As recently as the early to mid-20th century, workers at ports were unloading cargo by hand. The introduction of heavy machinery like forklifts and container cranes drastically reduced the number of dockworkers that would otherwise be required.  In the mid to late-20th century, when the shipping industry was revolutionized by the introduction of standardized containers, unions resisted the reduction in the required labor force by going on the longest strike in US shipping history, lasting 130 days and shutting down 56 ports on the West Coast. Dockworkers have a long history of resisting technology and innovation.  A few years ago, I was attending my niece’s dance recital at a park near the Port of Los Angeles. About a dozen or so 6-year-olds were dancing their little feet off when a horde of longshoremen descended on the park, disrupting the performance with chants demanding a stop to dock automation – what an interesting way to get everyone in the audience to love robots.  President-elect Donald Trump, the latest member of Team Luddite, expressed his support last week for the East and Gulf Coast longshoreman unions who are set to go on strike on the 15th of January if their demands are not met. This follows a three-day strike in October, which was paused after a tentative agreement was reached.  Along with wages, one of the most significant sticking points for both sides of the negotiation is the implementation of automated systems at the docks. In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote, “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.”  While I would never doubt Trump’s unparalleled expertise on automation or any field of inquiry for that matter, I would be failing at my job if I didn’t point out that automation at ports can increase their efficiency by as much as 80%, which leads to lower prices for consumers. The amount of money saved will indeed outweigh the harm to longshoremen and it’s only a matter of time before all of our ports are automated.  Of course, if docks are automated, many longshore-people will be laid off, and they are willing to hold all of us hostage to prevent that from happening. An added bonus to automation is that dockworkers will no longer be able to do so – strikes lasting just a couple of days can cost us billions. The October strike was estimated to cost the economy about $5 billion per day. Trade that goes through ports is simply too important to our economy to allow a few people to dictate a disruption.  In September, Biden refused to use his executive power to prevent the strike. The Taft-Hartley Act was ratified in 1947 to allow presidents to end strikes or lockouts and force negotiations when it threatened the “national health and safety.”  Ports have been a frequent target for the Act, the most recent of which was in 2002 when George W. Bush forced the end of a lockout by the Pacific Maritime Association. Bush’s justification was that our ports are, “vital to our economy and to our military.” Richard Nixon also used the Taft-Hartley Act to stop a longshoreman strike in 1971.  In all, presidents have used this act 35 times, and we should use it again.  Related Articles Opinion Columnists | Gavin Newsom speaks loudly, but carries a very small stick Opinion Columnists | Regulations’ enormous costs and DOGE’s enormous upside Opinion Columnists | The reeducation of Mitt Romney: From Trump hatred to respect? Opinion Columnists | Billions of dollars later, California’s homeless crisis persists under Newsom Opinion Columnists | Progressives make excuses for extremists and violence Just like dockworkers would be holding us hostage when they decide to strike, their employers should do so as well so that we can finally pull this bandaid off. Allow dockworkers to strike. Trump is siding with the unions now, but once the economic fallout becomes destructive enough, he will have no choice but to use the Taft-Hartley Act to force them back to work.  Automated ports are inevitable, so the best resolution for all of us is for unions to be forced into contracts that specify an automation timeline, retraining programs, and job creation commitments by ports. Just like all of those workers that were laid-off when forklifts, cranes, and containers were introduced, so shall many dock workers attempting to resist the future – foolishly fighting to preserve inefficiencies at the expense of everyone else. Rafael Perez is a columnist for the Southern California News Group. He is a doctoral candidate in philosophy at the University of Rochester. You can reach him at [email protected].