The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has said that it will seek tougher regulations to guide the future roll-out of AI in workplaces.
The statement issued today from the peak union body representing almost 2 million Australian workers said that it will pursue a pro-job, pro-worker agenda in the adoption of AI to ensure that it is safe and deployed in a way that gives workers a "stake in the gains" while also being transparent and fair.
Unions will go into next month’s Economic Reform Roundtable calling for a new set of mandatory enforceable agreements that would compel employers to consult with their staff before new AI technologies can be introduced into workplaces, according to the ACTU.
The measures require employers to reach AI Implementation Agreements with their workforce, including guarantees around job security, skills development and retraining, transparency over technology use, genuine privacy and data collection and use protections.
The union stated that the enforceable AI Implementation Agreements would also need the backing of a new National AI Authority and a national Artificial Intelligence Act to ensure laws keep pace with the “massive technological changes” workers already face in every sector and industry, with a regulator resourced to support them.
ACTU assistant secretary, Joseph Mitchell, said AI can bring benefits if it is brought in by workers who are well-trained and well-supported in the use of AI.
“This can’t happen without the knowledge, experience, creativity and skills of workers being brought into the implementation process,” he said.
“Working people will not embrace AI if their key concerns, such as job security, are left unprotected.
“Good employers understand this and are consulting properly. The new AI Implementation agreements will protect those companies by ensuring that other employers engage in the responsible uptake of AI around the country.”
Mitchell said such agreements are sensible and necessary for successful introduction of AI.
“Workers will be all in, if they know doing so will not cost them their jobs,” he said.
“Research shows that productivity gains from AI are realised when workers are involved and protected.
“If an employer does not have an AI Implementation Agreement in place with their workers that company should not be eligible for government funding, such as research and development incentives or government contracts.”
Finance Sector Union criticises CBA’s AI technology for job cuts
The statement comes on the same day that the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) announced that the use of an AI ‘voice bot’ to triage inbound customer calls has led to the bank placing 45 roles in Direct Banking under review.
ITNews reported that a CBA spokesperson said the technology “is making it easier and faster for customers to get help, especially in our call centres … by automating simple queries, our teams can focus on more complex customer queries that need empathy and experience.”
The Finance Sector Union (FSU) released a statement stating a total of 90 jobs are due to be cut due to the introduction of the AI ‘voice bot’ – including the 45 in Direct Banking.
FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano said union members want to be trained and supported into better jobs that leverage AI.
“Yet rather than invest in its people the CBA are simply discarding Australians through ongoing redundancies and offshoring,” she said.
“If this is what Matt Comyn calls productivity, we’re seriously concerned about his place at the national productivity roundtable. His carefully curated commitment to policy reform in Australia just looks like hollow PR when acts like this expose that his real agenda is just more profit for shareholders.
“There is a human cost to this. You can’t just replace frontline jobs with a voice bot and expect the same service for customers.”
Media, creative and entertainment union calls for AI act
A new survey by the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) of more than 700 workers – including actors, crew members, musicians, and journalists – has revealed high levels of concern about AI, with 93% agreeing that greater government intervention was necessary to regulate AI.
The union said that an overwhelming majority of respondents – 94% – believe technology companies, such as Meta, Open AI, and Amazon, should be "forced to pay for the work they steal to train their increasingly profitable AI models".
More than half of respondents revealed that they did not know if their work had ever been used to train AI; of those who reported that their image, work, or voice had been used to train AI, 78% neither consented nor received any compensation.
MEAA chief executive Erin Madeley said the survey findings highlighted serious, widespread concerns across the creative and media industries about the rapid rise of AI and its impact on day-to-day work, job security and future employment prospects, as well as the impact of the loss of human-led creativity for Australia’s unique culture.
“We know that Australian voices, music, and artwork have been scraped and faked, that ChatGPT is substituting the work of our journalists, and that AI-generated clone hosts have been used for radio programs – with no disclosure to audiences,” she said.
“This amounts to the unsanctioned, unregulated, and untaxed mining of Australia’s creative resources.
“Companies like Meta, which recorded $US165 billion in revenue last year, should be paying for the creative assets, works, and ideas that they are using, but that is not happening. That’s theft – plain and simple.”
The union has been campaigning to mitigate against the negative impacts of AI on the workforce, via the introduction of an AI Act and regulator and a new tax on businesses that replace human workers with AI tools.
“With AI to be a key focus at the upcoming productivity roundtable, it is becoming increasingly clear that further government intervention will be required to ensure that productivity benefits arising from the use of AI filter down and are shared with Australian workers,” Madeley said.
QLD public sector union reportedly pushing for staff-led approach
The Brisbane Times reported that Together - a union that counts over 30,000 members in the Queensland public service among its members - will 'push for a staff-led approach to artificial intelligence use in white-collar and administrative roles where it can help workers without undermining jobs'.
The article said the union’s campaign will include undertaking a ‘survey of the [public] sector to help understand the level of access to AI tools, how they are being used, and if they are improving working conditions’.
According to the article, ‘this will inform the union’s bargaining claims when government negotiations begin in September for some health and education agreements, and to the core public service negotiation in 2026’.
Together has been contacted by techpartner.news for comment.
In 2024, it was announced that Australia will set up an advisory body to mitigate against the risks of artificial intelligence.
The government subsequently introduced the Voluntary AI Safety Standard, consisting of 10 voluntary guardrails that apply to all organisations throughout the AI supply chain.
They include transparency and accountability requirements across the supply chain and help explain what developers and deployers of AI systems must do.
“The guardrails help organisations to benefit from AI while mitigating and managing the risks that AI may pose to organisations, people and groups,” according to the Department of Industry, Science and Resources.
.png&w=100&c=1&s=0)
.png&w=100&c=1&s=0)
