Workers Are Taking a Stand Against Automation

Longshoremen Strike

In recent years, high-profile labor battles have surged across sectors, impacting automakers, baristas, delivering drivers, and entertainers alike.

Earlier this month, dockworkers joined their ranks, temporarily shuttering ports along the East and Gulf Coast before landing on a tentative agreement last week. The new deal calls for a 61.5% raise over the next six years, and expands the current contract through January 15 to allow for further negotiations.

Industries experiencing this phenomenon vary widely, but much of the worker backlash has stemmed from a shared concern: automation.

Rise in Automation

Of course, automation isn’t a new phenomenon; it’s been around for quite a while. Longshoremen began pushing back against the issue more than 50 years ago, as shipping containers became commonplace, for example.

Now, with recent technological advancements, even more employers are automating jobs, leading to a cascade of consequences across some industries. Employees in the freight rail sector, for example, have faced layoffs, staffing shortages, and time off restrictions in the wake of widespread automation, per Axios.

Meanwhile, many workers have rallied against this risk, and found success in doing so. In 2023, Hollywood actors secured compensation for AI-generated likenesses after a months-long strike.

Snags and Silver Linings

It hasn’t been all victories on the automation front. In recent negotiations, autoworkers and UPS (UPS) employees did not do enough to hedge against automation or a “changing workplace”, according to the Harvard Business Review. And video game workers, who have been striking since the summer, are still holding out for AI protections.

The specter of automation looms even larger over industries in which jobs aren’t unionized, where workers may have less leverage to push back against changes.

Meanwhile, at least one recent study suggests fears of automation are overblown. After all, it isn’t always more cost-effective to use advanced technology to do jobs that plenty of qualified workers remain ready and willing to perform.

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