Claiming workers’ seat at the AI table

The AFL-CIO’s new Workers First Initiative on AI is a bulwark against big tech companies prioritizing profits over safety and accountability

WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 16, 2025) — Fearing new textile machinery would make their jobs obsolete, some mill workers in 19th century England stormed factories, wrecking knitting frames and steam-powered looms. These workers — the Luddites — saw no way for automation to make their lives easier. While perhaps cathartic, smashing machinery didn’t keep automation out of factories. What could have been possible if these workers had been able to negotiate the use of new tech and mold it into a benefit for working people, not a job killer?

200 years later, new tech is radically changing work once again. Many working people fear the rise of artificial intelligence will displace them from their jobs. Massive tech companies are pouring millions into a lobbying effort to stymie regulation and government oversight, focused on profits rather than responsible implementation and use of tech that is rife with the possibility to harm both users and society at large. A growing movement led by workers united together in the labor movement has emerged, pushing for a voice in the creation, use, and finetuning of technology like AI, recognizing the possibilities for improving working peoples’ quality of life — if workers have a say.

That’s the philosophy behind the Workers First Initiative on AI, announced by the AFL-CIO on Wednesday. It’s the first comprehensive labor movement agenda establishing principles on the tech, intended as a blueprint for how employers and legislators can advance AI implementation in the workplace to the benefit of working people and the U.S. economy. Developed with input from workers and unions across industries and public services, the Initiative also includes a nationwide education and mobilization program, in line with the AFL-CIO’s AI taskforce and Technology Institute.

“No one understands how to build the future of work better than America’s labor movement,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler in a statement announcing the Initiative. “We reject the false choice between American competitiveness on the world stage and respecting workers’ rights and dignity. We know that for AI—or any other technology—to truly boost our economy, it needs to benefit everyone, not just a select few at the top. That’s why I’m thrilled to launch the Workers First Initiative on AI, which will advance the labor movement’s vision for this technology and a path forward for equitable, human-centered innovation in our workplaces and communities.”

The Initiative outlines guiding principles that can be implemented in policy decisions: strengthen collective bargaining rights over AI, promote copyright protections, institutionalize worker voice in AI research and development, support worker-centered training programs, require transparency and accountability from AI applications, and more.

These are principles with significant backing from the public. Polling indicates nearly 80% of Americans want guardrails on AI, even if those guardrails slow development. More than three dozen state legislatures, including Washington’s, have grappled with the issue of AI regulation in recent years, even as some in the federal government have tried to block states from doing so. Regardless of action at the federal level, states are increasingly considering AI policy; this new AFL-CIO initiative is a resource for worker advocates fighting for fair, safe, responsible, and worker-centered new tech.

“Workers are experts, and our voices must be front and center in any conversation about the future of work,” said Cherika Carter, Secretary Treasurer of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. “As a leader in Washington state advancing labor’s voice in AI, I’m energized to see our collective power shaping this national agenda. In partnership with our affiliates and the AFL-CIO Technology Institute, these national principles will bolster our work here in Washington ensuring AI deployment advances job quality, racial equity, and worker power.”