Posted on 02/13/2015 12:01:05 AM PST by SatinDoll
A massive shutdown of Americas supply chain is now in progress because of a labor dispute between dockworkers and their employers. The average dock worker, according to Zero Hedge, makes about $145,000 per year plus some $80,000 per year in benefits, but apparently their overtime pay is insufficient, which has led to widespread strikes at the nations busiest ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The ports are now being partially shut down for at least the next four days, but the months-long dispute has already led to hundreds of container ships and tractor-trailers being left in limbo (see pictures below).
Though the strike has been off the radar for most, analysts suggest that the dispute is so severe that it could lead to widespread shortages of imported goods and mass layoffs in periphery industries, especially retail chains which will have limited amounts of goods to sell until a resolution is found.
The Retail Industry Leaders Association who, realizing that failure to reach an agreement between the dockworker union and their bosses, the Pacific Maritime Association representing port management would lead to devastating consequences for the US retail industry, had several very damning soundbites:
a work slowdown during contract negotiations over the past seven months has already created logistic nightmares for American exporters, manufacturers and retailers dependent on an efficient supply chain. A complete shutdown would be catastrophic, with hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk if Americas supply chain grinds to a halt. A west coast port shutdown would be an economic disaster. A shutdown would not only impact the hundreds of thousands of jobs working directly in Americas transportation supply chain, but the reality is the entire economy would be impacted as exports sit on docks and imports sit in the harbor waiting for manufacturers to build products and retailers to stock shelves.
And the punchline: The slowdown is already making life difficult, but a shutdown could derail the economy completely.
Full analysis
The situation, according to the Retail Industry Leaders Association, is dire:
A work slowdown during contract negotiations over the past seven months has already created logistic nightmares for American exporters, manufacturers and retailers dependent on an efficient supply chain. A complete shutdown would be catastrophic, with hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk if Americas supply chain grinds to a halt.
The shutdown is a sight to behold. Hundreds of transport ships with thousands of containers of cargo are not being allowed into ports to unload their goods.
Cargoes from around the world are backed up as evidenced by the following aerial photos from Mike Kelley:
It was one of the most exciting experiences Ive had doing aerial photography being that far out at sea, with the huge swells underneath you, and these massive, massive container ships everywhere was like living a scene out of Walter Mittys life.
The labor union and employers will eventually come to an agreement, perhaps with Presidential involvement, but a prolonged strike will, as noted above, have a disastrous impact on the economy.
Were written before about what life will look like in the event of a transportation shutdown in Just In Time: When The Trucks Stop, America Stops. As we noted then, a transportation shutdown can lead to nearly immediate and catastrophic consequences.
It appears that this is what is happening now and the effects on a consumer-based economy could be devastating across the board.
Weve often recommended to readers that they stock up on emergency supplies simply because sometimes unplanned events happen. The current port shutdown is a limited event, but given that even this could lead to serious economic problems and job losses, its not a stretch of the imagination to suggest that in a real emergency the shutdown of transportation systems on a national level would lead to a total breakdown and panic within days, perhaps even a few hours.
The reality is that 99% of Americans are not prepared for a sustained shutdown of transportation systems and supply lines. There would be no food or gas to be had. As The Preppers Blueprint author Tess Pennington highlights in Anatomy of a Breakdown, once peaceful streets and neighborhoods would quickly be besieged by looters looking for resources.
When the needs of the population cannot be met in an allotted time frame, a phenomena occurs and the mindset shifts in people. They begin to act without thinking and respond to changes in their environment in an emotionally-based manner, thus leading to chaos, instability and a breakdown in our social paradigm.
It is for these unforeseen circumstances that we urge Americans to prepare for the worst. The last thing you want to be doing is looking for food and other essential supplies after a supply shutdown has occurred.
Yelp! Time to go back to the founders vision
“Imagine an America without Chinese junk ...”
I’m 63-years old and used to live in an America without Chinese junk. In fact, most of my clothes come from the early 1980s and are what’s known as ‘bespoke’ (custom made). Now I’m poor but really do not care, for my needs are small.
I feel sorry for the Chinese people. They’ve been working their asses off, hoping to get rich, and now everything is falling apart economically around the world. We, on the other hand, have engineered much of our own situation.
Back in the 1960s and 70s, there was worry about Japan buying American factories and hotels. In nearly every case, they over paid.
I expect China will follow this same route and copy the Japanese, paying premium value for what ever they go after.
I have always liked the story about how the Japanese investors goofed on Pebble Beach. They couldn’t make it private, since every American owns the shoreline.
Ping.
For later.
This went back and forth, and finally, Bridgestone offered full value (about $75/share) and won the right to the old dog factories and not much else.
It took nearly 40 years for the investment to pay dividends to the Japanese company.
What is coming into these ports ...?
No one has really pinned this on the dock strike, but the factory where I work has been running out of parts more and more. Some of the parts come from China then are assembled in the US for us.
I don’t know how much work we will have next week.
Thanks for the reply. It is a real shame that parts for your factory are not all made in America. Good luck.
Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping!
To get onto The Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping List you must threaten to report me to the Mods if I don't add you to the list...
central_va ~ Except for some specialty food items, the USA is almost fully self sufficient in food production.
The point isn't that a west coast dock strike will hurt Americans.
There are any number of countries world wide that are three meals away from a revolution. Those three meals come from America.
They've been cut off.
Bonus round:
How did Indonesia become the world's largest muslim country?
After Krakatoa coated the farmlands with sterile ash, and the native Indonesians were starving, muslim "charities" showed up with food. Convert to islam or starve. Your call.
JIT - Just In Time.
Also known as loading dock to assembly line, a system where factories have little to no inventory (Safety Stock) to buffer supply chain problems.
Also known as:
OSWO - Oh Sh!t We’re Out.
Good luck, my FRiend.
The union workers don’t want to pay for the Cadillac tax on their health insurance.
You’re peachy. :)
Ping.
The longshoremens contract expired in July, 2014 and contract talks have stalled, in large part, over whether workers or employers will pay the new Obamacare tax. The longshoremen are the first union to negotiate a contract that would extend beyond the time the tax is first imposed.
This will come up in just about every contract negotiation out there, J.D. Piro, a health-benefits consultant, told Bloomberg News. Every employer is going to be calculating when and if they hit the threshold and how theyre going to pay for this.
ahhhh the breathlessness of the Alex Joneses of the world
I didn’t know we fed so much of the world anymore; if they are so close to revolutions then let them happen.
I believe Indonesians were Muslim long before that; it reached as far as the Philippines centuries ago.
This has been planned for years - how to get enough control union-wise at the west coast ports - to shut-down the US ports and strangle the economy. The unions rank and file have been brainwashed into believing it benefits them. It does not.
(They are doing it now because if they try it later during hunting season, when administration tries seizing firearms, the rank and file will turn against them. The rank and file are basically people like us who value their God-given rights and have served in the military. That is one of the myriad reasons people like Leo Gerard, president of the International Steel Union and a communist, want illegal aliens in the unions.)
This is about Global Justice via international labor unions. This is about destroying the United States.
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