Unions give workers more leverage against workplace AI
With Congress on the sidelines, union contracts are among the strongest guardrails American workers have against artificial intelligence. Why it matters: Nearly 90% of the U.S. workforce lacks union representation, leaving about 130 million workers without that leverage as companies use AI to rewrite job descriptions and cut jobs. What they're saying: The only meaningful guardrails around workplace AI are happening "at the bargaining table, where workers are showing up and demanding protections," NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss tells Axios. Case in point: The NewsGuild currently has between 85 and 90 contracts with explicit AI provisions, Schleuss says. The big picture: AI protections are gaining ground fastest in industries with longer histories of unionization and repeated threats to workers' livelihoods, including manufacturing, journalism and entertainment. Between the lines: Existing labor statutes like the 1988 WARN Act were built for 20th-century mass factory closures — not