Dock strike/Toilet paper shortage??

[B7510HSD]

It's crazy that we've let the union block progress and technology for decades. In Asia and Europe, the docks are very automated. And they have been for 30+ years. They run day and night with fewer people because processes over time have been taken over by robots and autonomous machines.

At our docks, the union won't even allow a camera to capture and record the license plates of all the trucks as they come and go. Instead, two union workers with pencils and clipboards write the information on paper.

The union president bragged that HE was going to "cripple the US economy". Sounds like a national security issue to me ... Our national security is at stake and they want to lay down in the road to block modernization and progress??

This is like the grocery cashiers saying you can't install bar-code scanners.

This is like Amazon workers saying you can't use robots to pick and pack products.

No self-service gas pumps. You have to keep paying us to pump gas. (I wonder what ever happened to all those poor gas pump attendants when their industry was devastated. I was one of them as a kid too.)

There's a sort of government-entitlement-protectionist mentality going on here. Apparently, the argument is, "we currently need 45,000 people to do this work. Management can't make any changes that reduce the headcount." That's insane.

They should implement a hiring freeze immediately. Congress should mandate modernization of our ports. There are plenty of ways to phase in technology while taking advantage of retirement attrition and paying people to leave early.

I don't think the government can competently run a lemonade stand, but still . . . maybe we need to nationalize the ports and install current technology and run them like the rest of the world does. Workers that want to stay on and step into the 21st century would be able to. The rest need to go away. It will take many years for us to catch up and implement modern tech into these ports so there's plenty of time for the workers to get sorted out.

I think this particular strike, focusing on the absolute resistance to automation, is the most short-sighted and least sympathetic strike that I've ever seen.

Sure why not maybe let the Postal service take over the Ports!!

 

[newbury]

It's crazy that we've let the union block progress and technology for decades.

It is after all the ILA, the International Luddite Association.

 

[Hay Dude]

I wasn’t listening super closely, but there was a similar situation with another union stroke threat that was being discussed on the radio. The company owners folded and gave into the unions demands.
Then the company owners got together and decided automation through technology would be where they would spend enough money to eliminate their jobs and reduce the threat of strikes.
They succeeded in installing their automated machinery, and although the workers got maybe 5 years of much higher pay, they ultimately got too greedy and their jobs were mostly gone in 5 years.

I want to say it was a mining union workers strike and the mine owners automated with machinery to replace the workers. They had enough of unions & strikes.

This is probably why the longshoremen want a guarantee of no robotic automation at the docks and a 77% pay raise over 5 years.

 

[CH4Ohio]

Sure why not maybe let the Postal service take over the Ports!!

At least the USPS is using tablets and scanners and modern technology. The ILA is pushing back against any automation that might displace a worker, whether it makes sense or not.

 

[Hay Dude]

At least the USPS is using tablets and scanners and modern technology. The ILA is pushing back against any automation that might displace a worker, whether it makes sense or not.

Meanwhile the docks in China eat our lunch in productivity.
There is a downside for the worker and the lost jobs.

 

[farmfun]

And these folks and their inbred lack of knowledge are allowed to breed.

How else would congress be filled?

 

[WinterDeere]

Meanwhile the docks in China eat our lunch in productivity.
There is a downside for the worker and the lost jobs.

It's okay to aspire to be something other than a dock worker.

The trouble with the "lost jobs" argument, is that we have more than a hundred years of proof that it's a fallacy. Tech never eliminates the number of jobs on the market, it only increases consumption and typically replaces lower-paying manual labor jobs with higher-paying skilled labor or tech jobs.

Put otherwise, new tech offers reduced costs, and thus higher consumption. The higher consumption creates new jobs, where the originals were lost. This is why most of us have more crap in our houses than our parents ever did, consumerism at its best.

Sounds like optimistic inspirational hogwash, but history has proven it out, over, and over, and over...

 

[CH4Ohio]

Workers don't necessarily "get hurt" as technology is implemented. It'll take 10 years or so to get the US docks up to speed -- we are decades behind the rest of the world.

In the meantime, freeze hiring. Don't replace workers as people leave. Start downsizing WITHOUT layoffs. Current workers aren't impacted. The future workforce will look different, and presumably smaller, but that doesn't hurt the current ILA workers. A lot of people come and go in 10 years and a lot of people can be transitioned to new roles without their income being impacted.

The UNION won't take in as much money -- maybe. The Union leadership might have to cut back some so the President and his son (Exec Vice President) might have to adjust. Total number of union members paying dues could be reduced -- so what?

Some of the picket signs say "Automation doesn't feed families. Workers do."
The signs should say, "Automation doesn't pay union dues! Workers do."

 

[ponytug]

If you look back at prior dock worker negotiations, zero automation has always been a recurring demand.

Like others, I don't think it is in the national interest, but we've seen lots of instances where technology gets a virus or bad update, too. Still, I think that we could have more efficient ports than have, on all coasts.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Oaktree]

The trouble with the "lost jobs" argument, is that we have more than a hundred years of proof that it's a fallacy. Tech never eliminates the number of jobs on the market, it only increases consumption and typically replaces lower-paying manual labor jobs with higher-paying skilled labor or tech jobs.

I agree with you for the most part, but some of these workers being displaced don't have the skills to do any more than "grunt" jobs. With every generation, the number of jobs where you could go in off the street and learn all you need OJT decreases in favor of those requiring some sort of education. Even many of the trades are looking for someone who can at least hit the ground walking, if not running. I'm not sure what the solution to that is. Not everyone is cut out for college or even trade school.

At least the USPS is using tablets and scanners and modern technology.

There's a thread here filled with tales of woe about the USPS, but I've gotta say I haven't had any issues with them in a long time that weren't quickly resolved. Compare that with the post office of the 80s & 90s it's a world of difference.