Unions push for AI protections
Isabel Moussalli: The Commonwealth Bank isn't the first company to cut jobs in favour of AI, but the Finance Sector Union says it's the first in its industry to acknowledge it.
Joseph Mitchell: Well, it's frankly unjust. Commonwealth Bank has made billions of dollars of profit every year for however many years.
Isabel Moussalli: Joseph Mitchell is with the Australian Council of Trade Unions. He's angry that 45 roles will be replaced by a customer service chatbot.
Joseph Mitchell: And making them redundant by bringing in AI to replace their jobs is just not fair.
Isabel Moussalli: A Commonwealth Bank spokesperson says its investment in technology, including AI, is making it easier and faster for customers to get help, and its priority is to explore opportunities for redeployment and to support affected employees. But Joseph Mitchell says unions will fight mass redundancies from AI.
Joseph Mitchell: So we know the most productive way to implement AI in a workplace is through the skilled application of workers. Workers are trained in how to use it. They can make decisions with employers about how it gets used.
Isabel Moussalli: The ACTU will call for AI regulations at the Federal Government's Economic Reform Roundtable next month.
Joseph Mitchell: We want to see employers required to enter into AI implementation agreements with their staff. That means that employers need to come to their staff with a plan, negotiate with employees and come to a joint agreement about how they're going to implement AI and what are the consequences going to be, with things like guarantees around job security, training and skills development.
Isabel Moussalli: But the Australian Industry Group has hit back.
Innes Willox: Well, it's kind of ironic because we go into a productivity summit that we have some proposals here that will restrict further productivity growth.
Isabel Moussalli: That's Chief Executive Innes Willocks.
Innes Willox: There are going to be times where there has to be significant consultation with the workforce and there's going to be other times when they just can't be in business, just has to get on with it. But all the information that we're getting, everything we're seeing and hearing from business is that they're not setting out to use it as a means to cut jobs on the whole. It's really about how to make their business better.
Isabel Moussalli: RMIT's Dr. Emmanuelle Walkowiak is an innovation and labour economist specialising in generative AI. She explains the impact on the workforce can't be precisely forecast, but says right now we're in the middle of a massive disruption to the labour market.
Emmanuelle Walkowiak: The major impact is through the transformation of jobs themselves. So what we need is really to upskill people.
Isabel Moussalli: In a statement, Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth acknowledged AI offers significant opportunities to drive economic growth, but also presents challenges, and says the government's been consulting on introducing safeguards for AI.
Rachel Mealey: Isabel Moussalli reporting.
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