Growth of data centers and AI expose tensions in organized labor

Bloomberg Law reports that the growth of data centers to power artificial intelligence is exposing a tension within organized labor on how the new technology will affect their jobs. 

Construction of those centers could benefit union members in the skilled trades and construction industry while other unions representing other private and public sector workers raise concerns over future job loss to AI. The divide is seen in the AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest federation of labor unions and its affiliates over the issue.

Bloomberg Law spoke with Anne Lofaso, a professor in the Donald P. Klekamp College of Law, along with other industry observers about the divide. Lofaso, a former attorney with the National Labor Relations Board, teaches labor law, employment law, employment discrimination law, and constitutional law

“The AFL-CIO kind of always has this tension because the unions have very different interests,” Lofaso told Bloomberg Law. “But this truly is existential. This is about jobs.”

The North America’s Building Trades Unions, one of the AFL-CIO’s largest members, has been one of the most vocal champions of data centers that its leaders say will provide jobs, reports Bloomberg Law.

“These aren’t the only things that are being built in the United States or Canada right now, but this is where a lot of the action is,” Mike Monroe, chief of staff at NABTU, told Bloomberg Law. His organization represents more than 3 million building trade workers in the United States and Canada.

In April, about a half-dozen union leaders affiliated with the AFL-CIO stood with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) when he asked Congress to pass a moratorium on data center construction until lawmakers passed guardrails on artificial intelligence in the workplace. 

The dispute reflects the wave of pushback over the impact of the more than 4,000 data centers across the country used to power AI, reports Bloomberg Law.

Data center construction is becoming an increasingly prominent part of construction unions’ business models as they rely on partnerships with companies to keep their members employed and account for 2.3% of all US construction spending, according to a June report from the US Census Bureau.

Read the full story in Bloomberg Law online.

Learn more about Anne Lofaso, professor of law at the University of Cincinnati.

Featured top image of the Vernon, California, Data Center. Photo/iStock.