WASHINGTON — Today, the AFL-CIO and 29 national labor organizations called on senators to remove a dangerous provision from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that would ban states from passing or enforcing laws protecting workers from the threats artificial intelligence (AI) poses to their rights, jobs and safety.
In a new letter, the AFL-CIO and labor organizations urge the Senate to remove a reckless provision included in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation’s text of the reconciliation bill that would overrule state and local laws passed to protect their workforces from the harm of unchecked AI and ban states from taking any further legislative action for 10 years.
The unions write: “[This provision] would endanger progress in the states and silence local voices responding to real-world harms from worker surveillance and algorithmic firing, to automated price and wage manipulation that undermines economic fairness, to deepfakes and disinformation that undermine safety and public trust, and to dangerous experimentation with AI-enabled automation systems.”
The letter strongly urges senators not to infringe on the right of states to protect workers by implementing commonsense safety measures, which have bipartisan support in Congress and with the public. Six in 10 Americans say that federal AI safety laws don’t go far enough to protect them. All 50 states have introduced regulations related to AI, and around 40 have passed legislation. Red and blue states alike are prioritizing AI safety measures, including worker protections, mental health protections, and consumer data guidelines.
Without Senate action, the bill would allow employers to outsource major decisions about our jobs, our health care and our lives to AI, jeopardizing our safety at work and violating our basic rights. In the letter, the labor groups write: “States are the laboratories of democracy, and banning existing and future policymaking will shut down those laboratories and leave everyone vulnerable to wide-ranging abuses stemming from irresponsible AI.”
The letter concludes: “With Congress failing to enact meaningful AI regulation, states remain our last line of defense. We urge you to oppose this dangerous provision and allow states to do their jobs.”
Signatories of the letter include:
AFL-CIO
AFT
American Federation of Musicians
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA
Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE)
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE)
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM)
International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers Union
International Brotherhood of Boilermakers
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)
International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE)
International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots
International Union of Elevator Constructors
International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT)
Metal Trades Department, AFL-CIO (MTD)
NFL Players Association
National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE-IAM)
National Nurses United
OPEIU
SAG-AFTRA
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Transport Workers Union of America
Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO
United Auto Workers (UAW)
United Food and Commercial Workers International Union
United Mineworkers of America
United Steelworkers (USW)
UNITE HERE
Writers Guild of America East
Read the full letter here.
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