the protesting is a dumb way to get a better income

plenty of higher paid physical labor based jobs out there at different times, just, and this is the thing i think you are not keeping in mind about how this situation emerges in the first place:

by constantly debasing the money, the banks and government get extra rent out of us, but they also disincentivise accumulating capital by the workers

when they don't have any savings, they can't make a career transition or weather a time of no work, pile on top of that car, credit card and mortgage repayments, all of which are organised by the bank, who is complicit and benefiting from the debasement of the currency

the entire edifice of labor unions is exactly a manufactured system to respond inappropriately to the situation created by the constantly debased money and the culture of credit addiction that is beneficial to the interests of lenders

so, what does the dock worker do? if they can't save, they can't change jobs, so they go along with the union action

this has been an achilles heel in the economy and you are voicing the exact reason why they even have so much power - transportation is the heart of commerce