Automation, health, safety, and longshoremen

A decade ago I recall talking to a lot of shop managers, particularly welding shop managers, about the effects of automation. The price of a robot arm was dropping faster than many had expected, and suddenly, bringing in a robot onto a shop floor started to make sense.

But many also talked (on background, of course) about the cultural challenges. Basically, people thought they were being replaced by robots. And in some cases, they were. If a welder didn’t know multiple processes and was trained to weld a certain joint a certain way, over and over—well, their job either changed or was eliminated altogether. But if a welder could lay a bead in all positions, become code-qualified, wield a gas tungsten arc torch as skillfully as a gas metal arc gun or shielded metal arc electrode, that person became more valuable than ever. Moreover, robots replaced the repetitive, often backbreaking work. Workers’ jobs became more engaging, safer.

And yet, there were fewer jobs.

Today I rarely hear anyone talk about automation as a job killer. After two big recessions for manufacturing since the 1990s, many know that not bringing in some level of automation may be the biggest job killer of all. In most shops, people who handle the automation—be it in bending, welding, or anywhere else—have previous hands-on experience. The act of sliding a blank against a backgauge and forming a workpiece; the act of striking of arc and adjusting the weave; all that experience serves as necessary core knowledge for those running the automation.

And yet, there are fewer jobs.

In manufacturing, you wouldn’t notice, of course, because managers can’t find the skilled workers they need for the jobs they have. But ask a Longshoreman on the West Coast, and you’ll hear about the good old days, when thousands upon thousands worked on the docks up and down the coast.

As New York Times labor reporter Steven Greenhouse told NPR last week, “Their numbers have dwindled tremendously because of automation. There are [now] about 14,000 longshoremen on the West Coast. Even though their numbers are fewer, they’re still powerful.” That’s mainly because the union handles most of the goods coming in from Asia. They make globalization work.

According to reports, the labor dispute that ended this week with a tentative contract wasn’t about pay, but instead about health, safety, and automation. The union welcomes automation that makes a dangerous job safer, but they (understandably so) want to keep their membership employed.

We have cheap labor (and increasingly automation) driving success in Asia. And we have automation, efficiency, and locale (being close to customers) driving success in manufacturing stateside. Then we have the Longshormen in the middle. It’s an odd, complex, ironic cog in the global supply chain.