By Olivia Olander and Nick Niedzwiadek

AFL-CIO AND AI: Unions aren’t taking their eyes off AI.

While high profile strikes among actors and writers have put concerns about artificially generated work into headlines for months, AFL-CIO’s Tech Institute in the past week started to convene a labor table with a range of its affiliates about artificial intelligence policy and regulation, institute deputy director Arohi Pathak told Shift.

The planned biweekly meetings add on to the institute’s work on digital technology and automation’s impact on the workforce since 2021, and a growing emphasis within the federation on new forms of AI.

“We want to make sure that worker voice, that Worker experience is centered in this work as it develops,” Pathak said.

That’s particularly important given President Joe Biden’s investments in job creation, she said. (The administration has faced some union pushback on its workforce investments with regard to more analog issues, such as the UAW’s criticism of a loan for battery plants that it saw as unfavorable to workers.)

Though its leaders stress they aren’t anti-tech, AFL-CIO has also been quick to point out the ways they see AI as a threat to worker privacy and employment — and even as potentially deepening wage inequality, it suggested in the federation’s report on executive pay last week.

Also at play are concerns about getting employers to the negotiating table on the issue, other organizers have said, particularly as both employers and unions are in some cases encountering negotiations on advanced digital technology for the first time.

“There’s unions that are just starting to figure out that this is going to impact them, and are trying to figure out how they bargain for better working conditions under this kind of new economy,” Pathak said.

GOOD MORNING. It’s Monday, Aug. 7. Welcome back to Morning Shift, your go-to tipsheet on labor and employment-related immigration. It’s been 146 days since the Senate received Julie Su’s nomination. Send feedback, tips, and exclusives to [email protected] and [email protected]. Follow us on X at @nickniedz and @oliviaolanderr.

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SCOTT BACKS RULEMAKING: The top Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee said he welcomes the Biden administration’s efforts to draw up new rules aimed at improving rights and protections for workers that have some businesses on edge.

“Simply put, it is a false choice to suggest that we can either have a strong economy or one that treats workers with dignity and respect,” Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) said in a statement to POLITICO.

The Labor Department, National Labor Relations Board and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission are entering a key stretch of time as the fall approaches to implement a host of progressive priorities with big ramifications for the economy. Biden’s appointees at the three key agencies are under the gun to get these rules and regulations out the door to deliver on the president’s agenda ahead of the 2024 elections — particularly as the divided Congress leaves few opportunities for legislative achievements on labor and workplace issues.

“We should all agree that we must do everything in our power to end the wage theft, workplace discrimination, and threats to workers’ right to organize that have exacted devastating costs on workers, families, law-abiding businesses, and our economy,” Scott said.

ANOTHER PUSH ON CARE: A coalition of labor and progressive groups are launching a $50 million campaign to prioritize policy on care, labor leaders announced Friday.

The “Care Can’t Wait” campaign, first reported by NBC News, will try to bring back to the table policies including universal child care, spending for child care and senior care, guaranteed paid family and medical leave. Those policies have received support from President Joe Biden and many Democrats during his administration, but have failed to make it into law.

Acronyms involved: SEIU, AFT, AFSCME and AFL-CIO and others, NBC reports.

FIRST IN SHIFT: The AFL-CIO and several of its largest affiliates are teaming up with civil rights leaders to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the famed 1963 March on Washington.

“Today, far too many working families, particularly in communities of color, cannot make ends meet or do not have access to a life-sustaining job, and that is unacceptable,” AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond, the first Black man to hold the organization's second-highest position, said in a statement. “We have an urgent responsibility to leverage the power of the civil rights and labor movements to sustain real progress for workers.”

Organized labor and civil rights have a heavily overlapping history, and the AFL-CIO has in the past timed other initiatives to coincide with key anniversaries. This time around the federation, along with unions like AFSCME and AFT, is partnering with civil rights leaders to put on this year’s events, scheduled for Aug. 26.

‘YES, WE’RE DEMANDING DOUBLE DIGIT PAY RAISES’: United Auto Workers is asking for a major pay bump in impending negotiations with automakers, as well as additional protections on plant closures, new union President Shawn Fain told members last week.

Specifically, the union wants a 46 percent wage increase over four years, bringing the union’s top wage to $47.14, The Detroit News reports. They’re also asking for protections during plant closures, according to the union.

“I’ll be giving the Big Three the most audacious and ambitious list of proposals they’ve seen in decades,” Fain said in a video, emphasizing the gaps between automaker’s chief executives’ wage gains compared to his members.

GM seemed to agree, at least, that the demands were bold: “The breadth and scope of the Presidential Demands, at face value, would threaten our ability to do what’s right for the long-term benefit of the team,” General Motors said in a statement. 

More union news: “America’s Truckers, Cargo Pilots and Package Carriers Are Fed Up,” from The Wall Street Journal.

Even more: “Google Illegally Cut AI-Editing Contract Staffers, Union Alleges,” from Bloomberg Law.

TEMP LAW IN EFFECT: Temporary workers in New Jersey have new protections, after parts of the state’s so-called “Temporary Workers Bill of Rights” went into effect Saturday.

Among the newest provisions: Temporary workers covered by the law can’t be paid less than the average pay of other employees doing the same work. Staffing firms are on the hook for safety in any work-related transportation they provide. And temp agencies can't restrict temps from accepting permanent positions.

The changes came after years of workers lobbying for greater protections. Some said they became “perma-temps” that worked for the same client for years without full employee benefits of health benefits and higher pay, New Jersey Monitor notes.

Business groups have challenged the law in court, but a federal judge late last month allowed it to go into effect, the outlet reported.

More state news: “Some of California's best-paid public employees say they're ready to strike. Here's why,” from CalMatters.

FASTEN YOUR NONCOMPETE-BELTS: Florida-based commuter airline Southern Airways Express is suing former pilots for training costs, using a type of employment clause that’s recently been targeted by the Federal Trade Commission, HuffPost reports.

“Known as a ‘training repayment agreement provision’ the clauses stipulate that workers will pay the company a particular amount of money if they resign before they’ve worked there for a set amount of time,” the outlet notes — in this case potentially putting pilots involved in the 19 lawsuits out of as much as $20,000.

Training repayment provisions would generally be banned under the FTC’s proposed rule on noncompete agreements. However, the FTC doesn’t have jurisdiction over airlines, leading some progressives to call for the Transportation Department to act, HuffPost notes.

ICYMI: “Fewer Americans got jobs in July than expected,” from The Associated Press.

More workplace news: “Grindr Forces Workers Back to Office for Trying to Unionize, Organizers Say in Complaint,” from Bloomberg.

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS ON H-2A: Lawmakers on Congress' bipartisan agricultural workforce panel are looking to create recommendations for the H-2A visa program by the end of the year, our friends at Morning Agriculture report.

Industries have testified in favor of expanding the temporary seasonal work program on multiple planes, including both the timelines for the visas and the sectors included, Morning Ag reports: “The idea of expanding the program’s scope has bipartisan support, especially from members with rural districts, though the chances of meaningful change this year are incredibly slim.”

But if those expansions come without a path to citizenship for some workers, Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) told MA, “I think that defeats the purpose of the temporary work status program.”

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— “Employers Cut Off Access to Weight-Loss Drugs for Workers,” from The Wall Street Journal.

— “Your résumé isn’t the only thing popular job sites evaluate,” from The Washington Post.

— “Strikes spiked in July, as workers seek higher wages to keep up with inflation,” from The Washington Post.

— “Need to Hire Workers in a Hot Job Market? Let Them Do Some Remote Work,” from The Wall Street Journal.

THAT’S ALL FOR SHIFT! 

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