Automation is a core issue at play in the ongoing dockworker strike at Eastern US ports. AdvertisementStriking dockworkers at US ports say they're worried that jobs could plummet as shipping companies increasingly turn to automation. Picketing workers gathered at ports in New York and Miami carrying signs reading "Machines don't feed families" and "Fight automation, Save jobs." AdvertisementThe union's objection to the way shipping companies are using automation now is a key sticking point in the negotiations for a new labor contract. The move eventually contributed to the ILA earning the unusual distinction of being a labor union being named in an unfair labor practices complaint filed by management.

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Persons: —, USMX, Harold Daggett, Jesus Olarte, Daggett, it's, Stephen Edwards, Dominick Organizations: Service, International Longshoremen's Association, US Maritime Alliance, Business, Port, Getty, Maersk, APM, New York Times, ILA Locations: Eastern, New York, Miami, East Coast, Anadolu, Mobile , Alabama, Port of Virginia, Norfolk, Baltimore