Revista Technology in Society, 2021
The future of labor unions in the age of automation and at the dawn of
AI. Gadi Nissim, Tomer Simon. En Technology and Society, Vol. 67, 2021
(Volume 67- In progress (November 2021) This issue is in progress but contains articles that
are final and fully citable.
“Abstract
The COVID-19 crisis has accelerated an already-ongoing process of massive digitalization in
economic production and services. AI and robotics are getting, for the first time, autonomous
and self-learning, with human-like capabilities. The discussion about digitalization and the
future of work has become even more imperative. So far,  labor unions  were the leading
institutions representing employees. However, the rising possibility of human substitution by
intelligent machines puts in question the feasibility of labor unions’ policies. This development
undermines their traditional power sources, which depend on the membership of masses of
paid workers and on their ability to stop production. In this context, this paper aims to discuss
the challenges confronting unions in capitalist democracies. Most scholarly literature on labor
relations has embraced the assumption that the digital revolution will eventually bring new,
better jobs. We suggest considering an alternative scenario, namely, a digital revolution that
causes mass replacement of human workers and structural, technological unemployment,
which might expand our point of view, particularly for designing public policy. We suggest that
unions now have two crucial roles. The first is to safeguard workers " rights and interests in the
transition from an economy based on paid labor to an economy based on automated-
autonomous production; and second, they should transform their primary calling from
representing employees to representing the social rights of all citizens, and particularly the
material interests of lay people.

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Transfer - 2007

How can trade unions act strategically? Richard Hyman. En Transfer:
European Review of Labour and Research , Año 2007. Volumen 13, Núm.2 

“Summary
It is generally agreed that trade unions require new strategies to respond to external
and internal challenges. Economic internationalisation makes it easier for employers to
escape national structures of employment regulation, and appears to weaken the
ability of governments to defend nationally-based social models; sectoral and
occupational shifts in employment erode traditional union strongholds, while social
and ideological changes undermine workers’ traditional orientation to collectivism. Yet
what do we mean by trade union strategy, and how can it be modernised? This article
addresses in particular the literatures on organisational learning, social capital and
vocabularies of motive to explore how the twin principles of leadership and democracy
can be harnessed to meet the challenges of the ‘new’ capitalism” .

Enlace al artículo completo (en inglés)