it won't trickle down to consumers as directly as raising the minimum wage as the ports provide a service and not materials so they won't be able to pass that cost to the people. That doesn't mean that like minimum wage, the companies won't use it as an excuse to just raise prices.
Second, it may actually HELP the companies as less people may want to work overtime as they are now getting a living wage again. So companies may hire (albeit apprentices) more people to work at the lower end of the scale. Thus saving more money.
As for automation, I'm not sure what I think of it. Replacing people to do repetitive work and heavy lifting may be best, as the younger generation don't want to do manual labor (it is tough!). However, there still need to be some people there for quality control, or when the machines breaks down, or whatnot. It does require some retraining of the older workers, but should still be doable.
The other thing is healthcare. I hope the Union was able to negotiate a very good healthcare insurance for these workers.
CL
CL
