Mansour Speaks to WTVM about Recent Port Strike

Turner College economics professor, and Director of the Butler Center for Research and Economic Development, Fady Mansour spoke with WTVM9's Macy Woodworth about the port strike that occurred along the east and Gulf coasts last week. The strike involved thousands of port workers, resulting in one of the most disruptive strikes the United States has experienced in more recent years. The strikes occurred at 14 different ports with the involvement of over 25,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association. Workers were demanding a 77% wage increase in the next six years, along with the demand of protection against automation. “You may think why someone with $81,000 dollars a year wants a wage increase . . . it’s the housing inflation,” explained Mansour. “Wages increased in the last 3-4 years, but if you look at the housing it increased by 40 to 60 percent in some areas; there is no match to your wage increase. For instance, one of the affected ports is located in Savannah, where the average house price skyrocketed from $255,000 before the pandemic to $443,000 in the second quarter of 2024. This significant rise in housing costs means that workers would now need to almost double their income to qualify for the same home they could afford just a few year ago.” The United States Maritime Alliance originally offered a 50% increase in wages, but failed reach an agreement regarding the protection against automation. “This reflects [an] ongoing struggle in the labor market between workers and automation,” said Mansour. “A one week strike could cost the U.S. economy roughly $3.8 billion, potentially raising consumer goods prices, according to the Conference Board. While this figure is a small fraction of the nearly $29 trillion U.S. economy, the impact disproportionately affects small businesses. Many holiday-driven retailers had already adjusted their supply chains in anticipation of such labor distributions.” While the port strikes caused some public worry and plenty of questions, Mansour does not see a need to stress. "The implications of what happen[ed] is more important than the event itself,” said Mansour.

Comments

Turner College Grad Publishes Academic Study on Corporate Culture and Strategy

Former Turner College student Tamara Todorova , now an associate professor of economics at American University in Bulgaria (AUB), recently published a study on corporate culture and strategy. Todorova earned an MBA from the Turner College in 1996 and then went on to earn a doctorate in international economics from the University of Economics - Varna in 2001. She has been on the faculty at AUB since August of 2000. Todorova's study, which appears in the current issue of the International Journal of Business Performance Management , investigates how corporate culture helps to economize on the transaction costs of internal organization. As she explains, the dimensions of corporate culture that assist in this task include increasing trust and reducing intrafirm opportunism. Todorova's study demonstrates that setting common goals and a common direction reduces the sizeable costs of internal organization. Tamara's prior research appears in Economics of Transition , International

Hammer joins Turner College Finance Faculty

The Turner College's Department of Accounting and Finance welcomes Melissa Ingle Hammer , who joins the group as an adjunct faculty in finance. Hammer graduated from the Turner College in 2005, after earning a BBA in finance. She later went on to earn an MBA from Auburn University, a Specialist Certificate in Conduct Risk from the University of Manchester, a Certificate in Team Culture from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Certificate in Executive Presence from Cornell University. Hammer is the SVP of Fair Lending Product Management with RiskExec at Asurity. She previously worked as Compliance Manager of Fair Lending at Synovus, a senior regulatory consultant with Wolters Kluwer, and as VP of Compliance at TD. This semester Hammer will be teaching FINC 3135, Financial Institutions and Technologies. Turner Business welcomes Melissa and wishes her a great first semester in the Turner College.

TSYS School, Jianhua Yang, Lixin Wang Each among Top Five in the World

New research by computer scientists in the School of Information Technology at Universiti Utara Malaysia that ranks institutions and individuals on the basis of scholarship in the area of stepping-stone attacks heaps praise on the Turner College’s TSYS School of Computer Science and two of its faculty – Jianhua Yang and Lixin Wang . The article, published in the April 2023 issue of the International Journal of Research in Engineering and Science , provides a bibliometric analysis of both publication and citation data from 2000 to September of 2022 related to research on stepping-stone intrusion. Among several results, it reports that Columbus State University ranks second worldwide, trailing only the University of Houston, using total publications on the subject as the basis of comparison. A number of other U.S. institutions appear in the top 10, including third-ranked North Carolina State University, fourth-ranked University of Illinois, sixth-ranked Iowa State University, eig

Turner Business

Search This Blog