The Reality of the AI Era in the Workplace: The Ruin of the Workforce or the Birth of a New Era for Trade Unionism and Worker Empowerment

Speaker:
Poppy Stowell-Evans - History and Political Science at Yale

Title:
The Reality of the AI Era in the Workplace: The Ruin of the Workforce or the Birth of a New Era for Trade Unionism and Worker Empowerment

Abstract:
The rapid integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into workplaces worldwide is generating widespread concern about job displacement, declining worker agency, and accelerating inequality. Yet AI also offers a pivotal opportunity to transform labor relations and strengthen worker power. Drawing on interviews with trade union representatives, policymakers, AI developers, and academics in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and South Korea, this research identifies both the challenges workers face and the barriers that prevent unions from responding effectively. These include declining membership, resource constraints, and varying national models of worker representation. Despite these limitations, unions remain uniquely positioned to shape a just and democratic transition into the AI era. The findings point to a four-part strategy for harnessing AI in support of worker empowerment: expanding union membership, improving worker education and AI literacy, strengthening opportunities for consultation and worker voice, and advancing national regulatory frameworks that prevent discriminatory or opaque uses of AI. Taken together, these interventions demonstrate that AI need not erode workplace power structures. Instead, when guided by strong labor institutions, AI can serve as a catalyst for more equitable workplaces, renewed union relevance, and a worker-centered vision of technological progress.

Bio:
Poppy Stowell-Evans is a senior at Yale University majoring in History and Political Science. Originally from Newport, Wales, her Welsh upbringing has shaped her commitment to challenging societal hierarchies and amplifying marginalized voices. She has pursued this mission through climate and women’s rights activism and her involvement in the UK Labour Party. Before attending Yale, Poppy served as chair of the Youth Climate Ambassadors for Wales, where she led campaigns on climate justice and displacement, including launching the UK’s first petition to recognize climate refugees. In this role, she attended COP26 as a Blue Zone delegate, hosting events, speaking on panels, and elevating youth perspectives from Wales on the global stage.

At Yale, Poppy’s time has been spent as a student in the Brady-Johnson Program, working as a Community and Consent Educator and now a First Year Counsellor, as well as working to host conferences with Yale International Relations Association (YIRA). As her Yale journey comes to an end, Poppy hopes to continue exploring this intersection of strategy, justice, and policy. She is eager to bring the lessons she has learned at Yale into the trade union, NGO, or policy space, working toward inclusive and lasting social change.

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