The company I work for imports products into the US through California. There was a port strike just before Christmas when all the retailers were bringing in stock for Christmas sales. The crane operators weren't happy with their contract so they shut down the port. The crane operators who remove containers from the ships make $150K to start, not including overtime. Personally, I think stopping US commerce should be illegal and both sides should agree to binding arbitration. After reading the crazy salaries in California others have posted, maybe $200K a year with no degree to operate a crane isn't out of line out there? I guess I'm in the wrong line of work.