The massive port workers' strike is highlighting a fear held by many workers that they will be replaced by machines.
Thursday, October 3, 2024 3:41PMthat has shut down all the major dockyards on the Eastern seaboard of the U.S. and the Gulf coast is highlighting a fear held by many workers: Eventually, we will be replaced by machines., which represents the approximately 45,000 dock workers who walked off the job Tuesday, is testing whether it's possible to fight back.
Harry Bridges, who led the union at the time, negotiated pay increases and job security arrangements for some of the workers, said Adam Seth Litwin, associate professor of industrial and labor relations at Cornell University. The coal industry went through a similar reckoning as conveyor belts and other machines displaced laborers. Union leader John Lewis negotiated for job security and pay increases for existing workers, but the encroachment of machines led to fewer hires, and over time the workforce and union ranks shrunk.
"They're going to start running trains from the port to the heartland of the United States. And who is going to lose?" Sheffi asked. "There'll be less work for these people."There are ways unions and employers can protect workers. Some unions have negotiated that employees must receive guaranteed employment protection if companies bring in technologies that could make their jobs obsolete.
"Now we see law firms putting AI to use and cutting the number of junior associates," Sheffi said. "But it's a problem. How do you become a senior associate arguing before the Supreme Court if you don't start as a junior associate?"
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