5th Annual Labor Innovation & Technology Summit Brings Labor Movement Victories and Opportunities to the Forefront

The 5th Annual Labor Innovation & Technology Summit, hosted by SAG-AFTRA and the AFL-CIO, returned to Las Vegas Jan. 9-10. This year’s two-day summit took place with sponsorships across several union organizations, including IATSE, the American Federation of Teachers and UNITE HERE. The Jan. 9 panels were livestreamed for the general public, with discussions the following day made available to in-person attendees only.

Since its inception, the Labor Innovation & Technology Summit has brought union leaders, workers and subject-matter experts together to discuss the impact of technology across a multitude of industries, and the necessity of workers being active participants in conversations about the future of work. The summit also coincides with CES, an annual tech showcase that’s one of the world’s largest trade shows. 

Noted guest speakers included:

• Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie Su.
• Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights Chief Executive Officer and President Maya Wiley.
• Data and Society Executive Director Janet Haven.
• Center for Democracy and Technology Senior Policy Counsel for Workers’ Rights and Technology Matt Scherer.
• Herbert A. Simon Professor in Computer Science and HCII, and the Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University Jodi Forlizzi.

Much of the conversation during this year’s event presented a slight shift in focus. In past events, technological advancements, particularly artificial intelligence, have been discussed as potential disruptors to work. However, many speakers on Jan. 9 not only noted the increased presence of technology in their industries but identified it as a direct cause of the rapid changes currently taking place in today’s workforce. 

In the Workers Rights in the Age of Tech panel, SAG-AFTRA Executive Vice President Linda Powell noted the ongoing effects of technology in Hollywood, saying, “We’ve been dealing with the streaming industry in a way that it’s changed the way everything gets distributed. [But] generative A.I. remains hard to … wrap contract language around; it’s hard to wrap legal language around. I think the biggest threat for actors with generative A.I. is if it’ll ever become something that can replace a performer, and I think that remains to be seen.”

AFL-CIO California Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher also discussed the long-term impact of self-driving vehicles in California during the Technology in the Face of Worker and Civil Rights panel.

“There is now a two-tier status, where delivery and rideshare drivers don’t have the same rights as other workers. A vast majority of those drivers are Black, brown and immigrant, so you suddenly have this system where those workers don’t have the same rights … [and] they don’t have a right to organize. What companies are trying to do is totally eliminate workers, and it is ultimately a civil rights issue.” 

However, despite conversations surrounding these and other real-world issues, the summit served as an opportunity to celebrate the recent gains made within the labor movement, particularly during 2023. SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America were congratulated for the successes of their respective strikes against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, and during the Workers Winning in the Age of Tech and A.I. Goes to Hollywood 2024 panels, leaders from both unions provided insight into the factors contributing to their success, including their utilization of digital platforms as a method of engaging members and allies. 

“One of the things that we really benefited from this time was social media,” said SAG-AFTRA Chief Communications & Marketing Officer Pamela Greenwalt. “We have a lot of members that are already extremely [active] online and journalist members, [and] some of them have tens of thousands of followers, so we have a built-in network that’s ready to go and that’s critical to organizing. … But the most powerful thing that we had was not technology, but the solidarity and unity and power of the people.”

As technological advances continue to transform labor across multiple industries, the summit served as a needed venue to capitalize off the momentum built in previous years. Some notable objectives included further engaging policymakers to regulate the proliferation of new technologies and supporting key legislation, including the Nurture Originals, Foster Art and Keep Entertainment Safe, or NO FAKES, Act.

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten’s suggestion to work with developers and corporations to better understand the technologies stood out among the speakers as an emerging tactic. 

Speaking from the AFT’s experience with an education technology developer, Weingarten said, “We have to engage in a real way. We have to engage in design, but we also have to engage in educating ourselves. …If we do not understand how to master these tools and have the power [to be] a voice at the table, human beings will not run the world of machines. Our opportunity moment is that human beings need to run the world. 

“It’s not simply collective bargaining, but it is society. We, as a labor movement who represent the workers of society and civilized society, have an obligation to harness what we see so that human beings will run this world,” she said.

The full Jan. 9 livestream is available on the SAG-AFTRA YouTube channel and at sagaftra.org/videos. 

The views expressed by the guests are their own and not that of SAG-AFTRA. Any mention of products or services does not imply SAG-AFTRA’s endorsement.