Robots have replaced many workers in supply chains positions, and this was one of the issues for which the International Longshoremen's Association went on strike. In fact, ILA president Harold Daggett demanded “absolute airtight language that there will be no automation or semiautomation” in the contract they want to get with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMA) (Lynch & Weil, 2024). It is interesting that Daggett did not call for retraining of dockworkers, and he is doing nothing ameliorate the effects of automation on dock workers. Any good leader would do all he can for his men, and there are things that he can be doing: retraining, transferring his men to areas less likely to be automated, etc. Otherwise, Daggett's men will soon be nothing more than obsolete equipment.
They did go on strike, and one of the strikers' signs read "robots don't pay taxes." This only adds to the problem - most people not in a union would read this and deduce that people are paying too much in taxes.
Then there's Daggett's statement that "I will cripple you, and you have no idea what that means." This came at the end of an interview with him on the YouTube channel ran by the International Longshoresmen's Association:
Guys who sell cars can’t sell cars, because the cars ain’t coming in off the ships. They get laid off. Third week, malls are closing down. They can’t get the goods from China. They can’t sell clothes. They can’t do this. Everything in the United States comes on a ship, they go out of business. Construction workers get laid off because the materials aren’t coming in. The steel’s not coming in. The lumber’s not coming in. They lose their job. Everybody’s hating the longshoremen now because now they realize how important our jobs are… In today’s world I’ll cripple you. I will cripple you, and you have no idea what that means, nobody does. (ILA, 2024)
This is more than bluster, it is an out-and-out threat aimed not at the USMA but at American society as a whole.
These three things - bad leadership, the calls to be tax chattel, and the leader's threat against America - are arguments in favor of automation, or at least reasons for the ILA to replace Daggett.
The ILA strike began on 1 October 2024 and ended three days later. The ILA and the USMA agreed to a 62% wage increase for the dock workers over the six year tentative deal. The issue of automation will be addressed in approximately 100 days, on 15 January 2025, after the election.
Automation of the type that ILA is rightfully concerned is limited to businesses large enough to afford robotics: Amazon, auto manufacturers, companies requiring large warehouses, etc. Smaller companies are immune to this form of automation, at least at present. Daggett can position his men at these smaller companies. Daggett can also have his men trained to repair the same automation systems the USMA so desperately wants. Irony, though, is something lost on Daggett.
References
International Longshoremen's Association. (2024, 5 September). A Candid Conversation With ILA President Harold J. Daggett On Wide Range of Important Topics [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=822WNvhQHKI
Lynch, D. & Weil, J. (2024). The Washington Post, 5 October 2024. Retrieved 6 October 2024 from https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/10/05/port-strike-workers-jobs-automation-union/
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