US port talks focus on job retention after automation

[LOS ANGELES] West Coast shippers and dockworkers are struggling to reach a labour agreement as terminal operators replace as many as half of labourers at some ports with robots in the largest technological change in half a century.

The two sides are discussing how to retrain and preserve jobs for dockworkers as automation reduces the number of positions at one Los Angeles terminal by 40 per cent to 50 per cent after changes are completed in 2016, according to a Harbor Department report released in April.

"In the US, the extent to which automation of container terminals affects the number of longshoremen's jobs depends on negotiations between the employers and unions," Neil Davidson, a senior analyst at Drewry Maritime Research in London, said. "Employers aren't simply free to decide to reduce jobs. In addition, it depends on the nature of the automation."