U.S. unions split over AI as data center buildout expands

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U.S. unions and AI split

Highlights

Trade unions including electrical workers and plumbers are partnering with OpenAI and Blackstone to oppose moratoriums on new data center construction, supporting job creation.
AFL-CIO is lobbying state legislatures for AI use restrictions to block worker surveillance and require human oversight on healthcare decisions, highlighting divisions within organized labor.
Teamsters, led by Sean O'Brien, are fighting autonomous vehicles from Tesla, Waymo, Zoox, and Aurora, demanding safety operators and voicing public safety and job loss concerns.

Data center jobs and AI limits

As first reported by Axios, trade unions including electrical workers and plumbers are backing data center construction because the projects create demand for skilled labor. That support is taking shape through a new partnership with OpenAI and Blackstone aimed at fighting moratoriums on new data center development.

At the same time, the AFL-CIO is pressing state legislatures to adopt restrictions on AI use that would block worker surveillance and prevent health care decisions from being made without human oversight. Arthur Wheaton, director of labor studies at the Cornell ILR Buffalo Co-Lab, says labor has never moved as a single bloc and that some unions stand to gain while others face losses.

Wheaton says unions are generally more open to technology when it helps workers, includes training and does not eliminate jobs. Where AI is seen as replacing workers, he says, resistance becomes much stronger.

Transport and industry tensions intensify

The sharpest conflict is emerging around autonomous vehicles, where the Teamsters are campaigning to keep robotaxis and self-driving trucks off public roads unless they include a safety operator. Teamsters president Sean O'Brien is leading that push, while the union is clashing with companies including Tesla, Waymo, Zoox and Aurora.

Peter Finn, the Teamsters' vice president at-large, says unions want a greater role in shaping how AI is rolled out so that people remain at the center of deployment decisions. He argues robotaxis are designed to remove drivers and raise public safety concerns.

Autonomous vehicle companies counter that the technology could reduce deaths and injuries once it becomes safer than human driving. Aurora chief executive Chris Urmson says trucking is a dangerous job with significant health issues and argues the effort to block self-driving vehicles is misplaced.

The broader debate is also reaching industrial unions. UAW president Shawn Fain has criticized what he calls a corporate view that technology should primarily be used to cut jobs and increase profits, arguing AI does not have to follow that model.

Our earlier coverage of the US AI data center buildout highlighted mounting obstacles behind the boom, including rising financing costs, construction delays, and tightening power availability. We noted that many planned projects were being delayed or questioned by investors as local opposition and grid constraints made rapid capacity expansion harder to deliver on schedule.

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