Microsoft And AFL-CIO Agree To Maintain Neutrality In Labor Union Efforts

Microsoft President Brad Smith (photo: x @BradSmi)

JAKARTA - Microsoft  and the trade union federation, the AFL-CIO, announced on  Monday 11 December, that they had reached an agreement in which the US software giant would remain neutral in the union's efforts to gain membership.

The two sides will also work together on the future of artificial intelligence, in a first-ever partnership on artificial intelligence and the future of the workforce, as businesses and labor grapple with the impact of the technology.

Microsoft President Brad Smith told Reuters that "the neutrality agreement provides a high level of commitment and clarity about how we will work with the AFL-CIO and its affiliates if we have employees or even supplier employees who want to pursue unionization."

The AFL-CIO is the largest labor union federation in the United States consisting of 60 unions representing approximately 12.5 million workers.

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said Microsoft's position differs markedly from other technology companies that have aggressively fought unionization efforts. "Their position is — if workers want to organize, we should not stand in their way," Shuler said. "Every company basically fought us when workers wanted to organize."

Microsoft previously agreed to a legally binding labor neutrality agreement when Activision Blizzard employees expressed interest in joining a union as part of Microsoft's acquisition of the company.

Microsoft has a major partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI and has committed to investing more than  10 billion US dollars (IDR 155 trillion) in the startup. The rising popularity of generative artificial intelligence, which uses data to create new content like ChatGPT's human-sounding prose writing, could revolutionize human society and make many jobs obsolete.

Smith said it's important for tech companies to design artificial intelligence "with workers' needs in mind and for workers to have a voice and provide feedback that influences the direction of this technology."

Both the union and the AFL-CIO have agreed to work together on designing public policies to ensure workers have the skills "as the country moves into the future."

Shuler and Smith hosted a joint event on  Monday about artificial intelligence and jobs. "The goal of artificial intelligence is to "increase worker productivity, reduce drudgery" and translate those efficiency gains into a higher standard of living," Smith said.

Shuler said workers want a say in how artificial intelligence is applied “and whether I have a future path if my job is truly downgraded.”