U.S. Port Labor Talks Turn on Automation Cutting Workers

[Sherman A1]

West Coast shippers and dockworkers are struggling to reach a labor agreement as terminal operators replace as many as half of laborers at some ports with robots in the largest technological change in half a century.

The two sides are discussing how to retrain and preserve jobs for dockworkers as automation reduces the number of positions at one Los Angeles terminal by 40 percent to 50 percent after changes are completed in 2016, according to a Harbor Department report released in April.

“In the U.S., the extent to which automation of container terminals affects the number of longshoremen’s jobs depends on negotiations between the employers and unions,” Neil Davidson, a senior analyst at Drewry Maritime Research in London, said by e-mail. “Employers aren’t simply free to decide to reduce jobs. In addition, it depends on the nature of the automation.”

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-09-19/port-labor-talks-turn-on-automation-cutting-dock-workers

[Purveyor]

1. Brings to mind the discussion of robotic burger builders during the $15 minimum

wage protests.

They can outperform the manual worker at a faction of the cost and they get the order/quality right most every time.

Initial cost is the only thing hindering their implementation at this time but that could change with an increasing demand for higher wages.