Dockworkers Strike Highlights Growing Concerns Over Automation and AI in the Workplace

The big labor fight over automation is here

Why it matters: This isn't just a port worker thing. Workers across industries fear advancements in AI are coming for their jobs. Where it stands: Last week, the International Longshoremen's Association, the union for East and Gulf Coast dockworkers, ended their strike after hammering out a tentative agreement with their employers for a 61.5% raise over six years. Zoom in: In a letter to members over the weekend, union president Harold Daggett said he wants to preserve union jobs and ensure that the union "plays an essential role in port operations," preventing work from being outsourced to non-union workers or automation. The big picture: In industries without union protections, there's not much workers can do, beyond trying to be adaptable and learn new things, to protect their jobs from technological advancements. Flashback: Unions have been contending with automation taking away jobs for decades, says William Brucher, a professor at Rutgers University's School of Management and Labor Relations. Zoom out: The union knew then, as it surely does now, that it couldn't stop that from happening. But it could make sure the transition was less painful. Between the lines: The union also made sure that as the job of a dockworker changed, it was still a union job. Reality check: Not all unions are bargaining this hard. The deal struck by UPS and its workers last year didn't "adequately address automation," Yossi Sheffi, the director of MIT's Center for Transportation and Logistics, wrote in a column for Harvard Business Review last year.

Fears of workplace automation are fueling the dockworker strike

The massive port workers' strike that has shut down all the major dockyards on the Eastern seaboard of the U.S. and the Gulf coast is highlighting a fear held by many workers: Eventually, we will be replaced by machines. The International Longshoremen's Association, which represents the approximately 45,000 dock workers who walked off the job Tuesday, is testing whether it's possible to fight back. The union is demanding, along with hefty pay raises, a total ban on the automation of gates, cranes and container-moving trucks in its ports. But it's unclear whether they'll be able to stave off a trend that has seeped into virtually every workspace. The growth of automation and technological advances have created tension between workers and management since the Industrial Revolution, when machines first began to manufacture goods that had previously been made by hand. And with the growing use of artificial intelligence, the group of jobs workers perceive as threatened with disruption is ever-widening. "You cannot bet against the march of technology," said Yossi Sheffi, director of the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics. "You cannot ban automation, because it will creep up in other places." It's not the first time that port workers have resisted automation. In 1960, as ports on the West Coast introduced machinery to move cargo once moved by hand, the union representing longshoremen negotiated protections for workers, including assurances that the current workforce would not be laid off, according to the International Longshore & Warehouse Union. Harry Bridges, who led the union at the time, negotiated pay increases and job security arrangements for some of the workers, said Adam Seth Litwin, associate professor of industrial and labor relations at Cornell University. "He saw that this was going to become potentially a real problem if he didn't try to get ahead of it," Litwin said. "Essentially what he was saying was, 'I recognize the reality of what's happening here, and the way to best represent my members is to make sure that they are protected.'" The downside was that as port machinery became more common, the size of the union eroded precipitously over the years. The coal industry went through a similar reckoning as conveyor belts and other machines displaced laborers. Union leader John Lewis negotiated for job security and pay increases for existing workers, but the encroachment of machines led to fewer hires, and over time the workforce and union ranks shrunk. "Amongst coal miners today, he isn't necessarily a big hero, but he knew what he was doing. And I think he also recognized that fighting automation rarely makes a whole lot of economic sense, particularly if you're talking about a market that's at all competitive," Litwin said. Some dockyards outside the U.S are far more automated and efficient, especially ports in Dubai, Singapore and Rotterdam, Sheffi said. Mexico is building a highly automated port that could compete with U.S. ports. "They're going to start running trains from the port to the heartland of the United States. And who is going to lose?" Sheffi asked. "There'll be less work for these people." There are ways unions and employers can protect workers. Some unions have negotiated that employees must receive guaranteed employment protection if companies bring in technologies that could make their jobs obsolete. Others have bargained for employers to provide tuition reimbursement or retraining programs so workers can shift into other roles when machines come in. "The trick is to make it over time, not to do it haphazardly," Sheffi said. In its current contract, the ILA has a provision that requires the union's agreement if the ports add any automation, essentially giving the ILA veto power. But ILA President Harold Daggett has said the union wants a stronger ban. When health care giant Kaiser Permanente switched from paper to digital medical records a decade ago, dozens of unions bargained together to ensure workers wouldn't lose jobs or face wage reductions as a result of the technology deployment. Drivers who moved boxes of medical records to warehouses and librarians who retrieved paper files who were trained and reassigned to roles such as medical librarians or coders, Litwin said. "They ultimately all got pay increases because they ended up being in jobs that ended up being more highly skilled," Litwin said. Workers such as cashiers or file clerks who perform routine tasks and have lower levels of education face the greatest risks of their jobs being automated, according to Dawn Locke, a director at the U.S. Government Accountability Office. But the growth of artificial intelligence is increasingly threatening high-skilled jobs as well. In the months after the launch of ChatGPT, a generative AI tool that can compose essays, write computer code and engage in conversations, job postings for writers, coders and artists plummeted. "Now we see law firms putting AI to use and cutting the number of junior associates," Sheffi said. "But it's a problem. How do you become a senior associate arguing before the Supreme Court if you don't start as a junior associate?" When companies embrace artificial intelligence, it doesn't always result in workers losing jobs. In some cases the productivity gains enabled by automation or AI make workplaces more profitable, enabling them to hire even more workers. But unions aren't taking any chances. In September, video game performers reached an agreement after striking with 80 games that provided protections around exploitative uses of artificial intelligence. Last year, Hollywood screenwriters concerned that scripts would soon be written by artificial intelligence won protections against the use of AI after a five-month strike. "More and more people who thought they were immune from automation are probably looking to groups like the longshoremen and thinking, 'Wait a second, actually, I may not be that far removed from this,'" Litwin said.

Dockworkers Join Other Unions in Trying to Fend off Automation, or Minimize the Impact

NEW YORK (AP) -- The massive port workers' strike that has crippled all the major dockyards on the Eastern seaboard of the U.S. is highlighting a fear held by many workers: Eventually, we will all be replaced by machines. The International Longshoremen's Association, which represents the approximately 45,000 dock workers who walked off the job Tuesday, is testing whether it's possible to fight back. The union is demanding, along with hefty pay raises, a total ban on the automation of grates, cranes and container-moving trucks in its ports. But it's unclear whether they'll be able to stave off a trend that has seeped into virtually every workspace. The growth of automation and technological advances have created tension between workers and management since the Industrial Revolution, when machines first began to manufacture goods that had previously been made by hand. And with the growing use of artificial intelligence, the group of jobs workers perceive as threatened with disruption is ever-widening. "You cannot bet against the march of technology," said Yossi Sheffi, director of the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics. "You cannot ban automation, because it will creep up in other places." History of pushback against automation It's not the first time that port workers have resisted automation. In 1960, as ports on the West Coast introduced machinery to move cargo once moved by hand, the union representing longshoremen negotiated protections for workers, including assurances that the current workforce would not be laid off, according to the International Longshore & Warehouse Union. Harry Bridges, who led the union at the time, negotiated pay increases and job security arrangements for some of the workers, said Adam Seth Litwin, associate professor of industrial and labor relations at Cornell University. "He saw that this was going to become potentially a real problem if he didn't try to get ahead of it," Litwin said. "Essentially what he was saying was, 'I recognize the reality of what's happening here, and the way to best represent my members is to make sure that they are protected.'" The downside was that as port machinery became more common, the size of the union eroded precipitously over the years. The coal industry went through a similar reckoning as conveyor belts and other machines displaced laborers. Union leader John Lewis negotiated for job security and pay increases for existing workers, but the encroachment of machines led to fewer hires, and over time the workforce and union ranks shrunk. "Amongst coal miners today, he isn't necessarily a big hero, but he knew what he was doing. And I think he also recognized that fighting automation rarely makes a whole lot of economic sense, particularly if you're talking about a market that's at all competitive," Litwin said. Some dockyards outside the U.S are far more automated and efficient, especially ports in Dubai, Singapore and Rotterdam, Sheffi said. How to protect workers There are ways unions and employers can protect workers. Some unions have negotiated that employees must receive guaranteed employment protection if companies bring in technologies that could make their jobs obsolete. Others have bargained for employers to provide tuition reimbursement or retraining programs so workers can shift into other roles when machines come in. "The trick is to make it over time, not to do it haphazardly," Sheffi said. When health care giant Kaiser Permanente switched from paper to digital medical records a decade ago, dozens of unions bargained together to ensure workers wouldn't lose jobs or face wage reductions as a result of the technology deployment. Drivers who moved boxes of medical records to warehouses and librarians who retrieved paper files who were trained and reassigned to roles such as medical librarians or coders, Litwin said. "They ultimately all got pay increases because they ended up being in jobs that ended up being more highly skilled," Litwin said. AI is starting to disrupt white collar jobs Workers such as cashiers or file clerks who perform routine tasks and have lower levels of education face the greatest risks of their jobs being automated, according to Dawn Locke, a director at the U.S. Government Accountability Office. But the growth of artificial intelligence is increasingly threatening cognitive jobs. In the months after the launch of ChatGPT, a generative AI tool that can compose essays, write computer code and engage in conversations, job postings for writers, coders and artists plummeted. "Now we see law firms putting AI to use and cutting the number of junior associates," Sheffi said. "But it's a problem. How do you become a senior associate arguing before the Supreme Court if you don't start as a junior associate?" When companies embrace artificial intelligence, it doesn't always result in workers losing jobs. In some cases the productivity gains enabled by automation or AI make workplaces more profitable, enabling them to hire even more workers. But unions aren't taking any chances. In September, video game performers reached an agreement after striking with 80 games that provided protections around exploitative uses of artificial intelligence. Last year, Hollywood screenwriters concerned that scripts would soon be written by artificial intelligence won protections against the use of AI after a five-month strike. "More and more people who thought they were immune from automation are probably looking to groups like the longshoremen and thinking, 'Wait a second, actually, I may not be that far removed from this,'" Litwin said. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Dockworkers join other unions in trying to fend off automation, or minimize the impact

NEW YORK -- The massive port workers' strike that has crippled all the major dockyards on the Eastern seaboard of the U.S. is highlighting a fear held by many workers: Eventually, we will all be replaced by machines. The International Longshoremen's Association, which represents the approximately 45,000 dock workers who walked off the job Tuesday, is testing whether it's possible to fight back. The union is demanding, along with hefty pay raises, a total ban on the automation of grates, cranes and container-moving trucks in its ports. But it's unclear whether they'll be able to stave off a trend that has seeped into virtually every workspace. The growth of automation and technological advances have created tension between workers and management since the Industrial Revolution, when machines first began to manufacture goods that had previously been made by hand. And with the growing use of artificial intelligence, the group of jobs workers perceive as threatened with disruption is ever-widening. "You cannot bet against the march of technology," said Yossi Sheffi, director of the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics. "You cannot ban automation, because it will creep up in other places." It's not the first time that port workers have resisted automation. In 1960, as ports on the West Coast introduced machinery to move cargo once moved by hand, the union representing longshoremen negotiated protections for workers, including assurances that the current workforce would not be laid off, according to the International Longshore & Warehouse Union. Harry Bridges, who led the union at the time, negotiated pay increases and job security arrangements for some of the workers, said Adam Seth Litwin, associate professor of industrial and labor relations at Cornell University. "He saw that this was going to become potentially a real problem if he didn't try to get ahead of it," Litwin said. "Essentially what he was saying was, 'I recognize the reality of what's happening here, and the way to best represent my members is to make sure that they are protected.'" The downside was that as port machinery became more common, the size of the union eroded precipitously over the years. The coal industry went through a similar reckoning as conveyor belts and other machines displaced laborers. Union leader John Lewis negotiated for job security and pay increases for existing workers, but the encroachment of machines led to fewer hires, and over time the workforce and union ranks shrunk. "Amongst coal miners today, he isn't necessarily a big hero, but he knew what he was doing. And I think he also recognized that fighting automation rarely makes a whole lot of economic sense, particularly if you're talking about a market that's at all competitive," Litwin said. Some dockyards outside the U.S are far more automated and efficient, especially ports in Dubai, Singapore and Rotterdam, Sheffi said. There are ways unions and employers can protect workers. Some unions have negotiated that employees must receive guaranteed employment protection if companies bring in technologies that could make their jobs obsolete. Others have bargained for employers to provide tuition reimbursement or retraining programs so workers can shift into other roles when machines come in. "The trick is to make it over time, not to do it haphazardly," Sheffi said. When health care giant Kaiser Permanente switched from paper to digital medical records a decade ago, dozens of unions bargained together to ensure workers wouldn't lose jobs or face wage reductions as a result of the technology deployment. Drivers who moved boxes of medical records to warehouses and librarians who retrieved paper files who were trained and reassigned to roles such as medical librarians or coders, Litwin said. "They ultimately all got pay increases because they ended up being in jobs that ended up being more highly skilled," Litwin said. Workers such as cashiers or file clerks who perform routine tasks and have lower levels of education face the greatest risks of their jobs being automated, according to Dawn Locke, a director at the U.S. Government Accountability Office. But the growth of artificial intelligence is increasingly threatening cognitive jobs. In the months after the launch of ChatGPT, a generative AI tool that can compose essays, write computer code and engage in conversations, job postings for writers, coders and artists plummeted. "Now we see law firms putting AI to use and cutting the number of junior associates," Sheffi said. "But it's a problem. How do you become a senior associate arguing before the Supreme Court if you don't start as a junior associate?" When companies embrace artificial intelligence, it doesn't always result in workers losing jobs. In some cases the productivity gains enabled by automation or AI make workplaces more profitable, enabling them to hire even more workers. But unions aren't taking any chances. In September, video game performers reached an agreement after striking with 80 games that provided protections around exploitative uses of artificial intelligence. Last year, Hollywood screenwriters concerned that scripts would soon be written by artificial intelligence won protections against the use of AI after a five-month strike. "More and more people who thought they were immune from automation are probably looking to groups like the longshoremen and thinking, 'Wait a second, actually, I may not be that far removed from this,'" Litwin said.

Dockworkers join other unions in trying to fend off automation, or minimize the impact

NEW YORK (AP) -- The massive port workers' strike that has crippled all the major dockyards on the Eastern seaboard of the U.S. is highlighting a fear held by many workers: Eventually, we will all be replaced by machines. The International Longshoremen's Association, which represents the approximately 45,000 dock workers who walked off the job Tuesday, is testing whether it's possible to fight back. The union is demanding, along with hefty pay raises, a total ban on the automation of grates, cranes and container-moving trucks in its ports. But it's unclear whether they'll be able to stave off a trend that has seeped into virtually every workspace. The growth of automation and technological advances have created tension between workers and management since the Industrial Revolution, when machines first began to manufacture goods that had previously been made by hand. And with the growing use of artificial intelligence, the group of jobs workers perceive as threatened with disruption is ever-widening. "You cannot bet against the march of technology," said Yossi Sheffi, director of the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics. "You cannot ban automation, because it will creep up in other places." It's not the first time that port workers have resisted automation. In 1960, as ports on the West Coast introduced machinery to move cargo once moved by hand, the union representing longshoremen negotiated protections for workers, including assurances that the current workforce would not be laid off, according to the International Longshore & Warehouse Union. Harry Bridges, who led the union at the time, negotiated pay increases and job security arrangements for some of the workers, said Adam Seth Litwin, associate professor of industrial and labor relations at Cornell University. "He saw that this was going to become potentially a real problem if he didn't try to get ahead of it," Litwin said. "Essentially what he was saying was, 'I recognize the reality of what's happening here, and the way to best represent my members is to make sure that they are protected.'" The downside was that as port machinery became more common, the size of the union eroded precipitously over the years. The coal industry went through a similar reckoning as conveyor belts and other machines displaced laborers. Union leader John Lewis negotiated for job security and pay increases for existing workers, but the encroachment of machines led to fewer hires, and over time the workforce and union ranks shrunk. "Amongst coal miners today, he isn't necessarily a big hero, but he knew what he was doing. And I think he also recognized that fighting automation rarely makes a whole lot of economic sense, particularly if you're talking about a market that's at all competitive," Litwin said. Some dockyards outside the U.S are far more automated and efficient, especially ports in Dubai, Singapore and Rotterdam, Sheffi said. There are ways unions and employers can protect workers. Some unions have negotiated that employees must receive guaranteed employment protection if companies bring in technologies that could make their jobs obsolete. Others have bargained for employers to provide tuition reimbursement or retraining programs so workers can shift into other roles when machines come in. "The trick is to make it over time, not to do it haphazardly," Sheffi said. When health care giant Kaiser Permanente switched from paper to digital medical records a decade ago, dozens of unions bargained together to ensure workers wouldn't lose jobs or face wage reductions as a result of the technology deployment. Drivers who moved boxes of medical records to warehouses and librarians who retrieved paper files who were trained and reassigned to roles such as medical librarians or coders, Litwin said. "They ultimately all got pay increases because they ended up being in jobs that ended up being more highly skilled," Litwin said. Workers such as cashiers or file clerks who perform routine tasks and have lower levels of education face the greatest risks of their jobs being automated, according to Dawn Locke, a director at the U.S. Government Accountability Office. But the growth of artificial intelligence is increasingly threatening cognitive jobs. In the months after the launch of ChatGPT, a generative AI tool that can compose essays, write computer code and engage in conversations, job postings for writers, coders and artists plummeted. "Now we see law firms putting AI to use and cutting the number of junior associates," Sheffi said. "But it's a problem. How do you become a senior associate arguing before the Supreme Court if you don't start as a junior associate?" When companies embrace artificial intelligence, it doesn't always result in workers losing jobs. In some cases the productivity gains enabled by automation or AI make workplaces more profitable, enabling them to hire even more workers. But unions aren't taking any chances. In September, video game performers reached an agreement after striking with 80 games that provided protections around exploitative uses of artificial intelligence. Last year, Hollywood screenwriters concerned that scripts would soon be written by artificial intelligence won protections against the use of AI after a five-month strike. "More and more people who thought they were immune from automation are probably looking to groups like the longshoreman and thinking, 'Wait a second, actually, I may not be that far removed from this,'" Litwin said.

Dockworkers join other unions in trying to fend off automation, or minimize impact

The massive port workers' strike that has shut down all the major dockyards on the Eastern seaboard of the U.S. and the Gulf coast is highlighting a fear held by many workers: Eventually, we will be replaced by machines. The International Longshoremen's Association, which represents the approximately 45,000 dock workers who walked off the job Tuesday, is testing whether it's possible to fight back. The union is demanding, along with hefty pay raises, a total ban on the automation of gates, cranes and container-moving trucks in its ports. But it's unclear whether they'll be able to stave off a trend that has seeped into virtually every workspace. The growth of automation and technological advances have created tension between workers and management since the Industrial Revolution, when machines first began to manufacture goods that had previously been made by hand. And with the growing use of artificial intelligence, the group of jobs workers perceive as threatened with disruption is ever-widening. "You cannot bet against the march of technology," said Yossi Sheffi, director of the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics. "You cannot ban automation, because it will creep up in other places." History of pushback against automation It's not the first time that port workers have resisted automation. In 1960, as ports on the West Coast introduced machinery to move cargo once moved by hand, the union representing longshoremen negotiated protections for workers, including assurances that the current workforce would not be laid off, according to the International Longshore & Warehouse Union. Harry Bridges, who led the union at the time, negotiated pay increases and job security arrangements for some of the workers, said Adam Seth Litwin, associate professor of industrial and labor relations at Cornell University. "He saw that this was going to become potentially a real problem if he didn't try to get ahead of it," Litwin said. "Essentially what he was saying was, 'I recognize the reality of what's happening here, and the way to best represent my members is to make sure that they are protected.'" The downside was that as port machinery became more common, the size of the union eroded precipitously over the years. The coal industry went through a similar reckoning as conveyor belts and other machines displaced laborers. Union leader John Lewis negotiated for job security and pay increases for existing workers, but the encroachment of machines led to fewer hires, and over time the workforce and union ranks shrunk. "Amongst coal miners today, he isn't necessarily a big hero, but he knew what he was doing. And I think he also recognized that fighting automation rarely makes a whole lot of economic sense, particularly if you're talking about a market that's at all competitive," Litwin said. Some dockyards outside the U.S are far more automated and efficient, especially ports in Dubai, Singapore and Rotterdam, Sheffi said. Mexico is building a highly automated port that could compete with U.S. ports. "They're going to start running trains from the port to the heartland of the United States. And who is going to lose?" Sheffi asked. "There'll be less work for these people." How to protect workers There are ways unions and employers can protect workers. Some unions have negotiated that employees must receive guaranteed employment protection if companies bring in technologies that could make their jobs obsolete. Others have bargained for employers to provide tuition reimbursement or retraining programs so workers can shift into other roles when machines come in. "The trick is to make it over time, not to do it haphazardly," Sheffi said. In its current contract, the ILA has a provision that requires the union's agreement if the ports add any automation, essentially giving the ILA veto power. But ILA President Harold Daggett has said the union wants a stronger ban. When health care giant Kaiser Permanente switched from paper to digital medical records a decade ago, dozens of unions bargained together to ensure workers wouldn't lose jobs or face wage reductions as a result of the technology deployment. Drivers who moved boxes of medical records to warehouses and librarians who retrieved paper files who were trained and reassigned to roles such as medical librarians or coders, Litwin said. "They ultimately all got pay increases because they ended up being in jobs that ended up being more highly skilled," Litwin said. AI is starting to disrupt white collar jobs Workers such as cashiers or file clerks who perform routine tasks and have lower levels of education face the greatest risks of their jobs being automated, according to Dawn Locke, a director at the U.S. Government Accountability Office. But the growth of artificial intelligence is increasingly threatening high-skilled jobs as well. In the months after the launch of ChatGPT, a generative AI tool that can compose essays, write computer code and engage in conversations, job postings for writers, coders and artists plummeted. "Now we see law firms putting AI to use and cutting the number of junior associates," Sheffi said. "But it's a problem. How do you become a senior associate arguing before the Supreme Court if you don't start as a junior associate?" When companies embrace artificial intelligence, it doesn't always result in workers losing jobs. In some cases the productivity gains enabled by automation or AI make workplaces more profitable, enabling them to hire even more workers. But unions aren't taking any chances. In September, video game performers reached an agreement after striking with 80 games that provided protections around exploitative uses of artificial intelligence. Last year, Hollywood screenwriters concerned that scripts would soon be written by artificial intelligence won protections against the use of AI after a five-month strike. "More and more people who thought they were immune from automation are probably looking to groups like the longshoremen and thinking, 'Wait a second, actually, I may not be that far removed from this,'" Litwin said.

Dockworkers strike ends for now, but the fight over automating jobs continues

Dockworkers across the East Coast and Gulf ports went on strike this week, picketing against the threat that automated technologies such as driverless trucks pose to their livelihood. After a three-day walkout, the International Longshoremen's Association and U.S. Maritime Alliance reached a tentative agreement on wages Thursday and extended their existing labor contract until Jan. 15. But the use of automation remains a sticking point as the parties return to the bargaining table to hash out the full contract. The union's pushback against automation adds to recent buzz around whether artificial intelligence will displace human labor. Generative AI has been a wake-up call for office workers, who are, for the first time, facing the possibility of technology writing software code and emails in their place. But the fight against automation predates AI and has been a longstanding battle for industrial workers, who have been sounding the alarm about the risk machines pose to job security for generations. While the technology typically wins out, it's not without a fight. In terms of the dockworker contract, the question is less about whether ports will become automated -- they already are to some extent with mixed results -- and more about what the cost will be to workers. The history of clashes over corporate cost-cutting that replaces human labor can be a guide. In the early 1900s, thousands of elevator operators went on strike to protest the impact of easy-to-use elevator buttons that would allow passengers to operate elevators themselves. Meanwhile, some members of the public feared riding by themselves in the newfangled contraptions and demanded operators. The new tech faced roughly 50 years of resistance, including a landmark 1945 strike that shut down New York City, before elevators as we know them became commonplace. Automated elevators have in recent years drawn comparison to the advent of driverless cars. Taxi, Uber, and truck drivers now fear for their jobs and some members of the public worry whether autonomous vehicles are safe without humans at the controls. Worried about the pace of automation, labor unions have fought and won more transparency from management about new tools in the workplace. As new technologies are introduced, unions have historically ensured new jobs for workers who lose them, severance, or retraining, said Lisa Kresge, a researcher at the University of California Berkeley's Labor Center. "It's not anti-technology per se, it's really about how the tech is being deployed and who is paying the cost," she said of union demands. In 1959, nearly 500,000 members of the United Steelworkers of America went on strike as the steel companies sought to remove a contract clause that required management to be more transparent about the impact of new machinery that would cut or reduce worker hours. After months on the picket line, workers won an increase in wages and got to keep the clause in their contracts. "The real crux of a lot of these issues, and with automation generally across different industries, is about worker control of production," explains labor historian Salem Elzway. He noted that workers aren't Luddites who are opposed to new technology. Most people, he said, see how automation to some extent can be helpful for their jobs. But most would also like at least some say in how and when the nature of their work will change. Dockworkers on the West Coast yielded some of that control over automation more than 50 years ago, Elzway explained. In 1960, under the leadership of Harry Bridges, the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union reached an agreement on automation with the Pacific Maritime Association. Employers would be able to introduce machines that would reduce the workforce as they wished, as long as the ports agreed to retirement and other benefits for dockworkers. That agreement meant management could bring in new technologies without warning or input from the West Coast dockworkers who would use it or be replaced by it. In recent years, the union representing West Coast dockworkers has scored big wins on pay, but California ports have also been the first to introduce automated guided vehicles that handle and move cargo without humans in the driver's seat, eliminating hundreds of jobs. This week's East and Gulf Coast dockworker strike was the first in decades in those regions, but the union isn't new to bargaining over technology. The ILA's most recent contract, which was briefly extended under the tentative agreement announced Thursday, included a clause on semi-automated tech: "There shall be no implementation of semi-automated equipment or technology/automation until both parties agree to workforce protections and staffing levels." Along with the wage increases, the dockworkers across dozens of ports from Maine to Texas were seeking protection from technologies like driverless trucks, automated cranes, and gate checkpoints that monitor the flow of people and trucks at the port, which could threaten their job security. In recent years, U.S. port operators have increasingly eyed "smart port" technologies that have already gained traction in China and European countries. The ILA took a hard line against that trend, stating that its workers are "steadfastly against" any full or semi-automation that would hurt existing jobs. "We will not accept the loss of work and livelihood for our members due to automation. Our position is clear: the preservation of jobs and historical work functions is non-negotiable," the ILA continued. The union's president, Harold Daggett, while on the picket line Tuesday, called for "absolute airtight language that there will be no automation or semi-automation." The International Longshoremen's Association's fight against automation comes as the AI boom escalates concern from truck drivers to Hollywood stars to media workers about whether robots will soon be doing much of their work. Hollywood actor and writer strikes last year were at the forefront of rising debates about the use of AI in the office. Those strikes eventually led to contracts that set terms around the use of generative AI in the entertainment industry, from AI-generated storylines to deepfaked dialogue. In that case, too, the final agreement wasn't over whether their work could ever be manipulated by AI -- special effects have existed in movies for a long time, after all -- but whether the creator has an informed say in it.

Port workers' next demand: Stop robots from taking our jobs

Thursday's temporary wage deal means the focus of talks will shift to automation concerns. When Harold Daggett looks at the self-checkout scanner in the grocery store or the E-ZPass automatic toll lane on the highway, he does not see a modern convenience. He sees a job killer. Daggett, the combative president of the International Longshoremen's Association, is determined to prevent what happened to cashiers and toll booth attendants from happening to his 47,000 dockworkers. Fresh from a big win in a three-day port strike, which ended with his members getting a 62 percent raise over six years, the union chief will now turn his focus to a tougher foe: The march of progress. Ports along the East and Gulf coasts reopened on Friday, after the ILA and an employers group announced the wage deal Thursday night. But the pay fight was just half of the battle. The two sides agreed to extend their previous contract, which expired Sept. 30, through Jan. 15 to allow talks to continue on the remaining issues. None looms larger than automation. U.S. ports already lag those in Europe and Asia in their use of technology. And Daggett wants to keep it that way, by prohibiting the operators of marine terminals from automating cargo handling. "If it was up to them, they'd like to see everybody lose their jobs. ... They don't want to pay anybody," he said in a recent union video. "Someone has to get into Congress and say, 'Whoa, time out.' This world is going too fast for us. Machines got to stop. ... What good is it if you're going to put people out of work." The dockworkers' challenge is not unique. Technology has been eliminating some jobs and creating others for more than two centuries. In recent decades, elevator operators, secretaries, and steelworkers all have seen demand for their services upended by mechanization. Today, the rise of artificial intelligence has sparked fresh worries about ever more capable machines pushing humans aside. Historically, the introduction of new technology -- though disruptive -- has made workers far more productive and has made the United States wealthier than other advanced nations. American workers today produce twice as much in one hour as they did in 1987, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Even as technological development has accelerated, there is no sign that more capable machines are causing permanent mass joblessness. Over the past quarter century, which included the pandemic recession, the average unemployment rate was lower than in the prior 25 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The U.S. economy has added almost 30 million new jobs over the past 25 years. This week, Daggett demanded "absolute airtight language that there will be no automation or semiautomation" introduced during the six years covered by the union's next contract with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents terminal operators and ocean carriers. The employer group offered to extend provisions in the current ILA contract, which prohibited "fully automated" equipment and gave the union an effective veto over the deployment of partially-automated systems. "There shall be no implementation of semi-automated equipment or technology/automation until both parties agree to workforce protections and staffing levels," the contract said. At least two ports under ILA jurisdiction use some automated systems. In 2015, a global container terminal in Bayonne, N.J., became the first existing facility in the Western Hemisphere to field semi-automated systems. The Port of Virginia in Norfolk, which boasts semiautonomous terminal operations, bills itself as "the most modern gateway in America." Despite the introduction of some new technologies, the hours worked by ILA members have been growing faster than cargo volumes. Since 2019, man-hours are up 13.4 percent while tonnage has grown 5.1 percent, according to the USMX 2023 annual report. It is not clear how the union's existing ability to block what it regards as job-killing technologies can be enhanced. Daggett has not specified publicly the contract language he is seeking. An ILA spokesman did not respond to two requests for comment. Daggett's objections to automation appear genuine. In the video interview filmed a few weeks ago, he complained about the loss of union toll booth jobs and cashier positions at grocery stores and called the proliferation of cameras on the docks "Big Brother." He reluctantly conceded that "computers" may have been a positive influence on port operations. And he has publicly vowed to take his anti-automation crusade global. Daggett's campaign drew support Thursday from Sen. Bernie Sanders, (D-Vt.), who posted on X: "Billionaires in the shipping industry must not be allowed to get even richer by replacing port workers with robots." But some analysts said the ILA may only be able to delay the inevitable. "The argument to stop automation now is slamming the barn door decades after the horse has gotten out. This is not going to work long term. The economic incentives behind it are too strong," said Harley Shaiken, a professor emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley, who specializes in labor issues. The longshoremen have long resisted innovations that could displace them. When the standardized shipping container in the 1960s replaced the traditional jumble of boxes and burlap sacks that had filled cargo holds, dockworker unions on the East and West Coasts adopted different strategies, according to Marc Levinson, author of "The Box," a history of the container trade. On the East Coast, the ILA negotiated a guaranteed annual income that provided payments to those who could not find sufficient work on the docks. The final payments under the arrangement were made in 2005, Levinson said. The ILA's West Coast counterpart instead negotiated a lump-sum payment in return for accepting containerization. Steady growth in trade kept the feared job losses from occurring. "In the past, the longshore unions have agreed to various types of automation, but there's always been some kind of price attached in terms of protecting the jobs and protecting the union's jurisdiction," he said. "And I assume that there is some price at which this dispute will be resolved." Globally, ports in recent years have introduced an array of new technologies, from automated truck gates to autonomous dock cranes that stack shipping containers and shuttle cars that move them from the quay side to the yard. The most ambitious projects require billion-dollar-plus capital investments and do not always pay off, according to a 2021 report by the International Transport Forum in Paris. Port operators are often overly optimistic about labor cost savings, failing to recognize the need for new personnel, not all of whom may be union members, to maintain and operate the costly new equipment. "Container terminal automation appears to offer benefits only under certain conditions and thus for a limited group of terminals," the study concluded. Automation makes the most sense for high-volume ports with predictable, steady cargo flows, many of which are found in other countries. In China, for example, Shanghai processed nearly 50 million containers last year, roughly six times what the Port of Los Angeles, the nation's busiest, handled. A relative lack of state-of-the-art systems helps explain why U.S. ports score so poorly on the World Bank's annual ranking of trade gateways. The port of Charleston, the top-ranked U.S. facility, ranked 53rd on the 2023 list. "Port automation is not the magic bullet that a lot of people seem to think it is. Yes, U.S. ports are comparatively inefficient when you're looking at container lifts per hour. But there are a lot of ports around the world that have invested too heavily in automation and have found that it's not very profitable," Levinson said. Fully automated ports do not yet exist. The constant, unpredictable motion of a vessel tied up at the dock requires the skills of a trained dockworker to operate the massive ship-to-shore cranes that pluck containers from the ocean carriers. The first partially automated container terminal debuted in 1993 at the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Today, there are 53 automated terminals worldwide, accounting for just 4 percent of total global capacity, according to a 2021 report by the International Transport Forum. In the United States, many ports have introduced partial automation. One industry standout is the Long Beach Container Terminal in Southern California. It handles 3.5 million standard containers annually and is the fastest facility at the Port of Long Beach, getting trucks in and out in under an hour. But another large terminal at the port, which is not automated, is often just as productive at handling containers, according to Mario Cordero, the port's chief executive. On the picket line outside Red Hook Terminal at the Port of Newark, strikers this week agreed that automation is their chief concern. Lydia Ortiz, 60, said she notices each day the work that is performed by machines. No humans sitting in the toll booths, thanks to E-ZPass. Scarcely a worker to be seen at the grocery store checkout lines, filled with self-checkout machines. "They want everything automation," she said. "We've got to support families, no?" Ortiz is approaching retirement after 25 years at the port and anticipating time with her granddaughter, who is expected later this year. But she worries about the newcomers, many of them veterans and former police officers. "We worked in the pandemic. We work in the middle of the night. We work in the rain, we work in the heat, 24/7, 365 days in the year," she said. "And now they want automation? How many jobs will they lose?" Standing nearby, a burly man clad in a neon yellow safety vest, who declined to provide his name, saying that union leaders had instructed the rank-and-file not to speak to reporters, agreed. "I don't want to be replaced by a machine! I don't want to fight progress, but," he said, leaving the thought unfinished. He shook his head and leaned into the street, displaying a sign that read: "Workers Over Machines."

What do dockworkers do, and which parts of the job are automated?

The three-day dockworker strike that crippled East and Gulf Coast ports put a spotlight on one of America's most important jobs: loading and unloading the billions of products -- from food to cars -- that keep the U.S. economy humming. Although the work stoppage has ended for now, the labor dispute reflects how robots, artificial intelligence and other potent technologies are changing the nature of operations in the nation's supply chains and in other industries. "We're really at a moment here where we're taking about the future of work and what that looks like in America and around the world," John Samuel, managing director with consulting firm AlixPartners, told CBS News. "And so, how do we combine the natural evolutions of technology with the right to human decency and human work?" The tentative agreement announced on Friday between the International Longshoremen's Association -- which led last week's strike -- and the United States Maritime Alliance, bridges the divide on wages, giving dockworkers an immediate $4 per hour raise and a $24 per hour pay hike over a six-year labor contract. Yet the pact doesn't resolve worker concerns over automation. Read on to learn about what dockworkers do and how new technologies are changing the job. In recent decades, longshore work has been transformed by technology, a key sticking point in the labor dispute that pitted unionized workers against shipping companies and port operators. Dockworkers handle freight by loading and unloading cargo ships that come to port. Up until the late 1950s, that meant carrying boxes, bails and bundles of goods by hand from incoming ships into storage, before loading them onto trains for transport to their final destination. Today, cargo is stored in large, standardized containers -- designed to be transported by ship, rail or truck -- that dockworkers handle with cranes and other equipment. "It's all about operating the lifting equipment that's required to move the containers around. A lot of it is transferring containers from ship to shore, and vice versa," Kent Gourdin, professor and director of the global logistics and transportation program at College of Charleston, told CBS MoneyWatch. "They handle containers on the terminals where ships dock, and keep track of what container needs to go where." These days, the job largely involves operating machinery, as well as tracking cargo and keeping records. For example, dockworkers coordinate with trucking companies that come to port to retrieve containers and transport them to their next stop. Dockworkers are also responsible for securing cargo on ships. Containers are stacked on top of one another, and it's dockworkers' job to make sure the containers are latched together. Although operating heavy machinery is less physically arduous than toting boxes, nearly all dockworkers "are out in the weather to some degree and working in an environment where they are surrounded by heavy equipment," Gourdin said. "Whereas back in the day it was labor-intensive, today it's mainly about operating machinery," Henry Sims Jr., a fourth-generation longshoreman and president of the ILA local 3,000 in New Orleans, told CBS MoneyWatch. "Now, you have to be skilled. You can't hire someone off the street, because they wouldn't be able to do it without killing somebody, or themselves." The 10 largest U.S. ports all use some kind of automation technology to move cargo, according to a March GAO report. These include automated gates, which let trucks and containers move through cargo terminals with limited worker interaction; so-called port community systems, which are digital platforms that automatically streamline logistics and supply-chain data; and technologies used in "internet-of-things" systems, such as RFID, GPS and cameras, to operate equipment and track containers. Semi-automated terminals employ people to operate machinery that moves containers from the cargo berth -- the area where a ship is moored -- to the yard. Equipment used to stack containers on top of one another is fully automated. But only three domestic ports, Long Beach Container Terminal in Long Beach, California; and TraPac and APM Terminal Pier 400 in Los Angeles are fully automated. At fully automated ports, both horizontal and vertical container movement is handled by machines. Other technologies put to use at automated ports include AI-powered sensors, digital twins -- or identical, digital replicas of ports -- and blockchain to automate recording transactions and track container locations. Automated cargo-handling equipment eliminates the need for humans on site to operate a crane, for example, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report on port automation. "Ports in other parts of the world are much more advanced than in the U.S., partly because the unions have been blocking the adoption of technology and automation," global supply chain management expert Chris Tang told CBS MoneyWatch. "If you go to modern ports in China, you hardly see any humans," he said. "They use automated cranes, and when a ship comes in a crane picks up the containers to stack them." Despite the shift toward automation, Sims Jr. said human workers remain essential to the industry. "We move things more efficiently and productively than automation does. The machines are slower, and when they break down, they can't go back to work until we get someone out there to look at it and fix it." Gourdin, the professor, backed up that claim. "Machines, I think, can do the job as well, but people are faster. I've been to automated terminals and it's just slower," he said, while acknowledging that more fully automated ports in the U.S. may be inevitable. Given the close coordination that is required between ships, trucking companies and their customers, artificial intelligence and data analytics can play a big role in getting a container from point A to point B, logistics experts say. "Dockworkers communicate with trucking companies to find cranes to use to retrieve their containers when they're arriving," Tang explained. "But sometimes a trucker will show up and they'll need a container that's at the bottom of the pile. This is a problem." That's where artificial intelligence and data analytics come in. These technologies help dockworkers track when a given container will arrive and coordinate with trucking companies for pick-up, affecting how containers are stacked. "It's an extremely difficult problem to solve -- to synchronize when the container and truck are coming in. This is where automation comes into play," Tang said. Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, said automation is well suited to the port system given how routine the nature of the work is. "Ship comes in, they have all these containers loaded up, you take off the container and move it somewhere. Then you put it on an intermodal train or truck," he said. "It's the same thing over and over again. That's something that technology can do really well because there is little variation." Atkinson favors cutting the amount of human labor in U.S. ports by 50% over the next 10 years, while he notes that remaining workers who survive would see their wages rise and consumers would save on shipping costs. Of course, that's just the kind of major workforce reduction the dockworkers' union is intent on preventing. "If you automate a port, that means you buy something form a furniture store online and it costs less," he said. That leads to savings for middle-class Americans."

The dockworkers' strike is suspended, but automation remains a sticking point for unions

Subscribe to the Compass Newsletter.Fast Company's trending stories delivered to you daily The ILA is "taking a hard stand on the never ending threat of automation that is infiltrating our industry, and I have heard the remarks from those that say we need to learn how to deal with it!" wrote Pennington. "Well I have a message for those people 'kiss my fat A$$'!" Pennington and the ILA aren't the first to see automation as an existential threat. From autoworkers to screenwriters, there is a decades-long history of workers fighting to limit automation. But now, as advancements in technologies like generative AI, machine learning, and robotics accelerate, experts say we are witnessing a make-or-break moment for workers. Many see AI as the defining labor issue of our time. Douglas Calidas, senior vice president of government affairs for the nonprofit Americans for Responsible Innovation, says we are currently at "an inflection point."