iirc the Reagan admin did something similar with Central American refugees, but I've never quite understood how the protections were bypassed
Continuing to do obsolete labor that could be greatly reduced through automation is not making productive contributions to society, it is busywork. Reallocation of labor to where it is more needed is good for society.
Accomplishing good in the world as a side effect? Cool, let that be fulfilling. The part about putting in labor for a paycheck being fulfilling? That's messed up. On which side is charging consumers more money because you're doing obsolete labor by hand that could be automated?
And self-fulfilment and personal wellbeing being dependent on your job is messed up and exploitable. At minimum that dependency should not be encouraged or accommodated.
That's the norm of 4 decades of Reaganomics, yes. But labor reallocation that's good for workers is possible. Charts from the Pandemic Economy:
That depends on the conditions they are displaced in. Automating during a tight labor market means there will be lots of sectors with a lot of demand for their labor. Creating such conditions just depends on the political will to tell fiscal conservatives to shove it as in 2020-2021.
This is also a way to ensure private schools actually teach their kids science under a school voucher system.
My take on the ILA strikes is that the methods used to help workers matter and Luddism is bad, actually.
Which is why the government should help them find jobs in new industries so that workers aren't resorting to Luddism.