South Korea’s HD Hyundai, together with Germany’s NEURA Robotics, will develop and test welding robots in shipyards
Initiatives for and against automation are inherent in the development of almost all industrial sectors and services in modern times, including maritime transport and port activities. In the latter sector, distinguishes, among others, the battle waged by the union International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), by always critical of projects for the introduction of forms automation in port operations. A position that last month received the support of Pope Leo XIV who, having ascended just over a month to the throne of St. Peter, on the occasion of the celebration in Charleston of the 25th anniversary of the International Dockworkers Union Council (IDC), sent a message of greeting and congratulations in which he said he was “pleased to know that, as trade unions, you have accepted the challenge of working together “to prevent the job losses caused by automation”, while ensuring fair and equal working conditions, as well as job security for all workers, without discrimination. These efforts,” the Pope wrote, “are important for a profession as demanding as the your. I encourage you, as Pope Francis has done, to continue the initiative to teach young people in the suburbs “the value of work” and to be inspired by the words of Jesus and the teachings of the Church”.
Continuing this struggle, the ILA called on all trade unions of the maritime-port sector to meet on 5 and 6 November upcoming in Lisbon for the event “People Over Profit: Anti-Automation Conference” with the aim of working together strategies and sharing experiences to make a united front against the advance of automation. “As representatives of the port workers and maritime workers – reads the invitation – we believe that technology should be implemented to serve humanity, not to replace it. Our voices must be heard and our jobs must be safeguarded.”
“Automation – underlined the president of ILA, Dennis A. Daggett, announcing this summit – is creeping into each sector, little by little, sector after sector, while the corporations hide behind words like efficiency and progress. They are also promoting automation that destroys jobs with the excuse of security. But this that they really want is just to reduce labor costs. Recent reports – highlighted Daggett – have indicated that until now 50% of all entry-level jobs could disappear within the next two years due to automation. Not this is a problem that only affects blue-collar workers. It is a crisis of the working class, which threatens the livelihoods both white-collar and blue-collar workers. Whether you work in a cabin of a crane or at the console of a terminal, the risks are the same. And so is the responsibility to act. I come from a generation where we were taught that hard work pays off. Educate yourself. Learn a trade. Arrive early, stay late and be proud of your work. But today we are witnessing a world in which even the most qualified are told that they are no longer needed. Not because work has disappeared, but because eliminating labor is more profitable. What message does this send to our children? Going to college, drowning in debt, and facing a shrinking labor market? Or learn a trade only to see automation take over the job for which you have trained a lifetime? This cannot be the future that we pass on to the younger generations of workers!”
“The Lisbon Conference – explained the President of the ILA – is more than a meeting. It is a position. A stand in favor of humanity against algorithms. A stand in favor of workers against shareholder profits. A stance for a a future in which our children can dream big, work hard and still find opportunities after accomplishing this effort. Technology should be at the service of humanity, Do not replace it. We are not against innovation. We are against Exploitation. We welcome tools that make our work safest and more efficient, but we will never accept systems that completely eliminate the human element.”
On the other hand, the initiatives carried out at a rapid pace by the South Korean industrial group HD Hyundai to introduce extreme forms of automation and robotics in maritime transport and in shipbuilding, which is the core business of the Asian company. The latest in chronological order is the initiative to develop and test quadruped robots and humanoids specialized for use in shipbuilding that will be built by HD subsidiaries Hyundai Samho and HD Hyundai Robotics in collaboration with the German company NEURA Robotics, with a focus on the evaluation of the potential of robots to increase efficiency, safety and productivity. An initiative – specified the group South Korean – also aimed at coping with a context of increasing shortage of skilled labor in the sector. With the initiative – said Sanghun Ryu, chief operating officer of HD Hyundai Samho – “We will take the lead in the
in the creation of a safer and more productive environment using specialized welding robots that meet the different quality requirements of the shipbuilding industry”.
