Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1367665
LABOR LEADERS EXAMINE THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF WORK S ince the Industrial Revolution, technological change has been vexing for workers, and an important consideration for the unions that fight to protect jobs and benefits. Today, with the advent of machine learning, robots and increasingly powerful and affordable computers, that struggle moves into a new arena. At SAG-AFTRA's 3rd Annual Labor Innovation & Technology Summit, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler presented a keynote address that put today's challenges in the context of a "fourth Industrial Revolution," and the vital role organized labor must play. "The power of collective bargaining was born as a response to industrial change, and we have been innovating ever since," she said. "In offices and through automation, the labor movement has always been the vehicle for turning technological advances into better living standards and better wages," she said. Shuler also headlined a high-level labor leader panel that delved into technology and innovation in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was joined by American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, National Nurses United Executive Director Bonnie Castillo, and United Food and Commercial Workers International Union International President Mark Perrone. "We cheer when we lift up a rocket ship. We know how to make things safe when we prioritize them," remarked Weingarten. Acknowledging the challenges of technology-based remote teaching and a desire to get kids back to school, Weingarten pointed out that the technology is available to create a safe school environment but, "What has happened here is that we have not prioritized essential workers even though they are doing essential work." Picking up the theme of the pandemic, Castillo observed that COVID-19 highlighted what nurses have called attention to for a long time: Technology has been used to cut staffing, close hospitals and critical care units, forcing patients to self-treat. "It is clear that the healthcare industry is taking advantage of COVID-19 to ram through policy changes that are designed with the goal of descaling, automating and outsourcing, and this would clearly threaten safe patient care conditions," she said. Perrone called out the holes in the social safety net that the pandemic has helped expose. "This pandemic has changed the way we work and it also changed as a nation how we value work," he said. "We must have a serious discussion of benefits and protections that workers in workplaces require in an age of a global pandemic, [such as] paid sick leave when a worker is exposed to COVID." Shuler wrapped up the discussion with a singular, thematic challenge: "We need to make sure these disruptions that we are seeing inevitably lead to a strong labor movement that will change the course of the conversation and the thinking about innovation." Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler delivers a presentation on the technological change that is happening all around us.