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SEIU Local 1000’s labor negotiations go beyond telework and wage debates. The union gave a glimpse into what else it asked for when it filed a grievance against the state last week.
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The union made proposals on automation and artificial intelligence by asking the state to consult it before implementing new technology. In the Public Employment Relations Board filing, SEIU Local 1000 shared its desire to make suggestions on AI and technology that could affect employment matters, such as pay, productivity expectations, schedules and working conditions.
State officials would still make decisions about technology, according to the PERB filing, as the union only asked to provide suggestions.
SEIU Local 1000 Chief Negotiator Bobby Roy said conversations about technology, like AI, coincides with a new Anthropic partnership. Last month Gov. Gavin Newsom announced state employees can gain access to Anthropic’s assistant, Claude, to help supplement day-to-day work.
“We wanted to get a little bit more specific with respect to our protection against AI in the language, and so that’s what those efforts are about,” Roy said.
Roy declined to disclose if a tentative agreement was reached on the technology proposal because labor negotiations are in progress.
Newsom said California received a 50% discount with the Anthropic partnership, according to previous Sacramento Bee reporting. There is not a statewide budget allocation for the service, and individual departments would have to foot the bill. It is also open to local governments, according to California Department of Technology spokesperson Monica Hernández.
“For the Anthropic contract available under CDT’s Statewide IT Shared Services (SITeS) … CDT has fielded inquiries from multiple state departments and local jurisdictions, and a first customer, the City of Gilroy, is already under contract with Anthropic,” Hernández wrote in a statement.
When the Anthropic deal was announced, Newsom said he doesn’t plan to replace workers with AI but rather to improve services.
“AI should not replace the human work of government; it should help our workers move faster, solve problems more effectively, and deliver better results for Californians,” Newsom wrote in a statement last month.
Several departments piloted AI programs after Newsom directed agencies to find uses for the technology, according to previous Sacramento Bee reports. About half of these projects, which included an internal AI assistant to help the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration answer taxpayers’ questions, didn’t see long-term implementation.
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California’s Generative AI digital assistant, Poppy, is a product of Newsom’s 2023 GenAI executive order. The tool was built by CDT to help staff draft reports, summarize large amounts of data and research policy using trusted sources, according to CDT’s website. More than 2,800 state workers across 67 departments provided input during Poppy’s pilot
Poppy launched statewide July 1, according to Hernández, who said more than 1,371 state workers have used the platform since.
There’s often debate about whether AI is used by employers to increase productivity among its workforce or cut wage costs, according to Brian Justie, a senior research analyst with the UCLA Labor Center. However, for public sector employers, like the state, he said the bottom line often isn’t the top concern when debating AI use.
The public sector’s service mission allows officials to consider AI as a tool to optimize services, Justie said, while companies with a profit focus might choose a different path.
“Does that mean every single Californian gets access to a mental health chatbot, or does it mean, we’re going to automate some of the clerical work that can be done safely and reliably by a machine in order to actually double our investment in training care workers,” Justie said, offering a hypothetical example.
Politics is a driving force behind whether that approach is implemented, according to Justie.
“There’s the budget hawks who want to run the government like a business,” he said.
The state and union reached tentative agreements on 13 issues, according to the PERB filing in which the union accuses state officials of bargaining in bad faith. What those agreements are hasn’t been disclosed, but the filing states these provisions generally update language, ensure compliance with state law and clarify existing practices.
SEIU Local 1000, which is the largest state employee union with nearly 100,000 members, reports management rejected proposals with budgetary implications, such as wage and benefit asks. The union’s top priorities include a 20% raise across three years, telework — which would include $25 commuting stipends for those required to work in-person — and health benefits to ensure accessibility to affordable medical services. The last contract expired at the end of June.
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