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British trade unions will warn at next month's trade union conference that banks, insurers and accountancy firms must be prepared to foot the bill for retraining millions of employees whose jobs may be displaced by artificial intelligence.
The Accord, which represents bank workers, will call on financial services groups to prepare to fund a “massive” programme to reskill many of their around 2.5 million employees in the UK, in a motion it has tabled at the labour movement's annual conference.
A Citigroup report released in June warned that half of banking operations are at risk of automation.
“Parliament is concerned that the June 2024 report stated that up to 54% of banking tasks and 48% of insurance tasks could be replaced by AI in future,” the agreement motion posted on the TUC website said.
“Job losses due to AI are projected to be higher in financial services than in any other sector of the economy,” the report adds.
Meanwhile Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unity, one of the world's largest trade unions, told the Financial Times that the UK was “lagging behind” and needed to support new technologies.
“That means governments and employers working together with trade unions to avoid the very real dangers of AI-generated job losses, inequality and prejudice, and build a better future for all,” she said.
Trade union leaders plan to step up pressure on Labour ministers at a conference in Brighton next month to introduce legislation to regulate employers' use of AI.
According to the TUC website, union representatives are due to debate four motions on rapidly evolving technology, including one put forward by Accord. Any motions passed will become official TUC policy.
Unity's Sharon Graham said governments and employers needed to work with unions to “avoid the very real dangers of AI-generated job losses, inequality and prejudice”. © Charlie Bibby/FT
For the past 14 years, Conservative governments have often ignored the TUC, but that is set to change following a landslide general election victory for the Labour Party, which receives millions of pounds in donations from trade unionists.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is pushing through a “New Deal” employment reform package, a de facto wish list for the trade union movement, which includes a repeal of the Conservative anti-strike laws of the past decade.
Starmer's government is also working on an AI bill to regulate the rapidly changing industry, but the proposed legislation would not go far enough to address concerns raised by the TUC and its affiliated trade unions about the future of jobs.
Instead, it would have a very narrow mandate and focus on safety testing and government oversight of the most advanced and largest AI models being developed by tech groups such as OpenAI, according to people briefed on the plan.
Last year, the TUC published a blueprint Bill for regulating AI in the workplace, setting out new legal rights, such as obligations of transparency around employers' use of AI and protections against unfair dismissal due to AI technology.
TUC deputy general secretary Kate Bell said AI was already making “life-changing decisions” in the workplace, including how staff are hired, managed and fired.
“Other countries are regulating AI in the workplace to ensure employees and employers understand where they stand,” she said, citing laws in the United States, China and Canada. “The UK urgently needs to put in place new safeguards to protect workers from exploitation and discrimination.”
Jana McIntosh, managing director of payments, innovation and resilience at industry body UK Finance, said: “As it is a highly regulated industry, businesses are proceeding cautiously with the adoption of AI. As well as hiring in the sector, companies are discussing best practice, training staff in new skills and upskilling their entire workforce to apply AI effectively and responsibly in their roles.”
The government has been contacted for comment.
The other three motions to be tabled at the TUC conference have been prepared by Unite, Artists' Union England and the TUC Young Workers' Conference.
Unity's motion warns that AI is increasingly being used to “control workers through observation”, with low-paid outsourced workers from ethnic minority backgrounds being the most vulnerable.
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The group is calling on governments to enact laws that give trade unions the right to consult on the use of AI in the workplace, ensure recruitment practices are free of bias and discrimination, protect workers from decision-making made by AI, and “ensure humans have the right to be involved when technology makes 'high risk' decisions such as hiring and firing.”
The Union of English Artists has called on the government to “strengthen democratic institutions” to counter potential threats from AI.
The motion calls on the TUC to lobby for legislation to protect the intellectual property rights of artists and creative workers, and to demand a “ban on the use of AI in the workplace without a clear collective bargaining agreement”.
The fourth motion from the TUC Young Workers Conference calls for employers to consult with workers about the use of new technology in the workplace.
Video: AI: Blessing or curse for humanity? | FT Tech
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