[[{“value”:”ILA Workers Striking in 2024 over better pay and forced automation and AI
By: Frederick Reiber
SOMERVILLE, MA – From Hollywood writers to Boston dockworkers, labor unions are continuing to fight unethical usage of artificial intelligence.
Now, journalists are joining the fight. Unionized workers at Politico and E&E News (PEN Guild) are currently in arbitration over the editorial board’s use of AI. After unionizing in 2021 and ratifying a first contract in 2024, workers secured protections against the use of artificial intelligence technologies, recognizing both the liberating and exploiting potential of said technologies. These included protections against workers being replaced by artificial intelligence technologies, added severance for artificial intelligence related lay offs, a focus on ethical and human checked implementation, and the ability to do impact bargaining over the implementation of workplace technologies.
The first breach of contract came in 2024 during the Democratic National Convention, with Politico publishing AI-generated summaries of the events. According to workers interviewed, Politico originally argued that these summaries “were just transcripts” further arguing that it “doesn’t impact our jobs because reporters don’t transcribe things.” The second breach came earlier this year, when Politico launched an “AI Policy Assistant” , a subscription based service to help organizations navigate policy changes, or generate white page reports on specific regulatory issues.
Artificial Intelligence—An Arena for Collective Bargaining
Politico argued in both cases that technological tools developed through the tech and business side of the company fall out of the purview of the journalist’s union. Thus, they aren’t subject to the collective bargaining agreement.
For the union, these rollouts constitute a violation of contract. Workers were not given the opportunity for impact bargaining nor the required 60 day notice of new workplace technologies. Workers also saw the use of AI as a challenge to journalistic integrity. A recent Wired report on the arbitration preceding cites Politico’s AI using phrases like “criminal migrants” or failing to recognize the overturning of Roe v. Wade. As PEN Guild member Ariel Wittenberg put it, “it certainly was disheartening as a journalist who has worked for Politico for 10 years to hear our top editors say that sometimes the homepage doesn’t have to be printing ethical journalistic content.”
AI providing false information is nothing new with scholars and journalists providing mountains of evidence. For instance in 2022, Meta took down Galactica, a tool designed to help researchers after it became apparent it was making up publications, and Stack Overflow the go-to question and answer website for coding questions ended up needing to ban AI responses due them having an incorrect rate of hallucinations. These issues have still persisted today. For instance ChatGPT, when asked today about labor leader Big Bill Haywood, manufactures quotes and pamphlets that I have been unable to find cited or discussed anywhere else.
AI is also famously ripe with political bias in a similar manner to Politico’s “criminal migrants”. For instance Grok, Elon Musk’s chatpot, recently referred to itself as ‘MechaHitler’ and going on inaccurate rants about a South African ‘white genocide’. Other more malicious cases include Amazon’s male favored hiring tool or Northpointe’s racist criminal assessment tool.
Important for fellow unionists is recognizing that we can and should be organizing against forced technology in the workplace. When dockworkers with ILA and USMX threatened to walk off the job earlier this year, they were able to win protections against forced automation. SAG-AFTRA is currently fighting against the use of AI to bring back the voice of the late James Earl Jones. Fighting against AI, however, is no easy battle. While workplace technology is not a mandatory subject of bargaining, workers do continue to fight and organize against harmful technology in large part because they recognize workplace technology for what it commonly is– a tool used to degrade working conditions and worker power.
AI Is the Boss’s Tool—Workers Are the Real Counterpower
As Marx famously argued, capital—and thus the exploitation of the working class—happens when value is put into motion. The forced implementation of workplace artificial intelligence is nothing new, another attempt to shift production and further extortion. As scholar Jathan Sadowski argues in his new book, The Mechanic and the Luddite: A Ruthless Criticism of Technology and Capitalism, AI is really a tool of the boss, with employers using AI as a mask for outsourcing or as a way to cheapen labor with deeper forms of extraction through workplace surveillance.
For workers everywhere, this moment demands clarity, courage, and collective resistance. The fight over AI isn’t about resisting technology for its own sake—it’s about resisting who controls it, who benefits, and who bears the cost. Whether in a newsroom, a factory, or a film studio, AI is not neutral. It reflects the priorities of those in power—speed over accuracy, profit over people, efficiency over ethics.
As more workplaces rush to adopt AI under the guise of innovation, unions must continue to insist on democratic control over technology; how it’s introduced, how it’s used, and who it serves. That means fighting for robust contract language, building coalitions across sectors, and standing firm when employers violate those agreements.
The PEN Guild’s arbitration fight is not just about Politico—it’s about setting precedent. If workers can’t win the right to bargain over technologies that directly shape their labor, then every workplace becomes fair game for digital dispossession. But if they succeed, they send a clear message: AI may be new, but the power of collective action remains timeless.
Fellow workers can support the PEN Guilds fight by signing their petition linked here.
Frederick Reiber is a PhD student at Boston University researching collective action and technology. He is a member of SEIU 509 and Boston DSA.
The post AI in Court: Politico Workers Take the Boss to Court Over Forced Automation appeared first on Working Mass.
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