WATCH: The ILA's President Harold Dagget Explains The Fight Against Automated Ports
“If they keep putting machinery to take our jobs, who's going to pay the income tax? Machines are not." — Harold J. Daggett, President, ILA
By Peter List, Editor | October 1, 2024
With the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) strike starting on Tuesday, much of the public’s focus has been on the wage battle keeping the parties apart.
However, the other main issue is the union’s desire to stop automation from taking members’ jobs.
“If they keep putting machinery to take our jobs, who's going to pay the income tax? Machines are not. Who's going to pay for the military? The roads? Everything runs by taxes.” — Harold J. Daggett, President, International Longshoremen’s Association
“Automation has already taken over some major ports, and studies show it has led to job losses for dockworkers,” reported Quartz.com on Tuesday. “For example, a report from the Economic Roundtable found that automation eliminated 572 full-time-equivalent jobs a year at the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles in California in 2020 and 2021.”
This video interview of ILA President Harold Daggett, published three weeks ago by the ILA, provides a more clear picture of the issues propelling the ILA’s strike.
In the video, Daggett discusses the history of containerization, and the devastating impact of job-killing automation for ILA and workers around the world.