IndustriAll Europe adopts a trade union strategy to tackle AI at work

This strategy comes at the perfect time, straight after the confirmation of Executive Vice-President for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs and Preparedness, Roxana Mînzatu, who was asked in her mission letter “to focus on the impact of digitalisation in the world of work” with “an initiative on algorithmic management”.

The strategy is part of the ‘AI package’ adopted by the Executive Committee, which includes: the AI Policy Brief, presenting an industrial policy approach, the practical recommendations on AI for EWC coordinators, and the study on AI in selected industrial sectors carried out by Syndex. 

 It highlights that AI and digitalisation are neither black nor white for workers, as there is no technological determinism leading to good or bad jobs. The outcome for workers will depend on how AI is shaped and used at all levels: from the legal framework, through regulation, to a tailor-made approach through social dialogue and collective bargaining by the social partners, especially at sectoral and company level.

Isabelle Barthès, industriAll Europe’s Deputy General Secretary said: “Both an adequate legal framework and constructive social dialogue are needed to ensure that AI leads to quality jobs. Regarding the legal framework, industriAll Europe welcomed the AI Act but criticised its limitations when it comes to workers’ protection, in particular regarding algorithmic management. 

“The first ever piece of legislation to regulate algorithmic management with AI at the workplace is the EU Platform Directive, but its provisions apply only to the platform economy. An initiative that applies to all sectors is urgently needed and we hope Executive Vice-President Mînzatu will deliver on this point in her mission letter.

“As regulation cannot solve everything, our trade union strategy presents guidance on how trade unions during social dialogue with employers can address the impact of AI systems at work, securing workers’ rights in the face of this rapidly evolving technology.”

The strategy starts by analysing the key risks for workers that AI can lead to in industrial sectors:

1.    Risks related to health & safety and the weakening of workers’ autonomy:
Syndex’s study highlights that automation has not necessarily made work easier. While it has reduced the physical arduousness of work, it has increased the cognitive load, leading to higher psychosocial risk, feelings of fatigue and even burnout.

2.    Risks of deskilling, weakening of know-how and dehumanisation of practices:
In the manufacturing sectors, AI has been reported to be associated with the deskilling of workers, especially those with intermediate qualifications. This creates a dangerous polarisation between high-skilled and low-skilled workers, which can lead to wage polarisation, accentuating wage stagnation for intermediate qualifications.
Syndex’s study also points out that, since the automation of production stages, fewer people are working in the same teams. However, collective work is only reduced in appearance because it has simply become more informal, and it often takes place outside working hours. Collective work needs spaces to exist during working hours, planned according to shifts. Otherwise, it risks being invisible.

3.    Risks of surveillance & monitoring, and union-busting:
A recent OECD study shows that workers are increasingly concerned about the privacy of their data. Intrusive monitoring and misuse of personal data are becoming wide-spread, also in the manufacturing sectors, with examples like Boeing or Tesla. The latter have used security cameras and other monitoring tools to track their workers’ activities, including union-related discussions and meetings. While in Europe, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has proven its value in protecting citizens’ private data, but it also has limitations when it comes to tackling the challenges of algorithmic management.

IndustriAll Europe’s paper proposes key building blocks that a trade union strategy should include to tackle AI at the workplace andensure good quality jobs. It aims to encourage national affiliates, who have not yet done so to address this topic and develop their own AI strategies tailored to their own national context. The building blocks are:

1.    Information and consultation
The OECD study shows that the solution for a positive deployment and use of AI at the workplace lies in the involvement of workers through their union. AI tends to have a more positive impact when workers are consulted about the introduction of the new technology and are trained to use it effectively.

2.    Social dialogue and collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is not only about securing better wages and improving working conditions, it is also about ensuring a fair digital and green twin transition. Collective agreements tackle AI by ensuring:
•    Transparency and explainability of AI
•    Human-in-control principle and clear accountability for decisions taken by AI
•    Access to training for all workers to acquire the necessary digital skills
•    Justification: Respect of human dignity and data protection
•    Clear red lines for unethical AI systems impacting fundamental rights, workers’ rights and privacy as part of the main component of trustworthy AI

The 2020 European Social Partners Framework Agreement on Digitalisation already includes some of the provisions listed above and needs to be implemented in all Member States.

3.    Building trade union digital power and capacities
Trade unions must step up their efforts in the digitalisation of trade union activities and digital organising, including by using AI tools. Trade unions need to complement their organising strategies in companies with an online digital strategy. The ETUC has recently published a Digital Revolution Toolkit which sets out how unions can gain visibility, recruit, activate and retain members through digital campaigning.