US public-sector unions are winning more protections against AI surveillance and automation-driven job losses. The issue is growing more urgent as nearly 70 percent of US government agencies already use generative AI, according to an Ernst and Young survey.
The wins are piling up nationwide. After a strike vote in October, IFPTE Local 21 in Oakland secured retraining programs instead of AI-related layoffs. In Pennsylvania, Governor Josh Shapiro guaranteed SEIU Local 668 human oversight during a pilot of OpenAI’s ChatGPT Enterprise. The Transport Workers Union in Ohio won veto power over autonomous vehicles. On top of that, California Governor Gavin Newsom banned AI surveillance software, often called “bossware,” along with automated firings in September. New York has protected state employees from AI displacement by law since late 2025.
Employers are pushing automation to cut costs, according to labor researcher Kung Feng at UC Berkeley. Union leaders like Liz Shuler of the AFL-CIO, Lorena Gonzalez, and TWU’s John Samuelsen support AI safety systems where they help workers but insist on mandatory human control over every AI application in the workplace, the Guardian reports.
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