"I'm not speaking figuratively. The history of the labor movement includes pitched battles against hired strikebreakers, labor leaders getting thrown into jail, workers being hurt and even killed, all for demanding the right to improve and defend their livelihoods."
"We're not against technology. Our job is to deliver people safely to their destinations, and we can work with any tool that helps us do that. But when Big Tech evangelists tout automation as 'improving lives,' they ignore that, unchecked, it will destroy millions of them - pushing countless workers into unemployment and leaving them economically and emotionally unmoored."
"Now, a modern strain of tech-based elitism has emerged. It poses an existential threat to working families, including members of today's incredibly diverse transit workforce, with men and women from Bangladesh, the Dominican Republic, India, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Ukraine and many other countries."
Labor unions historically fought for working-class advancement through wages, benefits, and pensions, enabling families to reach middle class status. Modern tech-based elitism now threatens this progress by promoting unchecked automation. Transit workers from diverse backgrounds face displacement risks from autonomous vehicles and reduced staffing. While technology itself isn't rejected, unions demand accountability measures such as requiring approval before deploying autonomous buses and maintaining conductor positions on trains. Tech advocates ignore the human cost of automation, including mass unemployment and economic displacement, focusing instead on efficiency gains without addressing where displaced workers will find employment.
Read at New York Daily News
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