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Comment by tcskeptic | Hacker News Reader

This assumes the Teamsters have no power, which they do. The power of the Longshoremen to prevent substantial automation (compared to other major ports) in the Port of Los Angeles and the resulting productivity deficit vs the Port of Rotterdam for example appears to be realtively durable.

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Once the entire logistical chain is fully automated the teamsters will have much less power. After all, if you don't need workers it doesn't matter if they strike.

A strike seems like the perfect time to introduce automation.

The only thing you're not including in this equation is votes. Union leaders simply need to convince lawmakers that it's in their best interests to pass favorable legislation limiting the adoption of new technologies. It's certainly been done before.

This is where America's organization as a collection of states is helpful. At least one or two states will be willing to let automation take over once it's developed, and it's effectiveness there can become leverage to spread it to other states.

That seems to assume a (almost) simultaneous switch from manual to automatic. In reality, it would probably be done as a small test case to see how well it works and be expanded slowly. A strike during this process can still be damaging.

In my country buses have a driver and a charger, who collects the fares.

Some companies started replacing the chargers with automatic fare collection equipment. But it turned out they weren't allowed to fire the chargers. So there's still a charger in each bus who will sell you the ticket so you can put it into the machine. Oh, you bought a ticket before boarding? Well, the charger still has a job to do: to ensure you do use the ticket (the driver can't do it because the gate is in the middle section of the bus).

In contrast, I purchased a ticket for and boarded a recently-developed commuter train in my area and not once on my journey did I encounter anyone who worked for the transportation company. Not even on the crowded return trip was there a ticket check.

CalTrain (San Jose to San Francisco) kind of works like this. Sometimes tickets are checked, sometimes they aren't.

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