Hydi Webb, port director for PortMiami, said at a hearing before the House Economic Infrastructure Subcommittee February 20 that her docks would actively resist a degree of automation that would result in sidelining longtime employees.

“We’re a strong union port and we don’t believe in replacing jobs through AI,” she said, according to FloridaPolitics.com.

At the hearing, chaired by Republican Rep. Chip LaMarca, Webb discussed the potential labor impact of AI fewer than two months after U.S. longshoremen unions reached a tentative deal that averted a strike at ports across the country. Webb said she was grateful any stop in work was avoided.

The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) announced a tentative collective bargaining agreement in a joint release on January 8, stating that the deal protects existing union jobs, and establishes a framework for implementing new technologies that will create new jobs and make port operations more efficient. Union members are set to vote on ratification for their new master contract on February 25.

At the February 20 hearing, Webb said automation could improve port security, and other officials discussed changes in the market and how they could affect Florida’s ports.

Changes in tariffs policies, a crackdown on illegal immigration into the U.S. and the frequency of powerful hurricanes could all have an affect the state’s docks, officials said.