This week, Amazon Web Services suffered a major outage. You may have noticed some of your favourite apps malfunctioning. A large portion of the internet was affected – exposing our dependence on providers like Amazon.
Our daily lives are infiltrated with technology, from our money (think ewallet and Mpesa) to scheduling shifts at work to interacting with our friends and family. AI (artificial intelligence) is a major disrupter to the tech industry. We often use the term AI as a blanket term for algorithmic management, big data mining, and other big technological changes that are affecting not only our personal lives but working lives as well.
But the questions most relevant to workers’ organisations are:
How do employers use technology? And how does this technology affect workers?
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has just launched a report titled Artificial Intelligence: What are the implications for trade unions? The paper explores the different ‘types’ of AI, and what challenges these different types of AI bring for workers. It informs policy and trade union strategy in the face of this invisible “employer”.
The report highlights potential negative impacts on the number of jobs, risks to privacy, the increased opacity of work rules and managerial decision making, as well as more indirect impacts relating to increased hierarchy and formalisation of discipline.
Making the distinction between the different application of AI and technology is vital when going into bargaining, as the report states:
For example, workers may use generative AI to do work, while employers may use AI based systems to make hiring, performance evaluation, or work allocation decisions.
These different uses may need to be addressed separately in the context of collective bargaining and regulation.
I encourage you to read about what unions are doing across the globe to mitigate the negative effects on workers, including this story from America – a union bargained to be warned of any big technological changes six months before the company implements changes, giving the union and workers time to adjust for the change.
The ITUC report comes at a turning point – how we negotiate now will determine how these technologies shape our future and that of workers to come.
The key policy recommendations from the report focus on ensuring worker rights, transparency, and shared economic benefits:
- Any economic gains from productivity increases must be shared with workers in the form of improved working conditions, higher wages, and reduced working hours.
- Trade unions, worker organisations and other stakeholders must be involved in planning and managing the adoption of AI.
- Existing anti-discrimination laws must be enforced and strengthened regarding AI use.
- Decisions made by algorithms must be transparent and have human oversight.
- AI monitoring should be limited to exceptional circumstances (like occupational health and safety) and there should be explicit bans on surveillance tools that interfere with union activities.
- Negotiate strategies to handle potential job displacement, like job creation, worker redeployment, access to upskilling and reskilling opportunities, and strong social protections.
- Promote the inclusion of AI and digital skills in all training.
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