Bringing Humanity Back to Workers: How the Labor Movement Must Address Data and Technology

Technology has changed the nature of work in many ways, and while some of those shifts have led to more innovations and efficiencies, it has also led to greater exploitation and dehumanization of workers. 

To explore this subject in more detail, the 3rd Annual Labor Innovation & Technology Summit hosted Big Data, Surveillance & Discrimination on Feb. 19. Panelists included AFL-CIO Data Analytics & Infrastructure Resource Executive Director Michelle Penson, Coworker.org co-founder and Co-Executive Director Michelle Miller, Data & Society Program Director, Labor Futures Aiha Nguyen, and David Mertz, assistant to the president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. AFL-CIO Technology Institute Director Amanda Ballantyne moderated the panel. Together, the group discussed how technology and data collecting is negatively impacting work and reinforcing gender and racial biases, as well as the importance of the labor movement’s efforts to protect and rehumanize workers through organizing and policymaking. 

Check out the full panel here:

Click below to watch more sessions from the summit.

• Welcome & Introduction by SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris 
• Straight to Streaming: Pandemic Strategy or New Normal? 
• Volumetric Video and the Future of Entertainment   
• Streaming & the Changing Business Model  
• Deepfakes Update  
• From Gaming to Dubbing: What’s Hot in VO  
• 10 Game Changers from CES   
• Realigning Technology & Humanity  
• Centering Unions in the Future of Work  
• Innovation & the Pandemic: What’s Next for Essential Workers? 
• Covering Content Innovators: SAG-AFTRA’s New Influencer Agreement 

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.