Robots at Los Angeles and Long Beach Ports: Clash of Perspectives on Jobs and Economic Impact

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For a long time it has been warned that the era of robotization would come to the workplace, causing mass unemployment.

Well, that day has arrived at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, where the enormous workload has been gradually transferred to these beings created by technology, setting off a red alert among port workers.

The most common ethnicity at Port of Long Beach is White (51%), followed by Hispanic or Latino (27%) and Asian (9%).

By contrast at Port of Los Angeles Police is White (44%), followed by Hispanic or Latino (32%) and Asian (12%).

While truck drivers, who don’t belong to a union, have applauded the increase in automation because of the speed with which they can load their goods, unionized workers see it as a danger to their union members.

On one side are well-paid union members, many of them third- and fourth-generation dockworkers. On the other is a nonunion, largely immigrant and Spanish-speaking workforce of independent contractors, who lack the hourly pay, overtime guarantees, pensions, healthcare insurance and job security that ILWU workers enjoy.

The powerful longshore locals, with some 9,300 registered members, captured public attention earlier this year, battling Maersk’s plans with marches through San Pedro, boisterous public hearings, community petitions and support from elected officials. In the end, they were unable to stop the project because, in exchange for higher pay and better benefits over the years, ILWU contracts have explicitly allowed for automation.

But mention automation to dockworkers and it elicits howls of indignation. They say robots are not the answer. They warn automation will only kill American jobs.

In this high-stakes moment at America’s busiest ports, robots are a hot-button issue in contract negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents 22,000 dockworkers up and down the West Coast, and the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents 70 ocean carriers and terminal operators.

The talk started in May. The last contract expired July 1. The two sides have agreed to no disruption to the work. But in the past, negotiations have returned into slowdowns and lockouts, bringing trade to a screeching halt. This time around, both sides are well aware that any interruption could wreak economic havoc just as the holiday shopping season gets rolling.