Reported by AJ Hess for Fast Company
From Maine to Texas, 45,000 dockworkers went on strike Tuesday after the International Longshoremen’s Association’s (ILA) contract with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) expired. The two sides had reached a stalemate over pay, but also the union wanted a guarantee that technology would not be used to replace them.
On Thursday, the parties reached an agreement to suspend the strike, increase wages 62% over six years, and to extend the existing contract until Jan. 15, 2025. However, they did not come to a final agreement on automation.
Now the ILA and the USMX will return to the bargaining table to negotiate dockworkers’ demands for a ban on all automation at the ports.
In a Facebook post prior to the tentative deal, Jack Pennington, president of the ILA’s local 28 chapter, emphasized how important this guarantee is for dockworkers. 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.”
“Right now, we’re in a period of such rapid technological change, particularly with regard to AI and, to some extent, robotics,” says Calidas. “It seems that more jobs are at risk of automation than at any time in recent history. And it seems like the scope of the risk is only going to accelerate.”
Organizing against automation
At the beginning of negotiations in May, the ILA demanded a 77% pay raise for its members over the six years of their new contract—as well as a ban on the use of automation in the use of cranes, gates, and moving shipping containers. The USMX issued a counteroffer promising a 50% pay raise over six years, but only agreed to keep the existing limits on automation that the old contract covered.
In June, the ILA discovered that two of the biggest companies in the industry, APM Terminals and Maersk Line, had been using an “Auto Gate” system, which autonomously processes trucks without ILA labor. Organizers argued that this technology breached previous agreements about the use of automation.
Many ports have adopted new data-driven tools over the past several decades. For instance, some workers now use hardware and software tools to autonomously coordinate the arrival of trucks with shipping containers. However, ILA has drawn a clear line in the sand around technology that replaces, rather than augments, workers.
“The ILA is steadfastly against any form of automation—full or semi—that replaces jobs or historical work functions. We will not accept the loss of work and livelihood for our members due to automation,” reads the ILA’s message on Oct. 1. “Our position is clear: the preservation of jobs and historical work functions is non-negotiable.”
Automation and safety
The U.S. Government Accountability Office recently analyzed the adoption of automotive technologies in the country’s biggest ports and found that automation can improve worker safety by “separating humans from machines.” However, the GAO report also found that automation had “mixed effects on the workforce, security, and performance.”
“I guess the argument is there are fewer people to be hurt,” says Greg Regan, president of the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department.