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Robots won’t take all our jobs. But our new study finds they could turn middle-class jobs into low-wage gig work — unless workers and policymakers play an active role in guiding innovation.

Advances in robotics and artificial intelligence, pioneered by tech firms here in Silicon Valley, are fundamentally changing how we work. What will that mean for workers? Together with the UC Berkeley Labor Center, we commissioned a new study into how driverless technology could be adopted within the trucking industry — likely to be one of the first sectors transformed by automation.

Our research found that in the scenarios that many tech companies are working towards, driverless trucks will handle the majority of long-distance highway driving while human-driven vehicles will navigate local roads. However, many of these long-distance highway driving jobs are among the best trucking jobs in the industry.

While the loss of these jobs could be made up for by an increase in local driving jobs, unless policymakers act, these jobs are likely to be low-paid gig jobs that exploit workers.

In short — driverless trucks are on course to replace many of the best long-distance trucking jobs and shift the industry towards more low-wage gig work.

In these replacement jobs, workers are likely to be misclassified as “independent contractors” so companies can avoid paying for basic worker protections such as minimum wage and overtime rules. These workers would also likely work within an Uber-style business model that could further drive down wages.

While many have forecast a future in which robots take all our jobs, this research finds that the real danger with automation is that it creates a world where the quality of jobs is far worse.

But this bleak future for workers is not set in stone. This is why we’re focusing on a set of proposals to ensure that workers are protected. By taking steps now to promote innovation that benefits trucking firms, drivers and our communities, advances in automation and artificial intelligence could deliver family supporting jobs, healthy communities and a more productive trucking industry.

If policymakers, truck drivers, industry leaders and the public come together now, we can plan how to ensure that the benefits of automation can be fairly shared among us all.

Last week, so many people attended our rally before the City of San Jose’s public meeting about a planned Google mega-campus in the city that many were barred from entering the packed meeting room.

San Jose residents trying to attend a public meeting about the future of their city were told to “voice your displeasure outside.” Many people could not raise their concerns inside the public meeting, but TV news cameras were there to capture the events.

We went to City Hall with a simple message: If Google’s coming to town, we need it to be a good neighbor.

We know first hand that major tech expansions lead to massive increases in homelessness, evictions and rents. We’ve seen it happen in San Francisco and throughout Silicon Valley. In Mountain View, Google’s current hometown, homelessness has soared by 1,024% since 2011.

We also know that the low-wage jobs these campuses create do not pay the bills. What use is a $16/hour job at Google when the average rent in Google’s hometown of Mountain View has soared to $4,000 per month?

Google and the City of San Jose have a choice to make. Are they going to forge a new path for tech expansion? One that protects existing residents, works with the community and actually benefits local people. Or will they allow rampant tech-fuelled gentrification to continue?

Yesterday, Google came to San Jose. Not for the proposed 20,000-employee mega-campus it wants to open in the city – but for its annual marketing conference, which was held this year at the San Jose Convention Center.

And a team of community activists were there to welcome them and deliver a message to Google and its advertisers: affordable housing now!

If Google wants to open its huge new mega-campus in San Jose, we can’t repeat the mistakes made in Google’s current hometown of Mountain View.

Tech’s failure to take responsibility for its local impacts led to skyrocketing rents, soaring numbers of homeless residents and families kicked out of their homes and priced out of their communities.

Hundreds of conference delegates and Googlers walked into the convention center past a row of tents, sleeping bags and protesters holding signs.

The message was clear: the people of San Jose want Google to commit to a community benefits agreement with our community to ensure that both Google and the people of San Jose benefit from this deal. 

Today, the Supreme Court overturned more than four decades of precedent by making fair share fees for public sector workers unconstitutional in the Janus v. AFSCME case.

This decision makes it easier for anti-worker extremists to divide working people and further rig the economy.

This decision was the result of hundreds of millions of dollars spent by corporate billionaires over decades to take away working people’s freedom to stand together in a union – but these efforts will ultimately fail.

No court decision can extinguish the desire of working people standing together in unions to create better lives for our families and communities. We will not allow a court decision to stand in the way of the fight for good jobs, safe workplaces, equal pay for women, fair treatment of immigrants and dignity at work for everyone.

California needs strong unions to stand up to the rich and powerful who rig the economy against workers, and workers aren’t about to let these corporate billionaires reverse the progress that our movement has made. That’s why it’s more important than ever for us to keep our unions strong.

When we’re strong we can withstand the attack. We can look out for each other. We can create a better future for our families. No court decision or politician can stop us from standing together in a union to get a better deal for our hard work.

Today, we will not only work with our union partners to sustain the labor movement – but strengthen it so more working people can negotiate a fair deal in return for their work. 

Despite this decision, we will continue to lead the fight for a balanced economy that gives everyone a fair shot.