Because artificial intelligence (AI) is developing so quickly, the workplace is changing dramatically. There are both opportunities and problems for trade unions as AI continues to transform sectors and job functions. Trade unions must change and adapt to this shifting environment in order to safeguard the interests of their members and guarantee that AI is applied for the good of workers.
AI’s Effects: A Double-Edged Sword
Trade union members will be significantly impacted by AI, both positively and negatively. Automation driven by AI has the potential to replace some jobs, especially those that need routine or repetitive tasks. For certain employees, this may result in disruption and job loss. However, AI might also lead to the creation of new jobs in areas like AI development, deployment, and maintenance. AI may also change how things are done at work, so employees will need to adjust to new workflows and technologies.
Trade unions taking proactive measures
Trade unions have a number of proactive options to lessen AI’s drawbacks and maximise its advantages. Trade unions may safeguard the interests of their members and guarantee that AI is applied responsibly in the workplace by negotiating with employers, promoting regulatory frameworks, and assisting with worker organising.
In order to resolve AI-related issues like job displacement and worker surveillance, it is crucial to engage in negotiations with employers. In order to minimise job losses and guarantee that employees are not subjected to unjust monitoring or control, trade unions and employers can collaborate to create plans for using AI.
To help workers adjust to new technology, it’s also critical to promote upskilling and reskilling initiatives. Trade unions may assist workers in using new opportunities and remaining competitive in the labour market by equipping them with the necessary skills to work with AI systems.
Trade unions can also advocate for laws that guarantee AI is applied sensibly at work. Promoting laws and rules that safeguard employees’ rights, stop algorithmic prejudice, and encourage openness and accountability in AI decision-making are a few examples of how to do this.
Protecting Workers’ Rights
To ensure that AI benefits workers, trade unions must also prioritize protecting workers’ rights. This includes monitoring AI implementation in the workplace to ensure it is fair and transparent, addressing algorithmic bias, and promoting worker participation in AI decision-making processes.
By monitoring AI implementation, trade unions can identify potential problems and work with employers to address them. This could include ensuring that AI systems are designed to promote fairness and equity, and that workers are not unfairly impacted by AI-driven decisions.
The last step in ensuring that AI benefits workers is encouraging worker participation in AI decision-making processes. By involving workers in the design and implementation of AI systems, trade unions can help ensure that AI is used to enhance human skills rather than control or change workers. Addressing algorithmic unfairness is also critical because, if not carefully designed, AI systems can spread the prevailing unfairness and disparities.
In conclusion, encouraging employee involvement in AI decision-making is key to assuring AI’s positive effects on workers. Through worker participation in AI system design and implementation, trade unions may help in security that AI is employed to enhance human skills rather than to change or control workers.
An Improved Prospect for Employees
Trade unions may safeguard the future and employment of their people in the AI era by being proactive. By cooperating and adjusting to the growing environment, trade unions may pledge AI is useful to workers’ advantage rather than rising already-existing disparities.
Although the nature of labour in the future is unpredictable, one thing is certain: trade unions will play a significant role in determining how AI affects workers. In order to prosper in the AI era and keep up their support of workers’ rights and interests, trade unions must embrace the potential and difficulties that AI presents.
In conclusion, Trade unions must put their workers’ interests first and make sure AI is applied to workers’ advantage as we navigate the evolving nature of the workplace. A better future for workers in the AI era can be created by trade unions through proactive measures, defending workers’ rights, and advancing justice and equity.
Together, we can make sure that AI is not used to replace or control labour, but rather to enhance human skills. A future where workers prosper and AI is utilised to advance society as a whole can be achieved by embracing the opportunities and difficulties that AI presents.
Work’s future is uncertain, but we can create a better future for workers in the AI era if we take the correct approach. By putting workers’ interests first, defending their rights, and encouraging justice and equity, we can make sure AI is applied to the advantage of both workers and society at large.
Article by: Philip Karikari Sarpong
Member Union : Public Services Workers Union of TUC Ghana.
Country: Ghana
Thoughtful quote and indeed it would help workers in Ghana. For those who are already into the studies of AI it would improve efficiency at their various place of work.
Comment by Virjesh Upadhyay, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS):
This article rightly highlights the transformative impact of AI on the world of work and the imperative role of trade unions in shaping that transformation. At Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, we believe that technology, when guided by ethical and inclusive principles, can be a force for empowerment rather than exclusion.
As AI-driven automation advances, trade unions must not limit themselves to resistance but rise as constructive partners in the transition — ensuring that no worker is left behind. Worker involvement in the design, deployment, and oversight of AI systems is critical. It is also essential to uphold data dignity, prevent algorithmic bias, and resist any surveillance mechanisms that threaten workers’ autonomy or rights.
We must work collectively to promote a future of work rooted in Bharatiya values of harmony, fairness, and dignity of labour. Reskilling and upskilling are important, but they must be coupled with a framework that places human well-being at the center of technological progress.
This is not merely a technological shift — it is a socio-economic turning point. Trade unions, especially in India, must seize this moment to lead with vision, wisdom, and courage. Let AI not be a tool of exclusion but a means to enrich the lives and livelihoods of workers.