If unions control the Ford Motor Company in 1904, henry Ford would not have been allowed to automate the production of cars. By automating he brought the cost of cars down so low that regular people could afford them. Unions prefer to keep cars as the province of the rich. Today unions are trying to make sure the cost of using the L.A. Port is so high, and slow, that the final cost to the consumer is too high for most folks. Unions are anti-middle class and harm the economy—this is just one example.
“The study found automation provided benefits to shippers and consumers, but also did not reduce job opportunities for dockworkers.
“Automation is offering early proof of a win-win strategy,” wrote Nacht and his co-author, Larry Henry, founder of ContainerTrac Inc., “work gains for ILWU members and productivity and efficiency gains that will drive up growth, drive down cargo-handling costs, and help restore the San Pedro Bay ports’ competitive advantage.”
The study was undertaken during the surge of imports that started arriving in the second half of 2020.
The report also found that:Throughput per twenty-foot equivalent Units (TEUs, the standard measure of cargo volume) per acre is 44% higher at the twin port’s automated terminals because that equipment stacks containers higher and closer together, making for quicker transfer to trains and trucks.”
Maybe Elon Musk could buy the Port and make it a legitimate business, instead of a hostage of the unions.
Terminal automation report on Long Beach, LA ports draws attention as labor negotiations near
By DONNA LITTLEJOHN, Daily Breeze, 5/4/22
With contract negotiations nearly underway, a report hailing the benefits of automated port terminals has brought opposing reactions from the two parties at the table, the Pacific Maritime Association, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.
Port automation is expected to be among the most contentious topics in the negotiations, which are set to begin on May 12.
PMA commissioned the report, which it released on Monday, May 2.
The study analyzed automated terminals at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach — the two busiest in the nation — and found that cargo handling was accelerated, terminal capacity was expanded and longshore work was generated “significantly faster” there than at conventional terminals.
But Frank Ponce De Leon, ILWU Coast Committeeman, delivered a quick response.
The report is “a self-serving document by one party to a labor contract, and even worse (it) is an insult to all workers who have seen their jobs outsourced to machines,” he said in a statement, which was also posted on Twitter. “The very purpose of automation is to replace human workers with machines, and in this case to harm a U.S.-based workforce and local communities only to increase the projects of the largely foreign-owned terminal operators.”
The analysis team was led by Michael Nacht, a professor of public policy at UC Berkeley, and a former assistant U.S. Secretary of Defense.
The study found automation provided benefits to shippers and consumers, but also did not reduce job opportunities for dockworkers.
“Automation is offering early proof of a win-win strategy,” wrote Nacht and his co-author, Larry Henry, founder of ContainerTrac Inc., “work gains for ILWU members and productivity and efficiency gains that will drive up growth, drive down cargo-handling costs, and help restore the San Pedro Bay ports’ competitive advantage.”
The study was undertaken during the surge of imports that started arriving in the second half of 2020.
The report also found that:
- Throughput per twenty-foot equivalent Units (TEUs, the standard measure of cargo volume) per acre is 44% higher at the twin port’s automated terminals because that equipment stacks containers higher and closer together, making for quicker transfer to trains and trucks.
- Paid ILWU hours at the two automated terminals rose 31.5%, more than twice the 13.9% growth rate at the non-automated terminals. The registered ILWU workforce in Los Angeles and Long Beach grew 11.2% compared to 8.4% for the other 27 West Coast ports.
“Rather than reducing work for ILWU members,” the study said, “automation has raised demand for their services.”
Ponce De Leon, however, said automation has destroyed longshore jobs and he took issue with the report’s findings.
“Container volume has increased at the automated terminals,” he said, “but this has been at the expense of other terminals that have had an offsetting drop in container volume.
“The increased productivity that the PMA is claiming at the two automated terminals has meant less work at other terminals and an overall loss of employment for longshore workers,” Ponce De Leon added. “We haven’t seen an overall increase in productivity at the ports, just a shell game to mask the human cost of job destruction.”
Automation has been a growing trend in ports worldwide, though the U.S. has been slower to adapt than its European counterparts. Strong unions is part of that equation when jobs are at stake.
“Leading ports in Rotterdam, Singapore, and along China’s coast are technological marvels that fuel world trade,” the report said. “For its size, the United States lags behind the number of automated terminals and cargo volume handled by them.”
Locally, three terminals out of 13 currently use full or some automation: Long Beach Container Terminal in the Port of Long Beach; and TraPac Terminal in Wilmington and APM Terminals, owned by Maersk, in San Pedro, both at the Port of Los Angeles.
Total Terminals International, with 385 acres at Pier T in the Port of Long Beach, announced in May 2021 that it plans also to automate.
Automation can provide cleaner technology and more efficiency, according to supporters.
Employers have pitched in to create longshore worker training centers in the twin ports that will be dedicated to training workers for new positions in an automated setting with new zero-emissions equipment.
But the ILWU has said jobs will be lost, noting the union offers some of the best-paid jobs for middle-class workers in the U.S.
The 2008 labor deal provided employers with the right to automate, a provision that remains in place.
But the union balked as automation began to get a foothold in the local ports in 2019, galvanizing large crowds to show up at Los Angels City Hall and at harbor commission meetings to protest.
Automation and technology, the report said, has surged to the forefront in the past decade, with robotics, self-driving cars, drones and other “smart” technologies becoming part of industrial planning and labor-management negotiations.
Technology, the report said, replaces “existing work” with new work and “is not eliminating work altogether.”
Noting the recent supply chain backups, Nacht and Henry also wrote that automation will keep the twin ports competitive.
“The San Pedro Bay complex is projected to reach capacity by 2028,” the report said. “With limited potential to physically expand their marine terminals, the two ports risk further loss of discretionary cargo, threatening jobs, wages and tax revenue essential to Southern California’s economic vitality.”
