When the stakes are high, it seems super mediator George Cohen of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) is on the case!  He had his hand in the NFL and NBA lockout and work stoppages, and now on a less noticed but more imperative scenario he is back at the forefront.  

Port workers along the East Coast all the way to the Gulf were threatening a strike to begin on December 30, 2012.  While an official deal and new collective bargaining agreement has not been reached, there was a tentative agreement reached on the most pressing issue - royalty payments the workers receive for each container they process - prompting the parties to extend the deadline to reach a deal from December 30 until February 6, 2013.  

What would a strike mean to us?  About a $1 billion dollar per day hit to the U.S. economy and the potential loss of hundreds if not thousands of jobs at railroad, trucking and warehouse companies that heavily rely on the shipment and storage of the containers that flow into and out of the U.S. through these ports.  Indeed, the 14,500 workers working at these ports process over one half of the containers entering and exiting the United States.  

Keep up the good work Mr. Cohen, and make sure that a deal is reached before February 6.  The last thing our country needs is another economical downturn.  Hmmm, perhaps he needs to be meeting with President Obama and Senator Boehner to get this fiscal cliff issue resolved!