That’s a stupid way to eliminate efficiency
In case of port/terminal automation the workers usually do not benefit. So it seems pretty understandable that they’re against it.
In Europe there’s way more automation. Still, workers often tried to prevent it.
A salary maximum (as per the article) of 79k USD per year seems low. This as the accident rate amongst longshoremen can be significantly higher than average. It’s often not reported on enough (at least in Europe) but significant injuries and deaths happen often enough. This partly because (obviously) a mistake has way more consequences on a terminal vs e.g. working in an office.