Washington lawmakers save longshoremen from robots

Bill headed for Inslee bans use of port money for automated equipment

Few unions guard their turf more zealously than the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, better known as the longshoremen, the folks who load and unload ships. For an illustration of that, take a look at one of the bills headed for Gov. Jay Inslee’s desk, a measure designed to protect the union’s jobs at Washington ports from robotic cargo-handl…