Ontario public-sector unions push province for workplace AI safeguards

Unions representing tens of thousands of public sector workers in Ontario are racing to inject artificial intelligence safeguards into multiple contract negotiations, Global News has learned, as workers express concerns about how Crown agencies plan to use the technology.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), which represents more than 200,000 public sector workers, said language around the current or potential use of AI is being introduced at nearly every bargaining table across the province.

“The implication of AI becomes more and more clear in almost every sector we represent,” said OPSEU President JP Hornick.

“We have teams working on bargaining guides around AI in almost every area I can think of.”

Hornick said among the top concerns are job losses, the replacement of job functions and employers potentially using AI to monitor work.

“We don’t want to see AI rolled out without workers’ voices being present,” said Hornick.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents nearly 310,000 workers in Ontario, has also created bargaining guidelines on AI to ensure protective language can be negotiated in collective agreements.

Local bargaining units are being told to investigate how AI is showing up in workplaces, to identify potential risks and review collective agreements for language clauses related to AI.

“Left unchecked, AI and other digital innovations can have harmful consequences for work quality and workers’ rights,” CUPE states on its website.

Among the demands: that employers should be prevented from collecting or using biometric data, emotional or facial recognition tools or any “human behaviour manipulation tool.”

CUPE also wants language to ensure that AI systems are controlled by humans and that employees will not be subject to any decisions made entirely by AI.

Unions like OPSEU have been met with some roadblocks around AI negotiations.

In August, contract talks between the union and the Ontario Hospital Association on behalf of 14,000 hospital employees went to arbitration, where the use of artificial intelligence in hospitals was a key point of negotiation.

OPSEU sought advance notice of hospitals’ “anticipated” use of AI, but the arbitration board rejected the union’s proposal. It claimed current contract language was enough to capture any technological changes related to AI.

It would be too “onerous,” the board also said, for hospitals to provide notice to the union about anticipated AI use.

“The use of A.I. in high-tech equipment is ubiquitous and is often guarded as intellectual property by third parties. It would be nearly impossible for hospitals to comply with notice requirements for the ‘anticipated use’ of A.I.,” the arbitration board said.

In late 2024, the Ford government introduced new directives on how ministries and agencies are expected to use artificial intelligence tools.

Those directives, which also apply to all public service workers, mandate that the use of AI must be “human rights affirming” and always transparent and accountable.

The Treasury Board Secretariat, which oversees labour relations between the government and the public service, said AI provides the Ontario Public Service (OPS) with tools to “modernize” and “improve how we work.”

The OPS, a spokesperson said, is “leveraging AI to drive innovation,” while also ensuring it’s used “safely and responsibly to safeguard the interest of the people and businesses of Ontario.”

The NDP, however, claims more than one million public sector jobs could be at risk if AI is fully implemented in the OPS.

“Despite these concerns, the Ford government hasn’t moved with any urgency to protect workers,” NDP Labour Critic Jamie West told Global News.

Instead, West said Premier Ford is focused on “making an all-in push on data centres” and “inviting American tech giants” to invest in Ontario.

“Throwing unions and workers into chaos as they try to get a handle on this rapidly evolving technology is unacceptable,” said West.

When asked if unions are correct to be concerned about AI in the public service, a spokesperson for Treasury Board President Kinga Surma said “issues that may be raised in collective bargaining are matters to be addressed by the parties through the negotiation process.”