Public workers seek right to bargain AI use

With potential for sweeping impacts to essential services, public workers are fighting for the right to bargain over the use of AI in the workplace

OLYMPIA, WA (February 4, 2025) — AI has the potential to be a powerful tool to improve jobs. But AI is still emerging technology and poses threats of outsourcing, poor quality outputs, and the possibility for discrimination within AI tools. Particularly concerning is how AI could impact public sector jobs and the essential services we all rely on.

Currently, public workers in Washington can’t bargain over the use of technology in the workplace, including AI, under the management rights statute in RCW 41.80. But workers are seeking to change that AI restriction this year, with a bill in the State Legislature (HB 1622/SB 5422). Their solution? Let public employees’ unions bargain over the implementation of AI in government workplaces, enabling workers to negotiate use as it comes up and with all the information possible, without hindering development with restrictive laws.

The bill removing the AI bargaining barrier is up for a hearing in House Labor & Workplace Standards on Wednesday, February 5 at 8:00 a.m. Public workers are urging supporters to sign-in PRO on Hb 1622 before Wednesday morning. 

AI is constantly changing, and we have no way to anticipate all the changes that will be made in the future. We’ve recently seen how United Healthcare used AI to decide whether health insurance would cover medical costs, with an error rate of over 90%. Workers were laid off and replaced with decision-making AI that then harmed patients. Bargaining is a check and balance on the power of management to impact our jobs and lives. Workers deserve a voice in these unprecedented technology decisions, especially when critical public services are on the line.

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