These are two entirely unrelated issues.
If the world doesn't need a particular task to be done by humans, then the task should be performed by robots.
Until that happens, the workers should be treated humanely.
The problem is, our society isn't ready for that shift, not even close. Employment opportunities for the low skilled have all but gone down the drain - there is a reason why Walmart, Amazon and the other usual suspects love to set up shop in devastated communities: they have a captive audience that has no other realistic opportunities for gainful employment and thus is much, much less likely to resist when faced with exploitative and/or abusive conditions.
Warehouse work and logistics in general is the last employment opportunity many of these people have, and while it being replaced by robots may be better for society as a whole (if one follows the belief that all work should be done by machines so that humans can follow their individual interests), just standing by idling around while the markets enforce the shift is going to be a political disaster.
While "robots" are a fairly recent concept, the advancement of human civilization has been predicated on ever increasing efficiencies of human labor.
Now the "robots" are replacing intellectual work, and humans have no where to go.
Agreed. But in general, the efficiency gains got redistributed to the people - usually, by (bloody) revolutions and strikes.
Across the Western world, we haven't seen any meaningful progress in that redistribution in a fucking century - the 40 hour work week got introduced around 1926 [1]. Instead, all we got was that women now get exploited by employment providers as well, so the pool of available labor power virtually doubled, driving down wages while over the last few decades housing costs exploded and the demand for labor went down, further driving down wages. It remains open if the rise of pacifism and "non-violent action" in general that has happened in parallel in the same timeframe was coincidence, causation or consequence.
We are in for a wild ride over the next years. Luigi will not be the last one of his kind, I think this was just the start...
Percentage of US labor force working in agriculture by decade: https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/teacher-reso...
1950 was 15.2%, 1970 was 4.7%
People are allowed to move for work. I have. Shipyards are expanding in the Great Lakes region.
https://maritime-executive.com/article/navy-expands-shipbuil...
The shale gas revolution has created a lot of blue collar jobs. The chemicals industry is booming in Ohio.
https://www.jobsohio.com/news-events/news-press/energy-chemi...
So, yes, the shipyards need to be on the coast. But much of the material on the inside of the ship may be built elsewhere.
My buddy who is a union welder at a shipyard doesn't have to piss in a bottle to make his quota. His job is fucking fantastic, thanks to the union, and the hardest part of it is navigating controls around what the navy allows civvies to touch.
It's predominantly a lot of professional work by tradies, NOT grunt work. Use the proper PPE and you probably won't even have any lasting injuries or bodily damage. Take your time and follow the rules and you won't even be the cause of death for a hundred sailors like with the Thresher.
Well, that and using the proper PPE so that you probably won't even have any lasting injuries or bodily damage and taking your time/following the rules so that you probably won't even be the cause of death for a hundred sailors or coworkers.
Compare that to putting the wrong shipping label on the package. I'd rather piss in a bottle than be a welder, to be honest.
Get your AI-boosting company to spend some of its money buying lawmakers and telling them to make UBI happen.