Here We Go: Suez Canal Workers Go On Strike

ZeroHedge ^ | 2/8/2011 | Tyler Durden

[BenLurkin]

At least all they want is money.

[mewzilla]

Well, considering Mubarak just bribed civil servants with a 15% raise....

[screaminsunshine]

Obamanistas. Now if we could export the Unions and Liberalism to China....Actually all this is about forming the Arab Zone of the NWO to go with the Euro Zone.

[MichaelCorleone]

I wonder if, heretofore, these workers complained of poor wages and conditions. If so, were these issues being considered by management at all or dismissed out of hand?

It just seems a strange coincidence for the discontent to start now.

Or are we trying not to waste a good crisis?

[K-Stater]

Mubarak just gave government workers a 15% bump in salary. How can you blame these guys for wanting a piece of the pie?

[mewzilla]

FWIW....

Suez Canal operations unaffected by strikes-official

[OldNewYork]

Luckily the canal is a fairly simple one as canals go. There are no locks; it’s all level seaway.

[K-Stater]

Now if we could export the Unions and Liberalism to China....

China has state run unions. It's one of the few countries where the Wal-Marts are unionized.

[steve86]

There are no locks; it’s all level seaway.

I didn't realize that. I wonder if tidal currents run through it.

[Alberta's Child]

Here's something interesting for y'all to consider . . .

When the U.S. brokered the peace accords between Egypt and Israel in 1976, one of the non-negotiable conditions for the U.S. was that Israel had to return the Sinai Peninsula (captured during the 1967 war) to Egypt. The reason for this was that the Suez Canal was seen as such a vital trade link for U.S. interests that the canal could no longer serve as the border between the two countries (or any two countries, for that matter). The only options would be for a large chunk of "mainland" Egypt to be handed over to Israel, or the Sinai to be given back to Egypt. The second option was obviously the most practical.

The Suez Canal has grown in importance over the years because many of the vessels used in Asia-U.S. trade are too large to fit through the Panama Canal, and because the Suez is a "flat" canal with no lock system to constrain its operations. The expansion of the Panama Canal that is scheduled for completion in the next few years will offset some of those advantages enjoyed by the Suez, but even with an expanded Panama Canal the Suez will still be a preferred route for ships transporting cargo to the East Coast of the U.S. from places like India, Malaysia and Indonesia.

[FromLori]

This is what I'm watching Oil jumped on the news

[CSM]

Good thing we just did the same with the TSA here.....

Where is all the crowing about gas price increases?

[nutmeg]

Luckily the canal is a fairly simple one as canals go. There are no locks; it’s all level seaway.

Interesting... I didn't know that.

[OldNewYork]

I didn't realize that. I wonder if tidal currents run through it. I'm no expert - I had just read that somewhere, so I don't even have a reference except maybe Wikipedia (which is hardly 100% reliable). There would be tidal currents then. It was a big deal when Egyptians took over from the British as canal pilots to ships transiting it, but I don't know what the hazards to navigation are, or if they are many. I don't think it's anywhere near as hazardous as the East River in New York, which isn't really a river, but has variable inlets and outlets, one of which is a sound, one a harbor, and one somewhat of a river, but also tidal. The Suez Canal is pretty straightforward, comparatively.

[mewzilla]

Update: No Suez Strike, Says Dow Jones

My head is spinning :)

[FromLori]

Yes why is that we don’t get talked to nightly about the gas prices well we know why liberal media. It’s ridiculous how the news is reported and until recently because of the Arab unrest we heard next to nothing about the food inflation.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

It’s a frigging sea level canal. All they need are toll takers. Have the ships toss the money on the pier on the way through.

[kevslisababy]

Given that, wouldn’t it be funny if it was discovered that things got along smoothly without the striking employees after all?

[CSM]

Shhh, inflation isn’t happening.....well, except for energy and food costs....