Dockers and longshoremen from the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) highlight anxieties being felt across industries: Will their jobs be replaced by robots?
The ILA's three-day strike and ongoing negotiations have put the fight against automation technology back in the spotlight, but it remains unclear whether the union can repel the technology that appears to be encroaching on several employment sectors. It's opaque.
The union on Thursday called off its strike, which began Tuesday, until Jan. 15 to give time for contract negotiations with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), the trade group that operates the Eastern and Gulf ports. A tentative agreement was reached.
Thousands of workers at 14 major ports walked off the job Tuesday, demanding better wages and a ban on automation of gates, cranes and container-moving trucks at the union's major eastern and Gulf Coast ports. . A total of 36 ports were affected by the strike.
Negotiations are currently focused on port automation, but USMX has agreed to increase wages for port workers, ILA said.
Automation is loosely defined as the use of technology to perform tasks with reduced human involvement. At the port, This might look like this Replace manually operated diesel cranes with electric, remotely operated cranes.
ILA old contract This included a clause requiring the union's permission if ports were to add automation, but the union wanted “strict language that there would be no automation or semi-automation”, said ILA's Harold Daggett. the chairman said. said.
Unions argue that advances in technology could threaten the existence and value of union work, a concern that has been raised to varying degrees since the industrial revolution first introduced machines to manufacturing sites. It continues to be strong.
“ILA is firmly opposed to any form of full or semi-automation that replaces jobs or traditional business functions. We will not accept the loss of our members’ jobs and livelihoods to automation,” the union said. said. I wrote it on Wednesday.
USMX this week proposed an increase in compensation to ILA, but said it wanted to maintain the current contract language regarding automation.
As of March last year, all 10 of the largest container ports in the U.S. were using some degree of automation technology to process and handle some cargo. in the report From the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
In these cases, automation can be used to load, unload, and move heavy containers, or technology can be used to optimize and track container movement.
For some port stakeholders, automation Improve worker safety, solve supply chain problems, and increase efficiency.
On the other hand, some labor experts and unions believe that workers have good reason to worry that their jobs will be changed or eliminated by these technological advances.
Robert Bruno, a professor of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said workers are likely worried that automation “could make their jobs redundant; “It could have a dramatic impact on their views,” he said. their ownership of this work and the integrity of that work; ”
Bruno likened the increase in automation to the “Fourth Industrial Revolution.” There is still a time difference The importance between technology availability and workplace adoption.
In the larger context, only 63 of the estimated 1,300 container terminals around the world will be highly automated by 2022. The Washington Post reported.
As a result, the adoption of automation at U.S. ports remains significantly behind other countries, economists say.
The delay in introducing automation does not seem to have alleviated the concerns of labor unions.
ILA member Jack Pennington warned that the technology push could soon spill over into other workplaces across the country. Monday's blog post.
“For those same naive people who think this, I have news for you.” [automation is] “This is a good thing,” he said, adding, “This is a trend and reality that is happening in every corner and every corner of our country today!”
Last year there was strong opposition to automation from other major unions. The Writers Guild of America, which represents writers for film, television, and radio, went on strike for several months last yearin part, calls for better protections for the free use of artificial intelligence in industry.
Around the same time last year, the United Auto Workers (UAW) went on strike over wages and benefits; How automation can help Job losses and factory closures in the automation industry.
longshoremans The last strike was in 1977During this time, trade unions similarly demanded higher wages and assured that no jobs would be lost due to the then-new technology.
Concerns about technology have been pervasive among trade unionists for generations, but Bruno predicted this was just the beginning of a broader fight by trade unions over technology.
“This epidemic is going to continue to spread, and when it does, at least in a unionized environment, it's going to be the workers, and the unions are going to put forward some kind of proposal around that topic, around that issue. There's no question about it, because it could threaten the survival of workers. It's your job,” he told The Hill.
Erik Brynjolfsson, director of the Digital Economy Institute at Stanford University, stressed that U.S. ports are “significantly less automated,” and that this increase could benefit workers, consumers and customers all at once. He claimed that there was.
“Automation creates value. It makes the pie bigger, and in theory there should be room for a win-win there,” he told The Hill. “Mathematically, it's possible if the pie gets bigger, which means more surplus.”
“I think it's very short-sighted for longshoremen and other workers to oppose automation and, if possible, find a way to share in the benefits instead,” he continued. “I hope there is an opportunity to create agreements where we have more automation, not less, and where some of the benefits are shared with dockworkers and others.”
He argued that it is not widely understood that “when things become more productive, it doesn't necessarily mean less work; it often means more work.”
Brynjolfsson said historic efforts dating back to the Industrial Revolution to stop automation have often failed.
“With a few exceptions for longshoremen, American workers generally have access to the latest technology and are among the most productive in the world,” he said. “It means learning new skills, and while some jobs will be in higher demand, others will be in lower demand, but this dynamism, combined with technology, is key to raising living standards for workers and consumers. ”
Margaret Kidd, program director and associate professor of supply chain logistics at the University of Houston, called the automation issue “the big elephant in the room.”
“What most Americans don't realize is that there is no American exceptionalism in our port system. Our infrastructure is outdated. Our use of automation and technology is outdated,” Kidd said. He made a comparison with European ports that accept large numbers of people.
“ILA needs to look to the long term. There is no industry that hasn't been transformed by technology, whether it's journalism, academia or manufacturing,” she added.
The Hill's Taylor Giorno contributed.
