Worker union criticises ‘uncoordinated, employer and developer-centric’ AI rollout

In its submission to the federal joint select committee on artificial intelligence, the Australian Services Union has called for a worker-first approach and increased transparency around anticipated AI changes to the workplace as organisations move beyond implementation.

Attitudes have shifted strongly in the last year alone, with more than half of surveyed Australian Services Union (ASU) members now expecting their job to change within a very short period of time, its latest study revealed.

The proportion of union members who anticipate AI will significantly change their role within the next three years has gone from 39.9 per cent in 2025 to 51.3 per cent in 2026.

Member responses also revealed that while AI use at work has grown more than 5 per cent over the last 12 months, training remains low at 32.5 per cent, with AI-specific consultation also low at 33.2 per cent.

As has been widely reported, workers often turn to AI secrecy when workplaces demand productivity while lacking transparency, communication, or guidance.

At the same time, almost 50 per cent of respondents ranked “fear of job replacement” as one of the top three concerns about AI, also expressing uncertainty around automation, surveillance, discrimination, outsourcing, and the undermining of worker rights.

Reinforcing the union’s call for a digital just transition, ASU national secretary Emeline Gaske said: “We represent a diverse workforce that is skilled and recognises that AI and new technologies can be a powerful tool to help with some of the more repetitive tasks at work, but they need the support to do that.”

“Our workforce is highly feminised, and so any disruption to their work from AI is likely to have gendered impacts across society, too.”

Given that the union represents workers potentially sitting on the front line of the AI wave, including admin and clerical workers, call centre employees, and legal practitioners and IT professionals, its submission to the federal joint select committee on AI focused on the anticipated, wide-scale impact on employees.

Specifically, the ASU has outlined the following five actions as necessary to support workers through the digital transition: equitable access to AI and digital tools, universal and accessible training for the jobs of the future, worker voice and strong safeguards, valuation of essential skills, and sharing the productivity dividend.

In the union’s 18 September submission, Gaske said: “AI has the potential to disrupt members’ jobs and rights, but it could also make work fairer, safer and more productive.”

“Realising those benefits requires workers and their unions to have a foundational, non-negotiable role in decisions about how AI is introduced and used, and how its benefits are shared.

“Workers must be at the heart of decision making to ensure protections are in place.

“If unemployment increases with no way for workers to upskill to harness AI tools, it is foreseeable that generations of workers will spend a lifetime without the quiet enjoyment of a career pathway, or will be unemployed or underemployed.”

The submission also referenced suggestions stemming from its member survey, with nearly three-quarters agreeing they should have a notice period of at least six months if they lose their jobs, and more adequate support so workers are not reduced to technology support roles.

In connection, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has called for stronger worker rights, AI that is pro-worker, safe, and sovereign, and the regulation of AI developers and deployers in its own submission to the committee.

The union stressed the importance of protecting Australians “from the unrestrained development and deployment of these systems in the Australian market”, suggesting the Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute “oversee a licensing regime for the development and deployment of large frontier models and large open-weight models in Australia to keep Australians safe”.

Further, the union called for legislated AI standards for data centre developments to mitigate the impact on communities.

As reported by the ABC yesterday (30 September), the ACTU, along with AI academics, released a joint statement calling for domestic AI capability and infrastructure investment, shared data centre computing capacity, and a levy to fund the local AI sector.

Submissions to the parliamentary committee closed on 14 September, with its final report due by 30 November 2026.

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