Dockworkers Strike Brings Automation Into Focus
With 47,000 dockworkers going on strike Tuesday, we in the IT channel are forced to ask the question: what is the human cost of automation?
Solution providers are about to find out.
Dockworkers from Maine to Texas went on strike 12:01 a.m. ET Tuesday after the expiration of the contract between the International Longshoremen’s Association and US Maritime Alliance, representing U.S. ports, a move that impacts 45,000 union members and 36 ports, according to the Associated Press.
The strike could, by JP Morgan Chase estimates, have a negative economic cost of between $3.8 billion to $4.5 billion per day, some of which will be recovered eventually once an agreement is reached.
[Related: Gigabyte: COVID-19 Surge At L.A. Ports Delaying Shipments]
Solution providers are already anxious about what the strike could mean for the availability of IT products.
“Right now, the concern is the potential delay in chips and other hardware in an already fragile supply chain,” said Brea Gates, president of CMIT Solutions of Denton, a North Texas-based solution provider. “It’s too early to tell any long-term implications, but I will be watching how my vendors respond.”
At issue for the union, of course, is wages. In an interview with CNBC, union president Harold Daggett confirmed the target of a 61.5 percent increase of wages over five years.
Yet, also a part of the negotiations is a secondary concern: automation.
As demand for goods rises, so too has the need for efficiency. In that vein, shipping companies have taken to utilizing technology, taking advantage of hefty pandemic profits to automate cranes and sorting operations -- tasks historically completed by longshoreman and dockworkers.
With three U.S. terminals in two ports – Los Angeles and Long Beach, California – being fully automated, there is rising concern by the union that human operations will be replaced by machines. It’s a concern the International Longshoreman’s Association aims to mitigate by securing a contract that includes assurances and limitations to the expansion of port automation. Such assurances from the US Maritime Alliance would allow for a continuation of human-centered production but may not improve overall costs.
The question remains – and only time will tell – is the cost of automation worth squeezing out essential parts of our supply chain and the workers who built it?
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