The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is calling for the government to make changes to company tax regulations and extend the powers of regulators to ensure artificial intelligence (AI) is not abused by employers to weaken staff.

In response to Labour’s Plan for Change, industrial strategy and memorandum of understanding with large language model (LLM) providers, including OpenAI, the TUC has published a paper focused on the importance of collective bargaining as AI becomes embedded in the workplace.

The TUC’s Building a pro-worker AI innovation strategy paper warns that short-term priorities driven by the UK’s corporate governance system mean AI may be used by some employers to cut costs and automate existing processes, rather than invest, expand and innovate.

“Such decisions will more likely displace or deskill workers rather than augment, expand or retrain the workforce as part of technological upgrading,” said the TUC. The paper’s authors noted that if machines do more tasks and reduce the demand for skilled workers or for labour overall, workers could become less able to command a fair share, with the surplus increasingly captured by employers and AI companies.

The TUC wants to see businesses incentivised to look beyond short-term shareholder value, and when reporting on employment matters, they should cover the impact of AI on employment. It also wants to see worker representation on company boards to provide a workforce perspective on business decision-making, including engagement in technology strategy. 

It called on the government to require company directors to focus on long-term company success as their primary aim, taking account of the interests of stakeholders, including the workforce, shareholders, suppliers, customers and the local community, along with impacts on human rights and the environment. There also needs to be changes to the tax regime, which the TUC said should be evaluated to consider effective means to incentivise investment in labour-augmenting, rather than displacing, AI automation technologies.

Looking at regulators, the TUC said the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) should be directed by the government to investigate the impact of market power on employment, alongside its current focus on “consumer benefit”. The paper said the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 should be amended to extend the CMA’s remit from consumer protection to worker protection.

The TUC also wants the Information Commissioner’s Office’s current remit to protect individual data rights to include collective data rights. This includes extending the ability of unions or worker organisations to access and exercise rights on behalf of individual workers. An example of how this could be used Ω the paper, is the ability of a union to gain access to data on how algorithms are used to set pay in the platform economy dynamically.

TUC assistant general secretary Kate Bell said: “AI could have transformative potential – and if developed properly, workers can benefit from the productivity gains this technology may bring. But for this to happen, workers must be placed at the heart of AI innovation.

“That means ensuring public money comes with strings attached, and isn’t siphoned away into the pockets of billionaire tech bosses. It means ensuring workers get a share in any productivity gains from new technologies. And it means dedicated training and skills programmes to protect workers in industries that may be disrupted by AI.”

Bell warned that if AI in the workplace is left unchecked, the AI revolution could entrench rampant inequality where shareholders are enriched while jobs are degraded or displaced.

“We cannot let that happen. Unmanaged disruption is not inevitable or acceptable. It’s time for an urgent and active policy response that makes sure workers are not left behind. AI technologies can help build a better future – we’re setting out a plan that shows how it can be done,” she added.

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