SAG-AFTRA and AFL-CIO Host 5th Annual Labor Innovation and Technology Summit to Empower Tomorrow's Workforce

Today, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the AFL-CIO Tech Institute, and Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) co-hosted their fifth annual Labor Innovation and Technology Summit. Across two days, the Labor Innovation and Technology Summit convenes movement leaders and workers to discuss and develop strategies to ensure ethical technology adoption and center workers at the heart of emerging technologies.

The Summit coincided with CES 2024 in Las Vegas — one of the world’s largest tech trade shows. As corporate CEOs unveiled A.I.-powered tech, labor and civil rights leaders, technology experts and government officials tackled broader strategies at the Summit to ensure the values and wellbeing of working people direct the development and implementation of these emerging technologies.

Through strikes, negotiations and labor-management partnerships, in 2023, unions solidified our powerful role in mediating the potential harms of technology like A.I. while ensuring workers benefit from its capacity to provide support and assist creatively. “In 2023, the labor movement demonstrated its capacity to confront corporate greed and champion responsible technology implementation across various industries. As CES unveils the latest gadgets, the Labor Innovation and Technology Summit reveals what really makes technology valuable: the humans behind it,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “We cannot fulfill the potential of innovation without the voices and values of working people. Whether organizing the tech industry, developing tech itself, or shaping the workforce of the future, the labor movement will continue to lead the way towards accountable and equitable innovation.”

“When SAG-AFTRA co-founded this summit six years ago, it was to ensure that technology and innovation across sectors centered working people in the conversation around ethical and responsible adoption of technology. These are vital conversations to have as A.I. technology impacts human life in the coming decade. Big corporations work proactively to foresee all the ways technology can be exploited to increase their profit and power. The labor movement must be equally proactive in driving the discourse around tech’s implications for people in the workforce. Technology can be implemented in ways that make people’s lives better, or it can further increase the wealth of the already extremely wealthy. The LIT Summit is where we can explore what kind of future we need and how we’re going to get there,” said SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland.

Last year, fears around A.I. dominated the minds of American workers, while public support for unions rose to near-record highs. Leveraging the momentum of major union victories — from increased wages to technological protections and labor partnerships with A.I. developers — unions are prepared to lead in 2024 as the countervailing force against corporate interests that for too long dictated the direction of technology and its impact on America’s workforce.

The Summit boasted a historic level of union sponsorship from 11 additional unions across diverse industries: the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE); American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME); American Federation of Teachers (AFT); The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA); Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU); International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE); National Nurses United (NNU); Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD); Transport Workers Union of America (TWU); the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the United States, Canada (UA); and UNITE HERE.

Other notable guests at the Summit included:

• Julie Su, Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor.
• Maya Wiley, President and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
• Janet Haven, Executive Director of Data and Society.
• Matt Scherer, Senior Policy Counsel for Workers’ Rights and Technology at Center for Democracy and Technology.
• Jodi Forlizzi, 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.

At the Labor Innovation and Technology Summit, labor leaders spoke to the unique role unions play within a new era of A.I. and outlined strategies for continued collective victories to ensure working people reap the gains of technological innovation.

The Summit took place Tuesday, Jan. 9, to Wednesday, Jan. 10, with Tuesday’s programming open to the public both in-person and via livestream.

On Tuesday, panelists discussed lessons from hard-won labor victories, collective bargaining strategies, and technological impacts on workers and society. On Wednesday, labor leaders participated in collaborative breakout sessions to identify shared strategies across industries to empower workers in a tech-driven future:

“Educators, public employees, and health care professionals help people build better lives, make our economy stronger, and sustain a vibrant and functional democracy,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “We’re also on the front lines of preparing the next generation, helping them gain the skills they need to get jobs. That’s why harnessing new technologies, including advocating for its fair and transparent use, and ensuring workers’ rights and dignity are maintained in an increasingly automated and digitized work environment is part of our DNA. The Labor Innovation and Technology Summit is an important opportunity for unions and our other partners to discuss ethical approaches to emerging technologies in our workplace and our society. Working folks are the ones leading us through this work, and our voices must be part of the conversation.”

“We are at a technological crossroads, with the rights and economic security of workers at risk. At the Amalgamated Transit Union, the LIT summit is important because technology and A.I. impact our members’ lives. Transit workers keep our towns and cities moving. In a world where technology and automation seem to advance at an unprecedented pace, we remain the irreplaceable human touch. We’re the eyes and ears of our communities. We’re here to say we won’t be left behind. Together we can ensure A.I. benefits workers and the people we serve. Our voices matter,” said ATU International President John Costa.

“Technology’s rapid evolution is changing every part of the economy and workplace, creating new challenges and opportunities for workers across the country,” said Everett Kelley, AFGE National President. “That’s why it is so important we take advantage of events like this summit to come together, share information and strategies, and set a course that will ensure working people get their fair share of the prosperity created by the new technologies.” “Given the timing and rapid deployment of artificial intelligence in the entertainment industry, The Labor Innovation and Technology Summit and CES may be the most important technology trade shows we’ve ever attended. We’re proud to cosponsor the event, continue collaborating with our allies as well as identifying emerging technologies which could threaten IATSE sisters, brothers, and kins’ livelihoods,” said Matthew D. Loeb, International President, IATSE.

“Nurses are all for tech that enhances quality of patient care, but we will never be silent as our employers try to automate what we do for our patients, who all deserve expert, hands-on care and human compassion,” said Jean Ross, RN and President of NNU. “We know that, through collective action and labor solidarity, workers have the power to determine how A.I. and tech shows up in our economy and in our professions. We’re feeling empowered and energized after this week’s movement-wide discussion on how workers can win in the face of tech and A.I.”

“Technological change has always been a hallmark of the transportation sector and it always will be. But the pace of technological change we are seeing today is unparalleled in human history, and requires a labor movement that can equally adapt,” said AFL-CIO TTD Chief of Staff Matthew Colvin, who was recently selected to serve on the Department of Transportation's Transformation Transportation Advisory Committee to help shape a federal approach to innovation in transportation sectors. “The Labor Innovation and Technology Summit is an opportunity for us to do exactly that, and to remind tech companies that unions expect to be partners in innovation. By centering the voices of workers in the heart of the conversation about innovation and technology, we can guarantee that we are not bystanders to that change. Harnessing workers’ expertise is the only way to ensure that technological advancements enhance safety, efficiency and the overall success of our transportation systems.”

“Organized labor is the only real bulwark that working men and women have as this torrent of new technology races towards us. It’s absolutely critical that unions come together to share information and strategize on how to protect our members’ ability to earn a living and take care of their families. No one else is going to do it, certainly not disingenuous profit-mongers seeking to make obscene profits by developing ways for companies to reduce, or completely eliminate, headcount. It’s up to the labor movement,” said TWU International President John Samuelsen.

“With corporations clamoring to use A.I. and other technology to either automate away jobs or shift the work onto consumers, it’s up to the labor movement to ensure workers have a seat at the table, so that technology improves lives for workers and the public,” said UNITE HERE President D. Taylor. “This last year, UNITE HERE is proud to be one of the unions that led the way in securing new labor contracts with the strongest language on technology protections to date. This year’s Summit will continue the conversation for how we can keep winning around innovation for working-class people everywhere.”

About SAG-AFTRA

SAG-AFTRA represents approximately 160,000 actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists and other entertainment and media professionals. SAG-AFTRA members are the faces and voices that entertain and inform America and the world. A proud affiliate of the AFL-CIO, SAG-AFTRA has national offices in Los Angeles and New York and local offices nationwide representing members working together to secure the strongest protections for entertainment and media artists into the 21st century and beyond. Visit SAG-AFTRA online at SAGAFTRA.org.