New report shows how unions can shape the future of AI in the workplace
Press Contact:
Kayla Blado, 240-489-1803, [email protected]
Washington, DC— A new report, Lifting Up Worker Voice on Technology: UNITE HERE’s National Technology Program, released today by UNITE HERE and the AFL-CIO Tech Institute describes UNITE HERE’s comprehensive strategy to shape the implementation of technology adopted in the workplace for hospitality workers through the union’s innovative three-pronged approach combining bargaining, research and efforts to create technology for workers. The report details the achievements of the first eight years of the union’s program which was begun in 2018 by then-UNITE HERE President D. Taylor.
As UNITE HERE President Gwen Mills is quoted in the report, “We live in a time when the richest people in the world are looking to further consolidate their wealth and power, and they are using tech to do it. Almost a decade ago, President Taylor recognized that without worker input, tech innovation was just going to line the pockets of billionaires at the expense of normal working people. We still have a long way to go to achieve technological innovations that uplift all humanity rather than benefit a few, but I believe that we have a model of how to get there.”
“UNITE HERE shows what has been true since the dawn of the labor movement—unions have the power to influence how technology is used in the workplace,” said Lauren McFerran, Executive Director of the AFL-CIO Tech Institute. “At a time when almost all working people are concerned about the potential impact these emerging technologies will have on their lives and livelihoods, our hope is that the UNITE HERE model can assist other unions in confronting the challenges presented by AI and other technology head-on and bargaining for a better future.”
The three main components of UNITE HERE’s technology program are: bargaining over new technology implementation, partnering with academic institutions for research on the latest workplace technology, and collaborating with tech developers to help advance worker-centered technologies. These three strategies work in tandem to advance a vision of technology that supports and uplifts humans at work rather than oppresses and replaces them.
The report recounts three case studies where UNITE HERE worker involvement led to better implementation of technology for workers:
Hotel housekeepers reclaimed control of their work resulting in more efficient and less physically taxing cleaning routes after bargaining over algorithmic management
Collective bargaining transformed vehicle surveillance technology from a potentially disciplinary surveillance tool of management to a technology that supports driver safety and reasonable workloads for union delivery drivers.
Creative use of the grievance process resulted in both the largest arbitration award in the union’s history after drink-making robots were introduced and a financial disincentive to replace workers.
The report quotes Mirtha Rojas, a housekeeper in Las Vegas, “When technology controls workers, they don’t feel good, they get burned out. When workers control technology, they feel more confident and more respected. But to win that respect, the workers have to stand up. We have to take what we know and turn it into power.”
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UNITE HERE is a labor union that represents 300,000 working people across Canada and the United States. UNITE HERE members work in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, transportation, and airport industries. In 2018, the union launched a national program on technology. Since then more than two-thirds of UNITE HERE’s membership has won contractual language that requires employers to negotiate before implementing new technologies.
The AFL-CIO Tech Institute works at the intersection of technological innovation in the workplace, centering worker knowledge, expertise, and interests in our modern innovation-based economy and in public services, with the goal of ensuring that technological change benefits everyone.