Taft-Hartley is not a terribly effective tool. It's pretty much a lead pipe cinch that if there is an order to end this, we will not have the most productive reopening of the ports, ... That's why I was hoping there would be a negotiated settlement. But that's not going to happen.
This has got the attention of every CEO in America, ... How long can the president give mediation when he has all his friends calling him or [presidential political adviser] Karl Rove telling him there needs to be action.
All of the back channel information I'm getting is that they're actually making some progress.
As long as they're extending the contract, I think that's a signal there will be no slowdown, ... Perhaps there will be a very long drawn out negotiating process that will give us a lot of gray hair.
Obviously I think this is a necessary first step because the contract negotiation unfortunately broke off this weekend and doesn't seem likely to be restarted, ... We have to do something to reopen ports. The impact is going to get much worse over time.
Mass retailers don't know much about order fulfillment on a one-time basis, ... Nothing turns a consumer off more than when you get sucked in, you want the product, and they don't have it. Brick-and-mortar retailers need to figure out these issues, and they're starting to.
The fashion apparel will shift to air because their selling season is only six weeks, and then it goes to markdown. They can't afford to miss one day, ... But the price for the plane is going up, and space will evaporate very quickly as the Limited and Gap fill them up.
You could order these guys back to work, but the question is what kind of productivity you're going to get out of those workers, ... Slowdowns can be almost more disruptive than flat-out work stoppages.
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