AI anxiety grips UK as TUC pushes for ‘worker-first’ strategy
The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has unveiled a new ‘worker-first’ AI strategy, urging the government to prioritise employees and unions at the centre of its AI policy.
This move follows recent findings from the same union, which revealed that half of UK adults are concerned that AI will either take or significantly alter their jobs.
The report has warned that, without a proactive approach, the AI revolution could lead to “rampant inequality” and social unrest.
This follows a recent report revealing that bankers across the UK could be on the chopping block as the industry piles billions into AI.
By 2030, banks across the country are expected to have invested over £1.8bn in generative AI, according to CityAM.
AI productivity paradox
The TUC’s call for government action comes as businesses increasingly integrate AI into their operations, often with mixed outcomes.
Kevin Fitzgerald, UK managing director at HR payroll platform Employment Hero, noted that while firms are keen to “cut costs and automate admin”, the implementation is not always an easy process.
What’s more, he pointed to a “productivity paradox”, where the impact of AI varies extensively, depending on how it is initially introduced.
He cited Employment Hero’s research, which found that employees who regularly use AI report a 17 per cent higher productivity rate.
But when the technology is badly implemented, “productivity can drop by up to 50 per cent”.
He added that “too often, AI gets treated as a one-size-fits-all solution, and that’s where problems start”.
Instead, a human-led approach is key, where AI is gradually embedded into workflows and paired with ongoing, continuous training.
A call for a ‘digital dividend’
The new TUC’s AI strategy is comprehensive, including key requests aimed at ensuring that the overall benefits of AI are widely shared.
The union body has called for conditions to be attached to the mass investments of public money being poured into AI research and development. It wants to know that technologies are developed in a way that complements, rather than replaces, human workers.
This means the TUC wants to see a “digital dividend” for workers from the productivity gains of AI.
The group’s assistant general secretary, Kate Bell, said that while AI has “transformative potential”, the alternative is worse.
She added: “Left unmanaged and in the wrong hands, the AI revolution could entrench rampant inequality as jobs are degraded or displaced, and shareholders get richer”.