LOS ANGELES - While the Port of Los Angeles is responsible for one in 13 jobs in Los Angeles, longshore workers throughout the nation continue to be wrongfully threatened with losing their jobs to environmentally sustainable automation technology. After hearing that the driverless electric cargo handlers at one of the Port terminals may be fueled by diesel, today Councilmember Tim McOsker introduced a motion to see if jobs were eliminated on a broken promise.
“We do not need to choose between protecting the environment or the workforce, and course corrections on climate change should not be at the expense of good union jobs,” said Councilmember McOsker. “But if it turns out that Port of LA jobs were lost to automation technology on a false promise of environmental sustainability, that just adds insult to injury.”
In 2019, the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners voted 3 to 2 to approve a permit for Maersk, a global logistics conglomerate, to introduce driverless electric cargo handlers inside their Port of Los Angeles facility. Part of Maersk’s Transport and Logistics business unit, APM Terminals’ Pier 400 is one of the largest single proprietary terminals in the world.
However, in a rare rebuke to the Commission, the Los Angeles City Council voted to deny the permit to begin the process of automating operations at the APM terminal. Shortly thereafter, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) entered into an agreement with the APM to proceed with this improvement program for driverless electric cargo handlers.
Under this plan, APM would deploy up to 130 of these driverless cargo handlers that would be used to shuttle containers from off the docks to drayage trucks and rail, establish a workforce training program for ILWU members who work at the terminal, and pursue “reasonable best efforts” to employ these workers.
At the time, Maersk declined to say how many jobs would be affected by replacing current cargo carriers with the unmanned vehicles. Nor did they say what other jobs at its terminal were likely to be automated. It was argued that while some jobs would be replaced, the electric cargo carriers will replace diesel-powered vehicles and save an estimated 2.2 million gallons of diesel fuel a year which could lead to a drastic improvement in the local air quality for the residents of Wilmington and San Pedro areas.
“In 2019, thousands of community and union members attended public meetings protesting the plan to automate,” said Board of Harbor Commissioner Vice President, Diane Middleton. “I stood as a no vote, yet the Board of Harbor Commissioners narrowly approved Maersk’s permit to install battery chargers. Maersk was up front about the fact that these automated driverless machines would not increase production but were being installed to lower labor costs by eliminating hundreds of longshore jobs daily. They also said that electric chargers would promote the goals of the Clean Air Action Plan. However, it appears that the only promise Maersk kept was to cut jobs.”
A recent tour of the APM site indicated that the electric cargo handler installation and operation at the terminal are possibly in violation of the agreed-upon plan for Pier 400 and resulting harm to the environment and the workforce. This issue was brought up by Commissioner Middleton at last week’s Board of Harbor Commissioners.
According to the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the largest in the nation as well as the single largest fixed source of air pollution in Southern California. The Port of Los Angeles has been working towards Zero Emissions under the Clean Air Action Plan; the neighboring communities, especially the Wilmington and San Pedro areas, continue to bear the brunt of this environmental injustice.
McOsker’s motion instructs the Port of Los Angeles to report in 30 days to the Trade, Travel, and Tourism Committee, to answer the sustainability allegations for the driverless cargo handlers and to provide an accounting of the direct reduction in labor hours at the terminal.
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