Microsoft and US Union Federation Reach Agreement on AI and Labor Neutrality

Microsoft and the AFL-CIO union federation said Monday they have reached an agreement under which the U.S. software giant will remain neutral in unions’ efforts to recruit workers.

The two sides will work together on the future of artificial intelligence in a first-of-its-kind partnership on AI and the future of the workforce as organizations and workers face the impact of technology.

Microsoft President Brad Smith told Reuters, “If we have employees or vendor employees who want to pursue training in a union, the arbitration agreement provides a high level of commitment and clarity on how we will work with the AFL-CIO and its affiliates.”

The AFL-CIO is the largest union confederation in the United States, made up of 60 unions representing approximately 12.5 million workers.

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said Microsoft’s stance contrasts sharply with other tech companies that have actively fought unionization efforts. “His position was: If workers want to organize, we shouldn’t stand in their way,” Shuler said.

“All companies basically fight us when workers want to organize.”

When Activision Blizzard employees expressed a desire to unionize as part of its acquisition of Microsoft, Microsoft had already agreed to a legally binding labor neutrality agreement.

Microsoft has an important partnership with OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, and has pledged to invest more than $10 billion in the startup. The rise in popularity of generative AI, which uses data to create new content like ChatGPT, could reinvent human society and make many jobs obsolete.

Smith said tech companies are “designing AI with the needs of workers in mind and giving workers a voice and feedback that will influence the direction this technology takes.”

Shuler and Smith will host a joint event on AI and work this Monday. The goal of AI is to “increase the productivity of workers, reduce the difficulty of jobs” and translate those efficiency gains into higher standards of living, Smith said.

Schuler said workers want to have a say in how AI is used and “if my job is actually downgraded, I have a path forward.”