Layoffs have already come for tens of thousands of tech workers this year, and more are on the way. For the workers who remain, their work is increasingly about training AI models and justifying the massive investments corporations have made in the technology. No better time than now to unionize the workforce, don’t you think?
Unions in tech are rare (to be fair, they’re unfortunately rare everywhere). And while their absence is often attributed to the big compensation packages and “entrepreneurial spirit” that define working in the Valley, it’s probably more attributable to the fact that tech firms are extremely aggressive in sniffing out organizing efforts and carrying out union-busting tactics.
But now, tech firms continue to cut staff (LinkedIn is reportedly starting a 5% reduction to its workforce) and pretty much openly threaten to kick as many employees as they can to the curb in favor of AI, it might be worth it for employees to band together.
It sure seems like tech workers are interested in the kinds of things a union would fight for. According to a recent AFL-CIO poll of more than 1,500 Americans, a significant majority of respondents showed support for a ‘pro-worker AI policy agenda”—including nine in 10 who support requiring a human to be the final decisionmaker on any issues that affect individual workers and their employment, advancing guardrails against harmful uses of AI in the workplace, and requiring transparency and accountability when employers use AI.
Those are all protections you can probably safely assume employees at Meta would love to have. According to Reuters, there is a grassroots movement within the company’s offices to push back against the recent announcement that Meta is subjecting its workers to tracking software on their computers that records mouse movements and keystrokes to help train AI agents to perform specific work tasks. In response to the invasive tracking, employees are reportedly distributing flyers and circulating a petition to drum up opposition to the surveillance tech.
While Meta employees are pushing back with a call for noncompliance, Amazon employees are on the other end of the spectrum, utilizing malicious compliance. The Financial Times reported on Tuesday that Amazon employees are excessively automating tasks to artificially inflate their token consumption and make it look like they are using AI more than they actually are, because it’s one of their bosses’ favorite metrics.
Instead of doing all that, the employees could unionize and collectively bargain for protections. It’ll be an uphill battle, and employees will almost certainly be subject to retribution from ownership. But let’s be real, these companies are already using bullshit excuses to cut staff. Might as well band together and give yourselves a fighting chance.
That AFL-CIO poll found that just 17% of workers trust Democratic lawmakers to fight for protections from AI, 10% trust Republicans, and 6% trust their own employers. Nearly 2 in 5, though, trust labor unions—more than double the level of trust shown in any other institution. If you can’t trust anyone else, trust each other. It’s really all you’ve got left.
