Microsoft, AFL-CIO reach deal on AI,
labor neutrality
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[December 12, 2023]
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Microsoft and the AFL-CIO union federation said
Monday they had struck a deal whereby the U.S. software giant will
remain neutral in efforts by unions to encourage workers to become
members. |
A Microsoft sign at the U.S. tech giant's offices in Issy-les-Moulineaux,
near Paris, France, January 25, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo |
The
two sides will also work together on the future of artificial
intelligence, in a first-of-its-kind partnership on AI and the
future of the workforce as business and labor grapple with the
impact of the technology.
Microsoft President Brad Smith told Reuters the "neutrality
agreement provides a high-level of commitment and clarity as to
how we'll work with the AFL-CIO and its affiliates if we have
employees or even employees of suppliers who want to pursue the
formation of a union."
The AFL-CIO is the largest federation of unions in the United
States made up of 60 unions representing about 12.5 million
workers.
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said Microsoft's position was in
stark contrast to other tech companies that aggressively fought
efforts to unionize. "Their positioning is -- if workers want to
organize we shouldn't stand in their way," Shuler said. "Every
company basically fights us when workers want to organize."
Microsoft previously agreed to a legally-binding labor
neutrality agreement when Activision Blizzard employees
expressed interest in joining a union as part of Microsoft's
acquisition of the company.
Microsoft has a major partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI and
committed to pumping more than $10 billion into the startup.
Surging popularity of so-called generative AI, which uses data
to create new content like ChatGPT's human-sounding prose, could
remake human society and make obsolete many jobs.
Smith said it was important for tech companies to design AI
"with the needs of workers in mind and for workers to have a
voice and provide feedback that influences the direction this
technology takes."
Both the union and AFL-CIO have agreed to work jointly on public
policy to ensure workers have the skills "as the country moves
into the future."
Shuler and Smith are holding a joint event Monday about AI and
work. The goal of AI is to "boost the productivity of workers,
reduces the drudgery in jobs" and translates those efficiency
gains in higher standards of living, Smith said.
Shuler said workers want a voice in how AI gets deployed "and do
I have a future pathway if indeed my job gets downgraded."
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Susan Fenton)
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