Technology and Work
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.
Our program maintains several frequently used resources:
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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 lessons from our January 2025 conference, Making Tech Work for Workers (use your scroll button for the interactive page). |
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Highlights
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Report
October 8, 2026
Bossware Comes to California: The Impact of New Management Technologies on Workers and the Case for Policy Regulation
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Article
August 5, 2026
Co-opting or Centering the Human Worker in the Digital Age? An Overview of Human-in-the-Loop Legislation in the United States
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Article
November 3, 2025
Evaluating Trends and Challenges in State Regulation of Workplace Technologies
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Tool/Resource
September 18, 2025
A First Look at Labor’s AI Values: An analysis of recent statements about technology by unions and other worker organizations
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Press
May 14, 2025
California Workers—What You Need to Know About Your Data Rights
Research & Publications
Co-opting or Centering the Human Worker in the Digital Age? An Overview of Human-in-the-Loop Legislation in the United States
SSRC’s Just Tech program. What does it mean to have a “human-in-the-loop”? Including examples from the 2026 legislative session, in this piece published by SSRC’s Just Tech Platform, senior researcher Mishal Khan dives into the many different HITL provisions being proposed in legislatures across the country today, highlighting their impacts on workers.
The Labor Center congratulates Lisa Kresge, new director of the Tech and Work Program
Former Senior Researcher Lisa Kresge is the new Director of the Labor Center’s Technology and Work Program. Outgoing Director Annette Bernhardt will continue to support the program and our partners in her new position as the Labor Center’s Senior Tech Policy Advisor.
Preliminary Comment on Notices & Disclosure and Employee Data as Regulated by the California Consumer Privacy Act
Written response to the California Privacy Protection Agency’s April 20, 2026 invitation for preliminary comment on Notices & Disclosure and Employee Data as regulated by the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Comments submitted by the California Federation of Labor Unions, California Nurses Association, SEIU California, Tech Equity, and the UC Berkeley Labor Center.
The Current Landscape of Tech and Work Policy in the U.S.: A Guide to Key Laws, Bills, and Concepts
Updated December 2025. An overview of current U.S. public policy that regulates employers’ use of digital workplace technologies.
Roundups of Research and Policy Updates on Tech and Work
Our program regularly compiles policy and research updates related to technology and work. See below. New material will be added every few months.
An Alternative Vision for the Future of Tech and Work: A First Look at Labor’s AI Values
Op-ed by Kung Feng and Mishal Khan argues that in debates about how AI could impact workers in the years to come, it is essential to pay attention to the wide range of concerns that worker organizations have about technology adoption, as well as the alternative vision they are putting forth.
Evaluating Trends and Challenges in State Regulation of Workplace Technologies
AI in the workplace isn’t just automation. Workers report discrimination, intensified workloads, and even automated firing. New state policies aim to center workers, write Mishal Khan and Annette Bernhardt in this Tech Policy Press article.
A First Look at Labor’s AI Values: An analysis of recent statements about technology by unions and other worker organizations
A first look at labor’s vision of what the future of AI and digital technologies should look like.
Comments prepared for the July 24, 2025, public hearing of the California Privacy Protection Agency
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.
Negotiating Tech: An Inventory of U.S. Union Contract Provisions for the Digital Age
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 to the California Privacy Protection Agency Commenting on Proposed Regulations
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).
Electronic Monitoring and Automated Decision Systems: Frequently Asked Questions
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 Comment Letter on Proposed Regulations for the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
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).
Press Highlights
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Press
July 9, 2026
Kaiser nurses say technology is making their jobs — and patient care — worse
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Press
June 25, 2026
Everyone is worried about AI killing jobs. She’s testing a fix-it plan.
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Press
February 24, 2026
How tech workers are speaking up at work and beyond—A worker voice event recap
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Article
November 10, 2025
An Alternative Vision for the Future of Tech and Work: A First Look at Labor’s AI Values
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Press
January 5, 2026
Can the Fight Against AI Revitalize the US Labor Movement?
Press Coverage
How stores that pack online orders drain the life from a busy street
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley’s Labor Center describe a broader move across the industry in which chains treat their locations as dispersed mini-warehouses, shifting labor away from the sales floor and toward back-room picking, packing, and processing returns.
AI fired an S.F. store employee. Will California crack down on ‘robobosses’?
Researchers Annette Bernhardt and Lisa Kresge wrote in the report that ADS technology, which commonly employs AI, can be used in workplaces to give workers directions about their job tasks, predict workers’ future behavior and rank workers.
Kaiser nurses say technology is making their jobs — and patient care — worse
Call center nurses at the health giant said workplace surveillance tools and AI prioritize speed and cost savings over quality and safety.
Everyone is worried about AI killing jobs. She’s testing a fix-it plan.
At least 180 state bills have been introduced this year to regulate AI use in workplaces or address technology-related job losses, according to the University of California at Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education.
Newsom issues executive order aimed at preparing California for AI workplace disruption, but critics say protections fall short
“We have a whole database at the University of California, Berkeley Labor Center of every single contract we bargained on this issue, and it does show success. We know we’ve saved jobs,” Lorena Gonzales said.
Tech and Work Industry Studies
- January 10, 2023 Technology in the public sector and the future of government work
- September 28, 2022 Technological change in five industries: Threats to jobs, wages, and working conditions
- December 9, 2020 Delivering Insecurity: E-commerce and the Future of Work in Food Retail
- September 3, 2020 Change and Uncertainty, Not Apocalypse: Technological Change and Store-Based Retail
- June 23, 2020 Technological Change in Health Care Delivery
- October 22, 2019 The Future of Warehouse Work: Technological Change in the U.S. Logistics Industry
- September 4, 2018 Driverless? Autonomous Trucks and the Future of the American Trucker
Program Contacts
Lisa Kresge
Director
Annette Bernhardt
Senior Tech Policy Advisor
Mishal Khan
Senior Researcher
Kung Feng
Senior Researcher


