Unions warn AI adoption could weaken workers’ rights

Michael Kaine warned the inquiry that fatalities could result if motorists took a back seat to driverless vehicles, and said technology companies were putting profits ahead of road safety.[1] Seven in 10 of 1,506 people surveyed opposed fully automated taxis and trucks on Australian roads.[1] Kaine also said fatigue was a serious issue in road and aviation transport, where AI data could push workers to be productive beyond regulated shifts.[1] These concerns put both physical safety and work intensity on the agenda.

Labor senator Tony Sheldon told the inquiry that AI users were being held hostage to algorithms.[1] The article argued that innovation through rapidly evolving tools need not erode worker protections.[1] Pyres told the inquiry that AI should not replace accountable management or fair treatment at work.[1] Gooding said workers’ jobs would change radically without consultation.[1] Together, these comments focus attention on how workplace decisions are made and whether workers are consulted as AI tools change their jobs.

The article said hundreds of academic and administrative staff had been laid off in recent years as higher education moved toward automating tasks including curriculum design and student enrolments.[1] The National Tertiary Education Union said it was in a dispute with RMIT over an AI program that automatically assesses student enrolments.[1] The union said the program could undercut the 40 staff members who oversee admissions.[1] The account raises a practical question for institutions: how to weigh automation against the roles and oversight involved in admissions.

Booker Prize-shortlisted author Charlotte Wood called for copyright protections to stop AI systems extracting writers’ words, and told the inquiry companies using writers’ work should pay for it.[1] Hachette Australia head Louise Stark told the committee that the publisher’s US arm was suing Google over alleged use of authors’ content to train Gemini.[1] Stark said writers and publishers had filed about 150 lawsuits against Meta and Anthropic.[1] She also said alleged theft by technology companies had undermined trust in them on matters that could weaken copyright law.[1]