Walters: Union leaders warn Newsom their campaign support hinges on his AI stance

"The event, organized by the California Federation of Labor Unions, calls AI "the biggest existential threat facing working Americans today." The group wants Newsom "or any candidate looking forward to the 2028 election" to know "loud and clear" that "our members want a leader who works with organized labor to protect jobs and create guardrails on artificial intelligence." The event evidently singles out Newsom due to his frontrunner status in very early pre-campaign polling,"

""The proliferation of artificial intelligence in recent years has been nothing short of explosive," a background paper for the event declares. "Employers have latched on to AI for everything: from using it to monitor and surveil workers to setting workers' wages to outright replacement of workers. "Artificial intelligence is a multi-billion-dollar industry that continues to proceed unchecked, without common sense guardrails in place, leaving workers' livelihoods ruined and even lost in its wake.""

"The briefing paper pointedly cites Newsom's veto of last year's Senate Bill 7, a union-backed bill to bar employers from using AI to make employee discipline and termination decisions. In rejecting it, Newsom said the measure was "overly broad" and would prevent even innocuous uses of AI. Newsom's veto exemplifies his efforts, as the AI industry explodes, to satisfy both the tech industry, with which he has decades-long political ties, and those who worry about AI's societal and economic impacts."

National and state labor union leaders are meeting in Sacramento to warn Governor Gavin Newsom that union endorsement for a 2028 presidential bid depends on protecting jobs from artificial intelligence. The California Federation of Labor calls AI "the biggest existential threat facing working Americans today" and demands leaders work with organized labor to create guardrails. A background paper says employers use AI to monitor, set wages and replace workers, leaving livelihoods ruined. The paper cites Newsom's veto of Senate Bill 7, which would have barred using AI in discipline and termination decisions, and frames the veto as evidence of his balancing between tech ties and labor concerns.

Read at The Mercury News