Microsoft-AFL-CIO AI Partnership Includes Pathbreaking Union Neutrality Pledge

As part of a comprehensive partnership with the AFL-CIO on artificial intelligence and other workplace issues, Microsoft agreed to remain neutral in union campaigns where employees express an interest in an AFL-CIO affiliate union representing them. The partnership will give labor a meaningful voice in how Microsoft develops and implements artificial intelligence technologies. It conceivably could lead to a new approach towards labor relations on a broader scale.  

Artificial intelligence with a labor focus: Microsoft’s partnership with the AFL-CIO will “expand workers’ role in the creation of worker-centered design, workforce training, and trustworthy AI practices.” The framework is centered on three goals:

• Training: Microsoft will provide labor leaders and employees with a series of AI training opportunities over the next three years, with a focus on specific sectors. 
  
  
• Employee voice in AI development: Microsoft will provide unions and workers with the opportunity to inform Microsoft’s AI development through forums and a series of labor summits to produce “worker-centered technology.”
  
  
• Public policy initiatives: Microsoft and the AFL-CIO will work together to propose and support AI-related public policy initiatives, including worker training.

The partnership’s worker-focused approach to AI is an acknowledgement of the challenges posed by the technology to labor and the workplace. AI and fear of worker displacement have become a focal point in several recent labor organizing efforts as employers have begun to rapidly scale up its utilization. Microsoft’s decision to proactively partner with organized labor on these issues may help it avoid labor relations roadblocks as it seeks to become a leader in the artificial intelligence space. 

Neutrality on a broad scale: Microsoft’s pledge to remain neutral in the face of any American workers seeking to unionize with AFL-CIO affiliate unions is perhaps the broadest such neutrality agreement by a major American company, particularly in the tech industry. The neutrality pledge builds off an earlier agreement with the CWA to remain neutral in efforts to organize employees at Activision, a video game company Microsoft acquired amidst anti-trust concerns. 

Outlook: Whether Microsoft’s approach may provide a roadmap for other large companies facing union pressure and could signal a shift in employer approaches to labor relations in the U.S. in general, remains to be seen. That the agreement with the AFL-CIO includes producing public policy initiatives is particularly noteworthy given the Biden administration and Congress’ current focus on potential AI regulation. Given their enormous influence, respectively, Microsoft and the AFL-CIO may have a significant impact on how such regulation shakes out. 

For more information, please visit: AFL-CIO and Microsoft announce new tech-labor partnership on AI and the future of the workforce - Stories.