Fearing that artificial intelligence will take over their jobs, workers are strategizing for a long-term fight against the technology

The current AI craze has spread like a shock wave.

It began among engineers inspired by a 2017 research paper. Then came venture capitalists looking to profit from the new boom. Government officials came running after them sets rules.

Now it’s the turn of labor.

More than 200 union members and technologists gathered this week for a first-ever conference in Sacramento to discuss how artificial intelligence and other technology threaten workers and strategize for upcoming battles and possible strikes.

The Tech Job Creation for Workers event was convened by University of California labor centers, unions and labor advocates and drew people representing dock workers, domestic workers, teachers, nurses, actors, government office workers and many other professions.

Key takeaway from the process: All workers are determined to fight for the right to negotiate for more control over how AI is implemented in companies during contract negotiations and day-to-day operations. Union representatives detailed the ways in which artificial intelligence threatens jobs ranging from screenwriting to driving taxis to calling people as cashiers.

Luis, an Amazon employee from California’s Inland Empire, who asked CalMatters not to use his last name for fear of retaliation, is taking a toll on your physical and mental health when technology tracks your every move. He felt unable to stop moving or get help from co-workers when lifting heavy objects. This led to back pain that made it difficult to sleep at night, feelings of depression and low self-esteem.

“I just couldn’t deal with being a robot,” he said, explaining why he quit. Later, he returned to work because he had no other opportunities.

Amazon spokesman Steve Kelly responded that “employees are encouraged to work with intention, not speed, and can take short breaks at any time to use the restroom, grab water, stretch, or step away from their screens. Additionally, there is nothing unusual about using cameras to ensure employee safety, inventory quality, or theft protection—a common practice at nearly every major retailer in the world. Employees who have questions or concerns about any aspect of this technology or their work are generally not only encouraged to raise them with their managers, but are also provided with several tools to support them in this process.

The meeting comes as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to begin his second administration and shortly before the California Legislature’s Feb. 21 deadline to propose bills for the current session. It’s not clear how Trump will respond to issues related to technology and workers. He has made some promises that seem favorable to big tech, such as vowing to cut regulations he sees as harmful to innovation and vowing to repeal an executive order signed by his predecessor that guaranteed artificial intelligence.

But he also positioned himself as an advocate for blue-collar workers left behind by the tech elite: Simply last month called automation harmful to workers. Observers were also confused about exactly where the incoming president stood on issues like H-1B visas for foreign tech talent or how he might be swayed by a high-profile adviser to the ubiquitous tech billionaire Elon Musk.

Conference participants did not pay much attention to Trump. Instead, they discussed how to protect against technology that could exploit workers or automate discrimination. Union representatives unanimously urged workers to discuss how artificial intelligence and other forms of technology are being used in the workplace during bargaining. Many also urged workers to become more engaged with technology, considering how to use technology to encourage organizing or creating committees that management should discuss with workers before implementing the technology.

About 150,000 United Food and Commercial Workers union members — people who work at stores like Kroger and Albertsons — and 100,000 National Nurses Union members both will face major automation struggles this year as they negotiate new contracts. As nurses compete with artificial intelligence tools, grocery workers will challenge the role of self-checkout stands, which they say could affect their duty of care and put profits before the health of patients for healthcare and insurance companies.

Corporations have long sold AI to consumers and investors as a technology that will change the world for the better. But gatherings like the conference in Sacramento show that unions are also using AI as a way to empower workers to organize workplaces.

Unions have a steep hill to climb increase membership and the workforce, said Amanda Ballantyne, executive director of the AFL-CIO Tech Institute, but it’s important to include AI in collective bargaining because there are so many use cases for AI in the workplace, and because workers are experts, they have strong opinions about them. in their work and are well aware of the security implications of the new tool.

A number of union representatives argued at the conference that workers must gain and use power to push back against the spread of technology that has the potential to exploit them, visit dignity against them or take their jobs.

A report Data released earlier this year by the UCLA Institute for Latino Policy and Politics found that 4.5 million Californians are in 20 industries at high risk of losing their jobs to automation, and more than half of the high-risk workers are Latino. Automation taking away jobs is a major concern of three out of four Americans A Gallup poll was conducted last yearbut who make predictions about employees, manage employees, or trying to track and measure their every move Annette Bernhardt, director of the UC Berkeley Labor Center, also said there is a big risk. He previously told CalMatters He’s less concerned about finding jobs with AI than he is about algorithms treating people like machines in the workplace.

AI has the potential to reduce discrimination and improve worker health and safety, but it can also lead to job losses, help stifle worker organizing efforts, and increase demands on workers. It has led to higher injury rates in Amazon warehouses.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s executive director and chief negotiator, said AI underscores why it’s important for workers to organize because it forces employers to negotiate the use of AI during contract bargaining rather than unilaterally decide to implement technology in the workplace. can do . But getting such contract provisions requires vision from union leaders, who must craft a message that will resonate with workers and the public.

“We’re up against the biggest corporate interests and the biggest political interests you can imagine, and working together is where our strength comes from,” he said. “Especially because we’re going to face so many challenges at the federal level, in California we can use public policy to advance public bargaining and use collective bargaining to advance public policy.”

Advocates say a lot of technology in the workplace is just employee surveillance, and that’s nothing new. “It’s an old boss with new tools,” said Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor. Three years ago, as an assemblyman, Gonzalez co-authored the law prevents algorithms from denying employees break time or employee safety violations.

Amid uncertainty over how the Trump administration will address union concerns about the technology, Gonzalez told CalMatters last week that he is working with colleagues in other states such as Oregon, Massachusetts and Washington and Wisconsin to protect workers’ privacy in such spaces. passes the law. hack rooms and bathrooms and make sure they know their employer is collecting data on them or tracking their work performance.

California Privacy Protection Agency currently Drafting regulations requiring businesses to inform job applicants and employees when AI is used and allow you to opt out of the collection of case data without consequence. California would be the first state to adopt such regulations, but the regulation is still being debated. So does the California Department of Civil Rights developing rules to protect workers from artificial intelligence that can automate discrimination.

Gonzalez said he does not like to rely on such rules because they can take a long time to finalize and implement. fight to protect workers from hot workplacesa battle that has been going on for the better part of a decade.

Meanwhile, people like Amba Kak see opportunities for employee gains against technological threats, but said it may require picking the right battles strategically. Kak previously advised the Federal Trade Commission and is executive director of the AI ​​Now Institute, a nonprofit researching the impact of technology on human rights.

Seizing these opportunities requires focusing on issues that can bridge the gap between labor and other actors in the tech justice movement. For example, data center activities can bring together people concerned about climate and labor and people in local communities who visit data centers. consumes large amounts of water and energy.

Kak told CalMatters that he plans to focus more on action in state legislatures in places like California and New York. lawmakers are already considering A bill similar to California’s Senate Bill 1047 to protect people from artificial intelligence, A controversial bill requiring artificial intelligence safeguards that Newsom vetoed last year.

“Labor has been at the forefront of rebalancing power and asserting that the public has a say in how and under what circumstances this technology is used,” he said.

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