While many tech workers are concerned about the implementation of AI, the narrative from bosses and media alike has been that we are hopeless and helpless in the face of technological “progress”. They tell us that as workers we are mere bit players in the historical stage who must hang on for dear life and hope for the best. But this is not true. Workers can and have organized to take control of their working conditions, even in the face of automation – from the formation of textile worker unions in Britain in the 1880s through the Mechanization and Modernization contracts of longshore workers in the 1960s and even by unions such as nurses and Hollywood guilds in the face of AI rollouts these last few years. What these struggles have in common is that workers organized together, created broad communities of solidarity, and were able to wield collective power to win collective demands. While the circumstances we face are somewhat new, we can draw on the lessons and organizing traditions of those who came before.

There has been an upsurge in collective workplace organizing in the last few years, including the formation of tech worker unions. Workers throughout the industry – unionized and non-unionized alike – are starting to talk about how they can exert control over the bosses’ use of AI, and we can turn that into action.

Beginning to organize with fellow workers may feel daunting, but when the moment is right, it can be done very straightforwardly, with just a few guiding principles in mind. First, organizing is about solidarity and begins with community. Second, building these comes through listening, giving people places to speak, and making them feel heard.

Here are some first steps.

• Find a friend or two who will join you. While organizing is about connecting people, it requires putting in energy and hope and emotion, and going alone can be hard, lonely, and demoralizing. Before you think bigger, just chat and connect with people, in a very low key way, about your concerns, until you find one or two others who are willing to put in the work with you. After that, everything becomes easier. In all these first stages, try to keep conversations to trusted co-workers and keep management in the dark.
• Create spaces for workers to talk. This can be in person, with group social events (happy hours, picnics, etc.) or virtually through group chats, discords, or the like, or both. These are not yet a committee or place for action – they are a place for people to build bonds and get comfortable sharing concerns – through them your group can sound out others, find out what they are worried about, and see if they may be inclined to help step forward themselves.
• Pose good questions and listen carefully. A good organizing conversation is 80% listening and 20% talking. Don’t project your presuppositions onto others – find ways to connect, figure out what drives their concerns, and be a sounding board and sympathetic ear for their anxieties.
• Suggest comfortable and safe next steps. You don’t run a race without warming up first. Get people comfortable with taking action together by sounding out what they seem ready for or enthusiastic about, and pick steps that develop their skills and self-confidence – from reaching out to other workers, to assembling research or discussions, to eventually perhaps more public and assertive actions.
• Develop together, democratically, a plan for what you want to achieve. This can be a specific issue you want changed, perhaps via at first a petition campaign or open letter. Or this can be a broader thing, such as an ongoing voice on technology implementation, or even a union campaign. What matters is it comes from the people involved and in so doing reflects something that would resonate more broadly with others as well – i.e. that it reflects a collective voice and can cohere an even greater collective in action and solidarity.
• Develop an organizing structure. To achieve your plan, you’ll need some responsibility assigned – a regular meeting time, and a core group, perhaps rotating chairs and note-takers – this is what we call an organizing committee. It should be composed of people who are not just interesting talkers or thinkers, but who can commit to ongoing work – developing resources, and most importantly, having and reporting in conversations with broader layers of workers, moving towards action.
• Start tracking your organizing conversations. Build a list of your coworkers, and start marking down who has been talked talked to, what issues were most important to them, how willing they might be to support an action.
• Reach out for support. There are many trainings and resources available from labor activists who want to help you, including the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee, CODE-CWA and Tech 1010. You can also contact us as a first step if you prefer.