Just As MANY of Us Here Have Been Saying For YEARS,....

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Criss Colon

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The "REAL PRESIDENT" of the DR is the "Transportation Unions"!!!!!!!
Check out the "Boquechivo" political cartoon in this morning's "Diario Libre" newspaper!!!
Two truck drivers saying the same thing!!!!!
Caption:,
"Don't know why they say that "Danilo" is the president, when we are the one's that give the orders here"???

How TRUE!!!!!!!!!
And it doesn't matter which party's "president" is sitting in the office!

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cobraboy

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The transport unions are largely responsible for killing off the Free Zones...
 

cobraboy

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Jacking up the rates to service them...

Companies in Free Zones work off very tiny quantity-driven margins. Getting stuff to and from ports is a significant expense.

Free Zone businesses were "won" by promising super low transport & wage rates. It takes very little to change the dynamic. When you win business on price, you will ultimately lost it on price.

Wage increases were also largely responsible for the collapse of Free Zones.
 

CFA123

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May 29, 2004
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Jacking up the rates to service them...

Companies in Free Zones work off very tiny quantity-driven margins. Getting stuff to and from ports is a significant expense.

Free Zone businesses were "won" by promising super low transport & wage rates. It takes very little to change the dynamic. When you win business on price, you will ultimately lost it on price.

Wage increases were also largely responsible for the collapse of Free Zones.

Having owned businesses in the zonas francas... It was a combination of artificially controlled exchange rates, the advancement of Chinese manufacturers, and labor costs vs China and Haiti that forced us to migrate our production elsewhere in the mid-late 2000's. We've gone from 13000 employees down to 1500 in DR now. We never considered inland transit costs as a significant/deciding factor in the shift of production.
 

dv8

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the gorgon

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Having owned businesses in the zonas francas... It was a combination of artificially controlled exchange rates, the advancement of Chinese manufacturers, and labor costs vs China and Haiti that forced us to migrate our production elsewhere in the mid-late 2000's. We've gone from 13000 employees down to 1500 in DR now. We never considered inland transit costs as a significant/deciding factor in the shift of production.

are you saying that the peso was overvalued?
 

cobraboy

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Having owned businesses in the zonas francas... It was a combination of artificially controlled exchange rates, the advancement of Chinese manufacturers, and labor costs vs China and Haiti that forced us to migrate our production elsewhere in the mid-late 2000's. We've gone from 13000 employees down to 1500 in DR now. We never considered inland transit costs as a significant/deciding factor in the shift of production.
The exchange rate has a magnifying effect on all costs, so we may be saying the same thing.

A manager friend for a big US clothing manufacturer in Free Zones is shifting production elsewhere citing increased costs-including, specifically Union demands-as the reason.
 
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Blaming unions is a favorite motive given by companies. It is not necessarily the real reason. More likely the company pencil pushers simply determined that they could pay even less by shifting the production to some other place. This could easily include kickback schemes to company execs. There is a constant race to the bottom involved in this.
 

CFA123

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The exchange rate has a magnifying effect on all costs, so we may be saying the same thing.

A manager friend for a big US clothing manufacturer in Free Zones is shifting production elsewhere citing increased costs-including, specifically Union demands-as the reason.

Yes. Unions are the death knell of labor intensive operations. Just the length of suffering varies before a business breathes its last breath.

I was in apparel manufacturing as well. DR can't compete on a cost basis with many other countries at this point. Faster turn times to the US market aren't sufficient to overcome cost considerations as apparel has become low margin/high volume for the entire supply chain all the way to the retailers.

I got out because I hated working harder and harder and growing in volume for ever-decreasing returns.
 

Criss Colon

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"XO" since you don't live in the DR, you have NO IDEA about how the unions function here in DR, OR the power they wield!
Their tactics are not the same as in the industrialized world.
Neither are their "Goals".
It's NOT about "Better Working Conditions",.."Health care benefits,or better wages, it's about "POWER, & Curruption"!
Big difference!
I'm sure UNIONS are quite different in Miami, and a LOT of other things as well???????????
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Chirimoya

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Also they are not really Trade Unions but business confederations made up of vehicle owners.
 

bob saunders

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"XO" since you don't live in the DR, you have NO IDEA about how the unions function here in DR, OR the power they wield!
Their tactics are not the same as in the industrialized world.
Neither are their "Goals".
It's NOT about "Better Working Conditions",.."Health care benefits,or better wages, it's about "POWER, & Curruption"!
Big difference!
I'm sure UNIONS are quite different in Miami, and a LOT of other things as well???????????
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Nope, CC the big Unions in the Developed world operate the same way, just slightly more sophisticated.
 

bdablack

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Jun 30, 2011
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Blaming unions is a favorite motive given by companies. It is not necessarily the real reason. More likely the company pencil pushers simply determined that they could pay even less by shifting the production to some other place. This could easily include kickback schemes to company execs. There is a constant race to the bottom involved in this.

Pay less then the wages in DR......Wow!! How Low can they go???
 
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I know that from a driver that the bus and guagua drivers that operate between Barahona and Sto. Domingo are paid on a per passenger basis and if there are not enough passengers, they can do the whole run and get no money at all. Most do not get enough trips to support themselves or their families, and they have no benefits. All the power lies with the owners of the buses and guaguas. It is not anything I would call a union, but it does call itself a Sindicato. The name is Simchomiba. It is nothing whatever like a union in the US.
 

william webster

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Jan 16, 2009
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or is it about 'How Unions Function" to dictate their wishes.?


One can learn from other experiences...


Forewarned /Educated .... can be advantageous.... to help RD avoid the pifalls
 

AlterEgo

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This thread is about "UNIONS" in the DR, NOT in other countries.
Start your own threads to discuss those unions.
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Thank you CC. All non-DR related posts have been deleted.

Come on people, do you not get the message yet?
 
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