Longshore Union Speaks Out Against Automation of Port Container Terminal Two Centuries After the Luddite Revolution the Same Arguments Rage US – Total Terminals International (TTI) met with leaders of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) at the beginning of the week to announce that it intends to pursue automating Pier T at the Port of Long Beach. The move has prompted a backlash from the ILWU which has raised concerns about the impact on the US and local economies and on matters of cyber security. Ramon Ponce de Leon, ILWU Local 13 President, explained: “While foreign-owned corporations like TTI continue to push to fully automate their terminal operations at our publically owned US ports, they need to remember that the ports exist for the benefit of the US and local economies, not the destruction of jobs and maximum extraction of foreign profit.”