Dockworkers Going on Strike

Journalist Christian Lewis explores the reasons behind the dockworkers on strike

Dockworkers on strike

Tension between dockworkers and the ports are starting to rise. Dockworkers throughout the country are taking a stand to get fair contracts at their jobs. The reason being is because workers believe automation will take over their jobs which will eventually lead to them being unemployed. Strikes aren’t necessarily something new in this particular field. They are pretty common and have happened many times over the last few years. Strikes can throw off how society functions. It can cause shortages of goods and lead to inflation.

Automation is a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes. In other words, these dock workers feel threatened by machines and robots because of their ability to completely take over in the workforce. Considering that the workers' contracts expired at midnight, the sudden strike at the different ports are estimated to cost $4.5 million a day. To give a better understanding of contracts expiring, this is when the agreement between workers and these companies The strike can potentially throw off the economy. In these times, people fear a prolonged strike and tend to stock up on goods that will last them a long time. I was able to interview a former longshoreman who experienced a similar situation to what’s going on right now. Former longshoreman DJ Lewis, spoke to me about his experiences at the port and why workers feel the way they do. “