Putzger perspective: Collaborating to solve industrial strife

For about 24 hours it looked as though two of the three largest integrator air hubs in the US could be hit by work stoppages right in the finale of the seasonal shopping frenzy.

Ground workers at DHL’s Americas hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International airport had downed tools on Thursday, December 7, and that evening the Teamsters union warned that its members were set to walk off the job at the UPS main hub in Louisville the following Monday unless the company reinstated 35 employees who had been laid off.

UPS argued briefly that the workers in question, who had only joined the labour union in October, had been dismissed in a move to align staffing levels with business conditions, but quickly agreed the following evening to reinstate the laid-off employees.

Clearly management had no appetite for another clash with labour that would drive customers away after it had lost business during the contract negotiations earlier in the year.

Labour contract negotiations on the West Coast and the fear of a work stoppage caused cargo owners to shift waterborne Asian imports into the US to East Coast gateways, prompting predictions that some of the migration would be permanent.

On December 11 nearly 100 Swissport employees at Denver International airport went on strike in protest against alleged unsafe working conditions, claiming that the company had ignored this issue for over a year.

Safety hazards were also a major factor behind the DHL strike in Cincinnati.

Meanwhile, industry events continue to extol the need for a change in supply chain relationships. Since the havoc wrought by the Covid pandemic there has been a steady mantra stressing the importance of collaboration in order to make supply chains more dynamic and resilient.

Companies are urged to transform transactional relations with suppliers, customers and service providers into more collaborative dynamics.

They should engage in a closer dialogue and get involved in each other’s business planning processes so they can develop win-win solutions and become partners.

Supply chain consultants and executives preach that this builds trust and a more collaborative alignment that looks beyond short-term gains in transactions.

This should put a stop to the habit of seeing service providers as means to slash costs instead of creating added value through win-win constellations.

Perhaps it’s time to consider a similar approach to labour relations. After all, there is hardly a company that doesn’t claim that its employees are its most precious asset.

DHL Express strike ends across US