Workers urgently need more bargaining power over the way AI is adopted in the workplace to ensure the benefits are fairly shared, according to a TUC-backed report from a leading thinktank.<\/p>\n
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is calling for a package of measures to boost employees\u2019 influence at what it calls a \u201cpivotal moment in the history of work\u201d.<\/p>\n
Its report<\/a> cites survey data showing that while 20% of workers say AI is making their working life better, 21% say it has made it worse \u2013 and 4% believe they have already lost a job because of the technology.<\/p>\n The IPPR distinguishes between three potential impacts of the technology: augmentation, where it complements human labour; degradation, where it undermines the experience of work, for example, by being used to monitor and manage workers; and displacement, where it replaces workers altogether.<\/p>\n \u201cThe question is not whether AI will disrupt working life, but who will have the power to shape that disruption \u2013 and whose interests it will ultimately serve,\u201d the report\u2019s authors argue.<\/p>\n Their recommendations include a statutory duty on employers to consult their workers over the adoption of AI and a \u201cworker support levy\u201d, which could be funded by companies or workers themselves.<\/p>\n The idea of this levy would be to create a portable \u201cwallet\u201d of benefits that workers could take with them from one job to another \u2013 such as union membership, insurance or training \u2013 with the broad aim of increasing their bargaining power.<\/p>\n Consultation on AI adoption between employers and staff could take place through existing collective bargaining arrangements with unions, the report says, or via new structures, such as worker representation on boards, or a new consultative body.<\/p>\n Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the TUC who has written a foreword to the report, said: \u201cGreat technological transitions only result in meaningful social progress when they are shaped actively and decisively.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Industrial Revolution \u2013 often casually invoked to describe the possibilities of AI \u2013 saw 50 years of wage stagnation while profits soared. It took the difficult birth of the labour movement to tip technological gains towards workers\u2019 interests and broader social wellbeing.<\/p>\n \u201cTo deliver on the promise of technology to enhance lives, inside and out of the workplace, AI must be designed, governed and negotiated by and for workers.\u201d<\/p>\n The government has made clear it is enthusiastic about the adoption of AI in the UK, with Rachel Reeves highlighting it as one of three drivers of stronger economic growth, alongside closer EU relations and more regional devolution.<\/p>\n