The strike by 47,000 International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) members, which shut down all 36 East and Gulf Coast ports, has ended after an agreement on wages. However, the most important issue, automation, remains unresolved.

The union which wanted a 77 percent pay increase over six years, and the U.S. Maritime Alliance, which was negotiating for the ports, wanted a 50 percent increase, compromised and agreed to a 62 percent increase. The compromise on wages ended the strike. But the battle that is important for our future is over the union’s demand to halt port automation. And that fight is still on the table when the two parties return to the bargaining table on Jan. 15.

The two main jobs at ports—operating cranes and moving shipping containers around—were traditionally performed by union workers. But these tasks can now be automated and run by computer. People oversee the operations from a control room, but far fewer union workers are needed on the ground.

Only the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports are fully automated in the U.S., and three East Coast ports are classified as partially automated. But the global trend of 63 fully automated ports, is clear.