Australian dock workers are demanding a 28-hour work week with no reduction in pay as a response to the expanded deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation across the country's ports. Their union says the process has put workers' jobs "in the crosshairs," reports BBC News.

The AI push is being led by giant port operations company DP World, which handles nearly 40% of the nation’s containerized imports and exports through its terminals in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Fremantle, and around a tenth of global container traffic.

The Maritime Union of Australia has been holding up automation at the Dubai-based company’s ports in Australia for 18 months as the plans go through safety approvals and a nine-month consultation with the union. According to Australia’s Financial Review, the process commits parties to try to reach agreement on work arrangements or have an independent panel decide the issues.

A report commissioned by the MUA, published in March 2026, titled “Job Losses And Profit Shifting At DP World: How AI Automation Threatens Australia’s Economic Wellbeing,” noted that “DP World is now attempting to embark on an ambitious AI automation programme that could threaten up to a thousand jobs or over 60% of the wharfie and maintenance workforce.” The report asserts that DP World’s contribution to Australia’s tax base has been “severely lacking.”

BBC News reports the union said: "If DP World wants AI and automation, then they must pay the social dividend. The new technology doesn't have to cost our members their jobs or put their livelihoods at risk just so a terminal operator can boost profits."