In a union-funded study, the nonprofit research organization Economic Roundtable calculated how much work has been lost at two automated terminals, Long Beach Container Terminal and TraPac. In what the researchers calls a conservative estimate, the study found that automation eliminated 572 full-time-equivalent jobs annually in 2020 and 2021. To be clear, no union dockworker was laid off in those years. As part of their contract, ILWU workers have guaranteed base wages, regardless of whether there’s work. And because of the recent surge in cargo, there has been plenty of work to go around.
However, the workers who do stand to lose out are the “casual workers,” a large contingent of freelancers who take whatever jobs are left once union members have their pick of the work. The casuals are the pipeline for the next generation of union members. They have to work their way up to union membership, a process that already takes years could take longer if the amount of work available on the docks shrinks.
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