Category Archives: Labor Economics

More on the Panama Canal.  It makes sense for workers to strike whenever a big change that will greatly benefit the capital owners and users will be put at risk.  What other leverage do they have?

It could take a while to settle, since the strike is with the contractors, not the Panama Canal Authority, APC.  They’ve disclaimed any responsibility.  But why didn’t they attempt to forestall this action in their earlier negotiations?  Didn’t they talk to the contractors?

Unions threaten Panama Canal project – and give Suez a boost.

A very interesting part of the article is the comparison with Suez shipping rates Asia-Europe.  The Suez is stealing business north of Savannah from the Panama Canal.  It’s doing it by preferentially lowering rates a bit for that traffic.  Funny how competition can upset some perfectly good ideas.

And remember the US West Coast is still 10-20 days closer to Europe than the Panama Canal, so to the extent that time is money, cost goes up there.