The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the US Maritime Alliance (USMX) have until January 15 to agree on a new contract. This is the result of a temporary deal reached in October.
President Trump announced his support for the workers’ position following a meeting with Harold Daggett, the president of ILA, and Dennis Daggett, the union’s executive vice president.
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“I’ve studied automation and know just about everything there is to know about it. The amount of money saved is nowhere near the distress, hurt, and harm it causes for American Workers, in this case, our Longshoremen,” Trump said on Truth Social.
Notice how the media always present the verbiage of the dockworker’s employers as “employers’ group USMX,” without actually noting the employers’ group are the port owners, multinational shipping conglomerates and as a consequence, foreign countries.
In material fact, most critical ports in the USA are owned by foreign entities. As a result, the ILA are pushing back against the ideological, political and financial interests of mostly foreign entities (USMX).
On the demand side of the equation the ILA wants to eliminate the threat posed by automation. Many voices say this is a ridiculous demand; after all, when you combine artificial intelligence, automation, robotics and remote access capabilities, it is clearly predictable that a time will come when 80% of the ILA jobs can be replaced by remote controlled operational systems.
In China, many industrial ports are already fully automated and operated remotely by people using what look like gaming consols, robotics and computer screens.
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This brings me to the main point that most overlook.
In Asia and Europe, port automation is happening rapidly. However, in Asia and Europe they have rules and regulations against foreign ownership of their ports. In Europe, Asia and particularly China, ports are considered critical national security infrastructure by the politicians who represent the people. In the USA our politicians represent the multinational corporations and as a result we have sold the majority of our ports to Saudis, Qataris, Europeans and Chinese owners.
If Chinese ports are automated in China, they are operated by Chinese owners. If American ports are automated in the USA, they are operated by Chinese owners. It doesn’t take a genius to see the problem.
Fast forward to 2035, all of our critical ILA members have given up and gone to work for Wal Mart in the face of overwhelming opposition against them by a short-sighted American electorate. The children of the dockworkers are now addicted to prescription narcotics, and the docks are automated by German industrial machinery, facilitated by Chinese technology that was purchased by Chinese owners. The machinery is operated remotely by Chinese, Indian and Pakistani workers getting $5/hr.
After seamless integration, China decides to take New Zealand as the latest strategic notch in their Belt and Road initiative. Wait, wha… the American politicians shout, “this cannot stand.” But it does, because if the USA tries to make a move against it, the docks in the USA are brought to a halt by China.
Sound crazy?
‘Crazy’ was 9-years ago when CTH was warning about a weaponized FBI operating like the Russian FSB. ‘Crazy’ was our warning that a DC-based intelligence apparatus was conducting surveillance of a presidential nominee. ‘Crazy’ was our alarms ten years ago that various interests of the DoS and DHS were deep inside the mechanisms of social media, controlling the content of private conversations. THAT was then considered “crazy.”
What we are talking about now against the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and remote automation, is not crazy; it’s predictable reality if the efforts of the ILA fail.
Now do you see why I support them.
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We have a dragon rider who not only understands the stakes. He’s also smart enough to ride the dragon while wearing an invisible suit. That invisible suit is why we call him the “blue-collar billionaire.”
Just because Silicon Valley has shifted to replace wingtips with sneakers, doesn’t mean the outcome changes. And yeah, the Technocrats may keep using class warfare in the effort to make me hate Harold Daggett, while we pretend not to notice the designer labels on their T-shirt.
Perhaps the best compromise would be a two-issue dynamic:
♦ First, all foreign ownership, influence and control over USA ports must be eliminated.
♦ Second, 100% of all equipment, machinery, hardware and software, used in every aspect of the port automation process, must be manufactured inside the United States of America.
Put those two qualifiers into the port contract negotiations as expressed by ILA President Harold Daggett, and watch what happens.
