AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler delivered the following remarks at the 2024 Labor Innovation & Technology Summit:
HELLO, everybody! Welcome to Las Vegas!
It’s so great to see everyone here today.
We have a packed agenda over the next few days! And look at this room—we have doubled the size of this conference from last year! I know we have even more on the livestream. Welcome!
And I want us to all take a second and just think about why this conference is growing so much, every single year. What it says about our movement; the way WE are growing.
Not just in size, but in influence, too.
This whole past year was such a testament to what happens when we come together. On the strike lines. At the negotiating table. Behind-the-scenes as we strategize. When we do that…we win.
And that’s why we’re all here today.
When we look across this country right now…we see a lot of destabilizing forces. A lot of distrust of institutions.
People and workers who are fed up with how they’ve been treated for a long time and are scared about what the future might hold.
A.I. and technology especially, where 70% of our workers are worried about being replaced.
What happens when workers are destabilized? What happens when workers live in fear? Have no economic future? Our economy falls apart. We become polarized, and our politics fall apart….The entire country falls apart.
As a country, as a society…we desperately need a force that will stabilize us. A counterweight. A massive campaign to educate the public on A.I., and find a way to make it work for working people.
To make sure we all have a say in our future.
And it needs to happen basically yesterday.
And where do we find that stabilizing force? The only movement that can do that is—our movement. Our unions. Working people, together.
We saw it with our UNITE HERE family, right here in Vegas, who said to the hotels: I’m not going to let you automate my job away—we’re going to have a say. And they won.
We saw it with our SAG-AFTRA and WGA families, as Duncan will speak to in a minute. Telling the studios: We, as creative professionals, were going to set the standards around A.I. and make sure it’s a tool that we’re in control of.
We saw it in the historic partnership with Microsoft we reached just a few weeks ago—where for the first time ever, one of the world’s largest tech companies put into writing that it’ll recognize labor rights and guarantee us our voice at the table on A.I. and tech.
We are proving it over and over and over as a labor movement: When we come together on the development of technology, how it’s used and who benefits from it, we WIN. We push back on the overreach by companies like the ones right down the road at CES right now.
This is a new frontier for the labor movement and it’s uncomfortable. And we’re going to have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. There are going to be some difficult conversations. Areas where we won’t all agree.
We all have to be okay with that.
And we all have to be willing to think holistically about these opportunities ahead of us. It’s up to us to find ways to work together on the challenges and tackle this new world with a united front.
That’s what these next few days are all about—figuring out how to work together to achieve our goals. And let’s come out of here with a strategy and a plan, and ready to go.
Because I don’t think I need to tell anyone here what’s at stake when it comes to A.I.
It’s not just our jobs. It’s not just our workplaces.
It’s our civil rights—when algorithms are contributing to racist and discriminatory policing.
It’s our democracy—when A.I. is spreading misinformation about the 2024 election.
It’s every facet of our lives.
WE are the ones who are standing up right now, on behalf of people all over this country, and saying: We can write a better future, together.
So I couldn’t be more excited that we’re all here for the next few days. More than 300 strong.
I know we’re going to have great conversations. Learn from each other. And leave here focused and energized.
With that…I’m thrilled to hand it off to a brilliant leader and friend. Someone who has helped drive this Summit from its very inception—and someone who has spent the past year on the front lines of the fight around A.I., delivering an historic win.
Not just for actors and creatives and our SAG-AFTRA family, but setting a standard for workers across this country: the National Executive Director of SAG-AFTRA, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland.