We’re experiencing a post-inflation, AI and climate-driven labor revolution

Labor Day marks the traditional end of summer, and this summer we saw an unprecedented wave of strikes, walkouts and labor actions. 

From actors and screenwriters to Starbucks employees, to autoworkers and delivery drivers, workers throughout the economy are taking this moment to reassess their jobs and negotiate for better pay and working conditions. It’s no surprise that we’ve seen this convergence of labor actions, given the disruptions the pandemic brought to the way we work, and the disruptions on the horizon.

In the wake of the pandemic and as we contemplate the future of work, there are undoubtedly very few people working today who aren’t asking themselves questions like: Is artificial intelligence (AI) coming for my job or letting my boss spy on me? Is this extreme heat making my job dangerous? How can I afford to take care of my family if my wages don’t keep up with inflation? 

Each of these questions represents a big, transformational challenge, but undergirding them all is a fundamental fact: The economy, and the workplace, are changing in ways big and small that we are not fully prepared for. AI is poised to transform white-collar work. Climate change and extreme heat are making blue-collar work more dangerous. Even the transition to electric vehicles, which is desperately needed, will threaten jobs up and down the supply chain if not managed correctly.

So what are working people to do? They can organize, negotiate and strike if their demands aren’t met. They do what we saw so many workers do this summer: come together to demand that their employers listen to their ideas about how to meet the challenges of AI, climate change and low wages. 

The unions representing actors and writers have walked off the job over demands that their hard work not be used to train artificial intelligence to replace them. Teamsters working for UPS demanded that their new collective bargaining agreement include a guarantee of air conditioning in all new trucks to protect drivers in extreme heat. Meanwhile, workers in traditionally low-wage sectors, like retail and restaurants, are organizing unions for the first time and staging walkouts to demand higher wages. 

But that is only half the story. The federal government has a role, too. As President Lincoln said, “The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do at all, or cannot so well do, for themselves, in their separate and individual capacities.” All three branches of the federal government have an opportunity to make a real difference, but only if they act fast.

There are a number of ways the Biden administration can and should move to protect workers in these areas. Through the rulemaking process, the Department of Labor (DOL) has started the process to expand the universe of low and middle-wage workers who are entitled to overtime pay — I hope they will soon finish the job. And DOL should move as quickly as possible to mandate that employers protect workers from the danger of extreme heat on the job. 

Having spent most of my career trying to move federal regulations as fast as possible to solve big problems — in both the Obama and Biden administrations — I know how cumbersome and difficult the regulatory process can be. With the election looming and temperatures rising, workers simply cannot afford to wait.

Meanwhile, there are bills in Congress that would shield workers from disruption in each of these cases, but Congress is paralyzed when it comes to worker-friendly legislation. Most significantly, Congress’s failure to pass an increase in the federal minimum wage since 2009 is shameful. Every day that Congress fails to pass an increase in the federal minimum wage, they are putting their stamp of approval on working Americans making poverty wages.

Congress should also be at the forefront of addressing the challenges that artificial intelligence poses to the workforce. For example, Uber and Lyft drivers are among the workers most impacted already by algorithmic management — “their bosses are apps,” not humans. But because rideshare drivers are treated as independent contractors they are denied basic workplace protections. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) has introduced a bill to guarantee all workers a human boss. Congress has not yet advanced this legislation but it should.

Finally, the judiciary is doing more than just slowing down protections for workers; it is obstructing protections. The activist, Republican-dominated Supreme Court majority has made up a doctrine that assigns the court the power to overturn any executive branch regulations that they deem to be economically or politically significant. During the pandemic, the conservative majority used this new doctrine to invalidate a regulation to protect workers from COVID-19 exposure in the workplace. The Supreme Court has become a partner with big corporations in achieving big business’s desire to roll back Biden’s regulatory agenda — even when that agenda aims to protect workers from today’s most urgent challenges.

Workers can hope that the government finally lives up to its obligation to “do what they need to have done,” as Lincoln put it. But until that happens, workers will have to take care of themselves collectively. As long as our leaders are on the sidelines, we should expect to see picket lines well into the fall.

Sharon Block is a professor of practice and executive director of the Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School. She is a former member of the National Labor Relations Board and former acting administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for the Biden administration.