FES PARIS COLLECTIVE BARGAINING PRACTICES ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND ALGORITHMIC MANAGEMENT IN EUROPEAN SERVICES SECTORS Marta Kahancová December 2024 CONTEXT Artificial intelligence(AI) refers to machine-based systems ca­pable of making predictions, recommendations, or decisions with minimal human input or oversight. The definition of AI can be simplified to include algorithmic management tools to enable automated or semi-automated decision-making con­cerning workers and their surveillance. The use of AI at the workplace gives rise to concerns about data protection, priva­cy, power relations, and human rights. To address the challenges arising from the growing use of AI in people management, a 2024 study commissioned by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung’s Competence Centre on the Future of Work and UNI Europa explored trade union preferences and the current state of collective bargaining regarding employers’ use of AI-related tools in relation to workers in the European services sectors. The analysis draws on twofold original evidence: – an online survey of 148 trade union representa­tives affiliated with UNI Europa across 32 countries, – analysis of 31 collective agreements that include provisions concerning the use of AI. The survey results reflect trade unions’ current experiences and preferences, general opinions on bargaining over AI-re­lated challenges, expected union actions to advance bargain­ing on this theme, and examples of good practices regarding AI-related clauses in collective agreements. KEY FINDINGS Bargaining on AI issues is emerging but is not yet as wide­spread as bargaining on other aspects of working conditions. Among 90 survey responses, only 20% of trade unions report­ed having a collective agreement addressing AI-related issues at the organisation or sector level. This means the majority of trade unions(69%) lack collective bargaining agreements on AI, while 11% are unaware of the existence of such agree­ments. If collective agreements contain stipulations on the use of AI at the workplace, these refer mostly to(a) employee training on new AI tools including the risk related to the usage of AI; (b) union involvement in the introduction of new technologies; and(c) working time regulation. While most of the analysed collective agreements contain only general references to the use of technology, several agree­ments in Italy, Germany, Norway, and Spain serve as examples of more detailed rules and arrangements. These address top­ics like the right to disconnect, digital rights of workers in the workplace, information-sharing, and business control. 1