When someone is running a horse and buggy taxi service in 2021, the issue isn't whether the guy shoveling the manure is being paid a fair wage for working hard,

When someone is running a horse and buggy taxi service in 2021, the issue isn't whether the guy shoveling the manure is being paid a fair wage for working hard, or whether their job is easy, but rather why their job exists in the first place. Major ports have automated long ago. "Biden’s Build Back Better bill, Section 30102, expressly prohibits the use of funds provided there to be used for automation."[1] The union is clear it opposes automation: "TTI would become the fourth automated container terminal in Southern California. Total Terminals International’s (TTI’s) decision this week to automate its 385-acre Pier T terminal in Long Beach sets up a classic struggle between terminal operator employers and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). The union opposes the project on the grounds it will eliminate some dockworker jobs, but employers say automation is needed to increase capacity and keep the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles competitive."[3] And this results in outdated infrastructure and lower productivity: "Cranes in automated ports operate at least twice as fast as cranes in outdated US ports. Biden’s port czar, John Porcari, let the truth out when he said last week it’s “your grandfather’s infrastructure that we’re dealing with.”[1] "The International Longshoremen’s Association contract, which extends to 2024, blocks the use of automation technology. Willie Adams, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents West Coast workers, says automated cargo handling equipment will not be tolerated."[1] "In a July 7 letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom, International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) president Willie Adams cited the pandemic and the US-China trade war as reason why terminal automation, mostly recently seen at APM Terminals’ Los Angeles terminal, would hurt the ports, its workers, and surrounding communities. “This is simply not the time to allow further job losses to automation. Losing jobs to automation not only undermines the long term capacity of our ports, but it does lasting damage on our families,” Adams wrote [.. seen as] further evidence of the union’s single-minded focus on automation. That was seen most clearly in its surprisingly vocal opposition last year to a limited automation project at the APM Terminals Pier 400 facility in Los Angeles despite having agreed years earlier to a collective bargaining agreement that allowed terminals to automate in return for $800 million in additional wages and benefits."[2] When Tanzania's port is more productive than yours, then it's time to finally move into the 21st century. [1] https://nypost.com/2021/10/18/to-please-unions-biden-wont-automate-ports-fueling-supply-chain-woes/ https://nypost.com/2021/10/18/to-please-unions-biden-wont-au... [2] https://www.joc.com/port-news/us-ports/ilwu’s-anti-automation-plea-california-hints-contract-flashpoint_20200724.html https://www.joc.com/port-news/us-ports/ilwu’s-anti-automatio... [3] https://ilaunion.org/2021/05/latest-long-beach-terminal-automation-draws-ilwu-backlash/\ https://ilaunion.org/2021/05/latest-long-beach-terminal-auto...*