US Labor Unions Unite Against AI Threat to Jobs, Demand Federal Safeguards

Workers across the United States are pushing back against predictions that artificial intelligence (AI) will dominate the workforce. Their unions—many of which have seen declining membership—are taking a stand.

Last week, leaders from some of the largest US trade unions convened a conference with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Axios reports. The coalition presented a unified front against tech companies accelerating AI and robotics adoption in labor markets. Sanders renewed his call for a temporary halt on AI development until robust safety nets are established to protect workers facing displacement.

“We are here to sound the alarms on AI,” AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler said during the press conference. “This race to advance AI at all costs—without guardrails or protections for people—is reckless and dangerous.”

The competition among US tech firms to lead in AI has already impacted workers nationwide. While researchers debate whether AI is directly replacing jobs, executives are cutting staff and freezing hiring, signaling an imminent AI-driven workforce transformation.

“Human beings have to come first in this equation, not an afterthought,” United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain said. “A handful of billionaires want all the profits,” but “the working class has to get our fair share.”

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers—which received $23 million in funding from AI companies Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic—urged the federal government to prioritize people over technology. “We need Congress and this administration to put people first, to ensure that human beings—not robots or chatbots—remain in charge of society,” she stated.

Senator Sanders, who recently introduced legislation to pause data center construction across the US, criticized tech billionaires for seeking to replace human labor. “The richest people on Earth—Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, and others—want to replace human workers,” Sanders told attendees. “Some of us are old-fashioned and believe in human beings.”