Slowdowns by the thugs at west coast ports are now documented to be harming regional economies for no apparent reason:
Longshoremen are some of the highest paid blue collar jobs available. The average Longshoreman wage and benefits package is nearly $220,000 per active worker. Foremen can make upwards of $300,000 a year in wages alone.
That's not good enough; the thugs always want more. And they don't care how many people are hurt, so long as they get what they want.
In early January, Weyerhauser announced it will lay off workers at one of its Longview, Wash., facilities as a direct result of longshore union slowdowns at ports in Tacoma and Seattle. The Journal of Commerce recently highlighted a Federal Reserve national economic report indicating significant economic impact caused by disruption at West Coast ports.
The actions of the thugs are advancing interest at the ports in automation, which means that the majority of the thugs, if not all of them, may soon be out of a job.
At an unidentified container terminal, giant cargo containers are lifted and lowered by mechanical arms, and moved between land and sea on extra-wide truck beds. Without a single human in sight, the machines seem to move of their own volition, carrying out the most complex tasks with complete precision. Depicting a human-created world devoid of humanity, Terminal is a poetic observation of the oft-forgotten transport infrastructure at the heart of our global economy. Finding unexpected beauty and grace in the rhythms of heavy machinery, the film is not only a glimpse into the operations of global transport, but a mesmerising mechanical ballet.
Click the embedded link to see an 8-minute video of the coming future of port operations. And then thank robotics for working toward freeing us from the soon-to-be obsolete ILWU.
