Real Oysters and Proverbial Pearls

What do men on strike do? They might carry a picket sign, but they will certainly drink beer. This was the Propeller Club’s Fall Oyster Roast in Chesapeake Virginia, a twice-annual event geared more to labor- the working men and the white-collared petit bourgeoise, than to the ownership class. The members of the International Longshoremens' Association, who at previous events were low-key and focused on doting their wife and kids, instead were talking boisterously with each other, wearing identical orange strike shirts. Many of them were good old southern boys with nice pickup trucks and brand-name outdoors gear. Life treated them well so far, and they were intent on keeping it that way for themselves and their children. One recent college graduate, who worked in a shipping company office, lamented “I wish I could go on strike”. My request for the DJ to play Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer” went unheeded. Nevertheless, I hummed the good man’s words: “Tommy used to work on the docks; Union's been on strike, he's down on his luck; It's tough, so tough…” In other news, Military Sealift Command's civil service mariner will now receive paid shore leave equal to the number of weekends spent at sea. That is, 2 days of paid leave for every 7 days; a quadrupling of the previous 1 day of paid leave for 15 days at sea. The NOAA, a much smaller organization operating oceanography vessels, implemented this plan last year. For the Military Sealift Command, additional shore leave will be granted retroactively to December 24, 2023, and will appear on the next leave statement for this pay period. I expect that the realization of this new paid leave plan will greatly improve retention of skilled mariners, who have a choice of working for other employers.