Right now, in the UK there is a desperate shortage of truck drivers in the country. The movement of commodities has slowed to a crawl as the transportation industry has been desperate to find workers for innumerable open spots. A severe warning was put out by worker’s unions that there is a terrible crisis coming if the global supply chain isn’t fixed immediately. Many are warning of a total “system collapse” if labour shortages are not addressed quickly. The situation is deteriorating so quickly that an open letter was given to the United Nations by several industry groups including the International Chamber of Shipping.
“Global supply chains are beginning to buckle as two years' worth of strain on transport workers take their toll. Their continued mistreatment is adding pressure on an already crumbling global supply chain.” They warned to, “to identify solutions before global transport systems collapse.”[1]
Already tremendous damage has been done to the global supply chain. With a lack of sufficient movement ports in Southern California are at maximum capacity. Currently the massive cargo ships in queues of 60 wait weeks to dock and unload, setting multiple all-time records.[2] Trucking companies have a drastic shortage of drivers. Warehousing space for commodities has shrunk down to near nothing. Companies are having to lease new space to keep up with the backlog.
This is expected to worsen in the coming year.[3] Experts warn that the Christmas rush could push things over the top and break the supply chain. Already there are shortages in numerous countries.
I see something interesting here with regards to the UK. The Brexit people said nothing bad would happen. Brexit was supposed to be a smooth, no problem transition despite warnings from economists. But this tells us something else.
It seems very obvious now the UK’s position within the relationship of the EU: It was using workers from the poorer countries, many of whom are second world, as cheap labour. Wage differentials and different living standards make up the nature of that relationship. Without those to exploit, the UK has found itself short of almost a hundred thousand truck drivers says the UK's Road Haulage Association (RHA). This is combined with workers leaving the industry as well as COVID.
Quite to the contrary from what we were hearing about the UK being a victim of the EU.
The UK as with everyone else:
Not enough drivers? Well, the free market already tells us what we should do: raise the wages and benefits until people are willing to work. That’s the free market baby, and it can’t be questioned. That would make you some kind of dirty commie. The problem is, the amount they’d have to put out would make it simply unprofitable. In other words, the cost of the labour is so high that you wouldn’t be able to turn a profit. That means no-go. Which is strange because adherents of the market claim it’s the most rational and efficient means of organizing production and distribution.
If the capitalist economy doesn’t have an abundance of unemployed and low-cost labour to exploit, it falls into crisis. If it were to live up to its own ideology, it would be non-functioning. Let that sink in – its own logic is self-defeating. That’s one big contradiction in capitalism, its own logic.
Venezuela karma