On Feb 17, 2015, at 6:40 AM, Steve wrote:
SteveOn another point, I noticed that there is a labor dispute holding up cargo at the ports on the west coast but did not see your insight on these events on your hbhblog. I would love to hear your input and am wondering what the main issues are in the dispute as well as what products are being affected. How does an exporter/importer handle the customer service on our end when these delays happen and we are exporting to another country and there is a hold up like this?Thanks,
I suppose as one dealing with the topic of international trade, the West Coast Port action would be a topic I would cover. Over the last 40 years, I've seen these a few times, but they are not a problem if you follow what I advise: never go for volume at the small business (specialty) level in international trade.
As an importer, when your sales are in the millions, you are still buying minimum order quantities... instead of a full 20' or 40' (heavens forfend!) you have one minimum order on the books, one in production, one on the factory loading dock, one on the way to the port, on being loaded CFS (LCL), one on a ship on the ocean, one being offloaded in a port, one in the warehouse... etc... so, what happens when there is a port action? One small shipment gets tied up, the rest are diverted to Vancouver BC, and brought in-bond through Blaine.
This too will pass. We manage these problems with MOQ, this being just one of many reasons for dealing in MOQ quantities.
On the export side, the same thing. There are $50,000 FCL containers full of produce rotting on the docks. We'd have a $1200 shipment, prepaid, at risk. Over a year, we could eat that loss, as could our overseas customer.... And we can wait this out.
But but but... you lose economies of scale! No such thing at the small business level. The reason I am teaching is what is taught by trade development and accredited programs is for big business, but directly harmful to small business.
As to what is going on, the longshoreman are a real unions (as opposed to government"unions"), which means they are essentially anti-fascist. The Stevedore companies are trying to cut longshoreman compensation and relax safety rules, to fatten their profits and expand fascism. The longshoremen aren't having it.
At the 1982 Longshoreman Master Contract Negotiations I was at the table on management side ( I can be soooo mercenary). The strike issue was unfunded pension liability. Leaders were bought off, the issue went away, and peace was restored, but the union took a hit. I hope union militantism is making a comeback.
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
3 comments:
but "union militatism" isn´t a danger by itself?
what can prevent it became like the teachers unions with the same effects the unions have had in education?
It is unfair that a thrid party company lose money because some guy decided to strike. I mean if the echoe affects one company and not the rest fine do all the strike you want.
However if you are going to screw the rest of the people for your problems then it should be illegal to have unions in those particular strategic fields. Police and military if force is required.
The stability of all cannot be compromised for a group of people that behave like mafia.
Thanks
It's great to have your insider knowledge on the port strike John. Thanks for the post.
Government worker unions are all house unions, something all working people deplore. A person who puts in eight hours a day loading a vessel cannot provide a politician the benefit of a house unionist who, contrary to law, works for the re-election of their patrons on the job. The incest is appalling.
And yes, a law made government worker unions possible, and a law can end this abuse. I agree.
But as to condemning longshoremen, why assume they are the bad guys? And the stevedores are not the mafiosi? Recall, this is a lockout, not a strike. the stevedores stopped work, not the longshoremen.
If he longshoremen are on the front lines of resisting fascism, it is unfortunate that some might be adversely impacted, but this is the business you chose. Again, you need not take much of a hit if you manage a small business properly, and that is frequency, never volume, as I teach in every class.
I agree, the instability of all cannot be compromised by the actions of mafiosi, and on the docks, with militant unionism, we see one of the rare instances when someone says no to the destabilizers. Wish that religion, academia, law, industry, agriculture, media and so on would join the longshoremen in resisting fascism.
Heck no, we got our iPhones!
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