Tech & Work Roundups
Our program regularly compiles policy and research updates related to technology and work. See below. New material will be added every few months.
The UC Berkeley Labor Center’s Technology and Work Program provides worker organizations and policymakers with the research, policy analysis, and training they need in order to respond to rapid technological change in the workplace and ensure that AI and other digital technologies benefit rather than harm workers. We focus on low-wage industries and the workers of color, women, and immigrants who are often on the frontlines of experimentation with emerging technologies.
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The Current Landscape of Tech and Work Policy: A Guide to Key Concepts |
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Electronic Monitoring and Automated Decision Systems: Frequently Asked Questions |
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Negotiating Tech: An Inventory of U.S. Union Contract Provisions for the Digital Age |
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Data and Algorithms at Work: The Case for Worker Technology Rights |
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Videos and learnings from our January 2025 conference, Making Tech Work for Workers (use your scroll button for the interactive learnings page). |
Our program regularly compiles policy and research updates related to technology and work. See below. New material will be added every few months.
It is our assessment that the current proposed regulations do not provide the protections that consumers and workers deserve under the CCPA and that the law itself clearly intended.
A searchable inventory of contract provisions from over 175 union agreements showing how collective bargaining has been used to address workplace technologies, protect worker rights, and shape technology adoption, use, and oversight.
Joint letter in response to the California Privacy Protection Agency’s May 9, 2025, request for comments on the most recent draft of proposed regulations for the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
Accessible, non-technical FAQ answering common questions about AI and other digital technologies in the workplace, how employers use them, and how workers are impacted.
Joint letter providing recommendations in response to the California Privacy Protection Agency’s request for comments on proposed regulations for the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
Workers at large businesses in California have basic rights around their worker data under the California Consumer Privacy Act, a groundbreaking data privacy law. Because of its potential value for workers and worker advocates, we explain in this toolkit the process for workers to access their data.
This post explains the the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)’s new guidelines that employers must follow when they use algorithmic scores or background reports generated by third parties to make employment decisions.
Updated November 12, 2024. An overview of current U.S. public policy that regulates employers’ use of digital workplace technologies.
Prepared Testimony by Dr. Annette Bernhardt, Director, Technology and Work Program, UC Berkeley Labor Center for the Joint Informational Hearing, California State Assembly, Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection and Committee on Labor and Employment. August 7, 2024, Sacramento, CA.
Joint letter providing input on the California Privacy Protection Agency’s current rulemaking for the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which will detail a set of important worker rights and employer responsibilities for the use of data-driven technologies in the workplace.
Prepared testimony by Annette Bernhardt, presented at “California at the Forefront: Steering AI Towards Ethical Horizons,” Joint Informational Hearing by the CA Senate Governmental Organization Committee and the Senate Budget Subcommittee on State Administration and General Government. February 21, 2024, Sacramento, CA.
We outline core principles for how government action on AI can benefit public and private sector workers, and comment on how two recent executive orders reflect those principles. Our goal is to help inform the significant work that lies ahead for federal, state, and local governments in their efforts to model responsible use of AI.
Workers and their unions took center stage in 2023 by negotiating landmark agreements that address emerging workplace technologies. Alongside establishing fundamental rights regarding the adoption of new technologies, unions negotiated protective measures for workers, provisions ensuring workers share in the benefits of these advancements, and even reined in certain technological applications. Here’s a closer look at some of the major technology bargaining agreements reached this year.
This memo provides an overview of workers’ rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and how workers can exercise these rights.
The pandemic’s myriad effects on the U.S. economy will be the subject of research and attention for many years to come. In this report, we delve into some of the pandemic’s impacts by focusing on one question: How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect technology adoption in U.S. warehouses?
Our goal in this comment is to highlight evidence indicating the prevalence of automated workplace surveillance and management technologies, impact on workers resulting from employers’ use of these systems, and principles and policy models for worker technology rights and protections.
This report explores how governments use technology, what drives technology adoption, and how technologies affect public sector workers and the delivery of public services. Using examples across local, state, and federal governments, the report finds that transparency and accountability have lagged behind rapid technology adoption in the wake of COVID-19, and that public sector workers play a critical role in ensuring that technology is used to strengthen the ability of governments to provide quality and equitable public services.
The workplace is rapidly becoming a major site for the deployment of AI-based technologies; it is high time that our laws and regulations catch up.
A 1987 report from the federal Office of Technology Assessment recognized the potential for employers to misuse and abuse new technologies resulting in adverse effects for workers, but recommended a “wait and see” approach due to lack of data to justify regulation. This blog post reviews decades of research since publication of the report that finds electronic performance monitoring (EPM) systems do increase worker stress and cause other harms.
June 26, 2025
In The Age Of ChatGPT, Workers Want A Say On AI In The Workplace
May 14, 2025
California Workers—What You Need to Know About Your Data Rights
January 16, 2025
Fearing AI will take their jobs, California workers plan a long battle against tech
October 1, 2024
The Human Cost Of Efficiency And Why It Should Matter To All Investors
August 28, 2024
Should AI be regulated in the workplace? California lawmakers took that question on this legislative session
The UC Berkeley Labor Center has launched a new tool to help labor union negotiators, researchers, media, and policymakers better understand how unions have addressed workplace technologies through collective bargaining.
In a world where algorithms increasingly dictate tasks, monitor performance, and even generate content, the traditional landscape of labor relations is undergoing a seismic shift.
The University of California-Berkeley’s Labor Center has announced a new data tool to help labor union negotiators, researchers, media, and policymakers better understand the state of play of union negotiations around the digital economy.
“This bill makes sure that workers are not simply informed when employers want to introduce a new technology, but have a real say in how it will be used—and the power to say no,” says Mishal Khan, a senior researcher at the UC Berkeley Labor Center.
Lisa Kresge points out that, “Unions are negotiating around specific workplace technologies, rather than negotiating around technology in general.”
Annette Bernhardt
Director, Technology and Work Program
Mishal Khan
Senior Researcher
Lisa Kresge
Senior Researcher
Kung Feng
Senior Researcher