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| In Helsinki, Finland, self-driving public transport busses are being tested |
At a recent County Commission meeting, several bus drivers
from ECAT appeared before the board and implored the board to improve pay and
benefits. One commenter went through the
pay scale meticulously and the rates of pay were low. Shockingly low.
So what is the solution to the problem of low pay for bus
drivers?
An easy solution would be to raise taxes and increase driver
pay, changing the employment status of bus drivers from what they currently are-- contractor employees
working for a third-party company—to making them regular county employees with
pension plans and higher pay.
This is
what the union wants; this is what the drivers want. If I was a driver, this is what I would want,
too!
The argument against this is cost: While I have not yet received what I have
requested-- a cost
analysis of what bringing the drivers in-house would cost—I
can imagine the costs could easily double over current levels if this happens.
Setting this whole issue aside for just a moment, what about
necessity? How long will drivers be
necessary given the rapid advancement of autonomous vehicle technology? If we take the path of least resistance and
make drivers permanent regular employees with higher salaries and better, more
expensive benefits, this will put extreme pressure on the budget.
Budget pressure, at least as it pertains to local
governments that MUST have balanced budgets, leads to demand for innovation and
efficiency. Put a different way,
necessity is the mother of invention.
And sometimes this isn’t good for human workers in some fields.
So as an apt comparison, during the ECAT discussion I
mentioned the fast food industry revolution as a stark warning. In that industry, massive demand for “living
wages” and artificially inflated (and unsustainable) pay and compensation is
increasing the race toward automation to lower costs in the fast food business.
Wendy’s will soon be installing 1,000 automated kiosks in
its restaurants nationwide. These kiosks
will replace the untold numbers of $15.00 per hour order takers, because paying
order takers $15.00 per hour is not reasonable, nor is it sustainable.
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| Japanese "Robot Chef" |
In Japan, robots are being programmed to cook—how soon will such robots make their way to American fast food restaurants
to replace the $15.00 per hour fry cooks and $15.00 per hour burger flippers
and $15.00 per hour soda fillers?
Imagine this: The
Wendy’s of the future might be all automated, from the janitors to the kitchen
help, with just a manager or owner and a skeleton staff of $15.00 per hour
humans overseeing the work of the machines.
So instead of 20-25 employees making $8.00-$9.00 per hour at a fast food
shop, 3-5 human employees remain making $15.00 per hour and 20 or so humans
become unemployed. The upshot: combo meals will still be a good value, and
profit for the owners will remain high.
I wonder-- Is this the outcome
that those that are clamoring for higher wages want?
Sometimes it is wise to be careful what one wishes for.
The 3-5 fast food workers in the above example, the ones
remaining post-automation, will be making more than they ever have before, but
they will also be working harder than ever with new responsibilities and tasks
to complete. Will this be better for the
few humans that remain? What about the
20 or so humans per restaurant that are displaced by the robots? What about them? Too
many questions…
As it pertains to the public transportation issue
locally—could the same or similar scenario play out?
Last fall, the world’s first driverless busses were put into
service in Helsinki, Finland. Just this past January, driverless busses began rolling through Las Vegas, Nevada.
Driverless Uber cars are picking up passengers in American
cities like San Francisco and Tempe, AZ today.
1.7 Million Americans that drive for a living are on theverge of replacement by automation over the next decade and a half, according
to some experts.
So, what is the future, what will be the likely outcome and
disposition of public transportation bus drivers if the costs continue to rise
due to upward pressure on wage and benefits compensation in this field? [Rhetorical question]
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