Latest news with #LorenaGonzalez
Boston Globe
7 days ago
- Business
- Boston Globe
Labor unions mobilize to challenge advance of algorithms in workplaces
Union leaders say they must intervene to protect workers from the potential for AI to cause massive job displacement or infringe on employment rights. The technology has already become a sticking point in some labor disputes, such as the Hollywood writers strikes in 2023. Advertisement In February, Gallup found that one-third of workers in the United States feared AI would lead to fewer job opportunities. AI proponents and some economists argue that in the past, technologies that have disrupted some careers also created many new jobs. Advertisement Lorena Gonzalez, cochair of the new AFL-CIO task force on AI, said this week that AI was set to become a defining issue for the labor movement, similar to the impact in the 1990s of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which created a free-trade zone in North America and drove major changes in US employment including the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs to Mexico. 'We cannot allow AI and technology to be our next NAFTA,' she said on an episode of the podcast 'Power At Work' released Tuesday by the Burnes Center for Social Change at Northeastern University. 'It is up to us to determine what kind of society we want to live in and what kind of regulations we live around that protect us.' President Trump has rolled back AI rules introduced by former president Joe Biden and made clear he wants to give the tech industry and its clients free rein with the technology. The AFL-CIO task force plans to help unions take on problematic use of AI in collective bargaining and contracts and in coming months and develop a slate of model legislation available to state leaders, modeled on recently passed and newly proposed legislation in places including California and Massachusetts. 'As soon as the [federal] moratorium got taken out, there was an urgency of 'How do we prepare other states to move forward,'' Gonzalez told The Washington Post. She is also president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, which supports a proposed state law that would prevent employers from primarily relying on AI software to automate decisions like terminations or disciplinary actions. Instead, humans would have to review decisions. The law would also prohibit use of tools that predict workers' behaviors, emotional states, and personality. Advertisement 'If we don't start thinking about how to protect workers we're going to have a lot of problems,' said Democratic State Senator Jerry McNerney, who introduced the California bill. 'People will be dismissed and demoted from jobs without sufficient cause.' Proposals like McNerney's have met pushback from some tech companies and employers. Rob Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a tech industry trade group, said societal progress often comes from 'worker-replacing technologies' that sometimes lead to the decline of certain jobs such as elevator operator or gas station attendant. 'The AFL-CIO's efforts to limit AI-driven productivity will only lead to slower wage and economic growth,' he said in an emailed statement to The Washington Post. 'Rather than engaging in a Luddite-inspired campaign against a critical new technology, organized labor should push Congress to improve programs for displaced workers.' Seth Harris, who served as Labor secretary under former president Barack Obama and labor adviser to Biden, said despite the considerable unknowns about the effects of AI on jobs, it is reasonable to try to blunt risks to workers. 'This is the critical moment, not only for AI guardrails, but for collective bargaining over AI in workplaces and industries,' said Harris, who is now a senior fellow at the Burnes Center. In Massachusetts, the Teamsters have argued that autonomous vehicles threaten public safety as well as jobs and fought the expansion of Alphabet's robotaxi service, Waymo, into the state. The union declined to comment but cited a July statement by Tom Mari, president of Teamsters Local 25. 'Waymo is steamrolling into cities throughout our country without concern for workers or residents,' his statement said. 'They're doing this because they want to make trillions of dollars by eliminating jobs.' Waymo did not respond to a request for comment. Advertisement Mari's local supports a bill currently in the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Transportation that requires autonomous vehicles to have a human safety operator who can intervene during the ride. 'We can't just be the Wild West where tech companies can experiment on our roads unregulated,' said Massachusetts State Senator Paul Feeney, a Democrat, who introduced the bill to the state Legislature. 'Let's make sure we're introducing commonsense regulations that keep people safe and employed.'
Yahoo
07-08-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Powerful labor coalition backs redrawing California's congressional map in fight with Texas and Trump
One of California's most influential labor organizations endorsed redrawing the state's congressional maps to counter President Trump's effort to push Republican states, notably Texas, to increase his party's numbers in Congress in next year's midterm election. The California Federation of Labor Unions voted unanimously Tuesday to support putting a measure on the ballot in November. The proposal, backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and many of the state's Democratic leaders, would ask voters to temporarily change congressional district boundaries that were drawn by an independent redistricting commission four years ago, with some conditions. Republicans could potentially lose up to a half dozen seats in California's 52-member delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives. After it returns for its summer recess on Aug. 18, the California Legislature is expected to vote to place the measure on the statewide ballot in a special election. 'President Trump has said that Republicans are 'entitled' to five more congressional votes in Texas. Well, they aren't entitled to steal the 2026 election. California's unions refuse to stand by as democracy is tested,' Lorena Gonzalez, president of the federation, said in a statement. 'California Labor is unified in our resolve to fight back against President Trump's anti-worker agenda." Redistricting — the esoteric redrawing of the nation's 435 congressional districts — typically occurs once every decade after the U.S. census tallies the population across the nation. Population shifts can result in changes in a state's allocation of congressional seats, such as when California lost a seat after the 2020 census the first time in the state's history. Read more: California to lose a congressional seat, according to new census data The political redistricting process had long been crafted by elected officials to give their political parties an edge or to protect incumbents — sometimes in brazen, bizarrely shaped districts. Californians voted in 2010 to create an independent commission to draw congressional maps based on communities of interest, logical geography and ensuring representation of minority communities. The ballot measure being pushed by Newsom and others would allow state lawmakers to help determine district boundaries for the next three election cycles if Texas approves a pending measure to reconfigure districts to increase Republican-held congressional seats in that state. Line-drawing would return to the independent commission after the 2030 census. The California Federation of Labor is committed to spending several million dollars supporting a mid-decade redistricting ballot measure, on top of what it already planned to spend on competitive congressional races next year, according to a person familiar with the plans who asked for anonymity to speak candidly about the strategy. A spokesperson for several organizations devoted to fighting any effort to change the state's redistricting process said that Charles Munger Jr., the son of a billionaire, and who bankrolled the ballot measure to create the independent commission, is committed to making sure it is not weakened. 'While Charles Munger has been out of politics since 2016, he has said he will vigorously defend the reforms he helped pass, including nonpartisan redistricting," said Amy Thoma, spokesperson for the Voters First Coalition. "His previous success in passing ballot measures in California means he knows exactly what is needed to be successful. We will have the resources necessary to make our coalition heard.' Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Express Tribune
27-06-2025
- Climate
- Express Tribune
Death toll rises to 16 after landslide hits Colombia
Locals help rescuers as they search for victims and survivors following a landslide that killed at least 10 people in Bello. PHOTO:AFP Listen to article The death toll from a recent landslide near the Colombian city of Medellin has risen to 16, authorities said Thursday, with the search continuing for more missing. The landslide occurred Tuesday in a mountainside area of Bello, near Colombia's second-biggest city, after heavy rains caused a nearby stream to overflow. Andres Julian Rendon, governor of Antioquia department, said on X that the death toll had risen to 16 with eight people still missing. Bello mayor Lorena Gonzalez said the ground in the disaster area was still "unstable" and that rescue workers were taking "great risks" to continue the search. Antioquia, which is situated in the western Colombian Andes, is often affected by landslides during the rainy season. At least five people were killed in a landslide in another Medellin suburb, Sabaneta, last month.
United News of India
27-06-2025
- Climate
- United News of India
Death toll rises to 14 from Colombia landslide
Bogota, June 27 (UNI) The death toll from a landslide that struck northwest Colombia on June 24 has risen to 14, with 12 people still missing, several injured, and nearly 1,000 left homeless, local authorities confirmed yesterday. Search and rescue teams are working around the clock in the affected El Pinar neighborhood in the city of Bello, hoping to find survivors, Mayor Lorena Gonzalez said at a press conference. "The operation continues. We remain hopeful of finding people alive," Gonzalez said, urging residents to evacuate houses in high-risk areas. Carlos Rios, head of the disaster and risk management agency for the department of Antioquia, warned that ongoing heavy rains and unstable terrain continue to pose a threat of additional landslides. "It is important to stress that the rain is not going to stop," he said, adding that special alarms and cameras have been installed in the area to provide advance warning of potential landslides to crews recovering bodies and searching for the missing. The Colombian Defence Ministry said personnel with sniffer dogs are assisting in search and rescue efforts, while the army is helping evacuate families from high-risk areas. UNI XINHUA ARN
Roya News
25-06-2025
- Climate
- Roya News
At least eight dead in Colombia landslide
A landslide triggered by heavy rains killed at least eight people and injured five others Tuesday near the Colombian city of Medellin, the local mayor said. In a statement posted on X, the mayor of the Medellin suburb of Bello, Lorena Gonzalez, said "over 10 homes" were affected by the landslide, which took place before dawn. Images shared by local media showed houses buried under earth on a mountain bordering Colombia's second-biggest city. At least 10 people were still missing after the tragedy, which was caused by flooding in a ravine, local media reported. A picture shared by Medellin's disaster management department showed a car and a street caked in mud. Other X users shared images and videos of flooded Bello streets. Antioquia, which is situated in the western Colombian Andes, is often affected by landslides during the rainy season.
