In March of this year, BLET National Vice President Vince Verna testified that autonomous rail equipment is “not ready for prime time”. (BLET photo taken during 2022 demonstration in Culver City, Calif.)
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Over the past two years, BLET has publicly raised questions in the media, in government testimony and directly with employers about a growing pattern of derailments, deaths and injuries linked to the misuse of remote control locomotives. The union also has testified against granting waivers for railroads — of any size — to use entirely autonomous trains.
BLET believes there is a role for the additional use of technology in railroading, but it should be applied as a tool to assist train operators, to make work and the communities we serve safer, and not as a replacement for an experienced and responsible workforce.
BLET speaks up for its members. The Teamsters have been a leading voice sounding the alarm on the dangers of driverless trucks and other driverless vehicles linked to AI. Who else is out there? When it comes to the use or abuse of emerging technologies who is speaking up for workers that lack union representation?
In an article titled “The AI Revolution Is Coming For Your Non-Union Job,” Time Magazine studies the potential impact of new generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) technologies on workers and their livelihoods. The article examines a new study that says about 30% of the workforce could see at least half of their work tasks impacted by GenAI, while 85% of all workers could see at least 10% of their tasks impacted. The article reports that workplaces with union representation are among the least affected by GenAI’s growing capabilities.