace the longy that just got cut in half... all that said if you can get in do it. A books easily make 250k+ per year, top notch bennies, and a pension that should be illegal. you just have to survive that long. |