AFL-CIO Wants to Take Control of Employee Digital trade Deals
2023.02.07 14:19
AFL-CIO Wants to Take Control of Employee Digital trade Deals
By Tiffany Smith
Budrigannews.com – The AFL-CIO argues that the U.S. Trade Representative’s office sets goals in this area far too frequently because the Biden administration has made digital trade the focus of its trade negotiations.
As the USTR negotiates digital trade agreements, the largest U.S. labor organization issued a set of principles on Tuesday that it claims are necessary to protect workers, the public’s privacy, and governments’ ability to regulate a rapidly evolving sector.
In negotiations for the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, the Biden administration’s signature economic agreement, the USTR is expected to soon propose text for the digital chapter.
The AFL-CIO stated that although U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai has promised to develop a “worker-centric” trade policy, digital trade negotiations far too frequently do not include labor standards or the workers who create software or support networks.
The AFL-CIO stated in its plan that “up to this point, U.S. ‘digital trade’ agreements have sought to expand market access for large technology companies by granting broad digital data and intellectual property rights while narrowly constraining the ability of governments (of both the United States and our trade partners) to adopt measures to address the economic transformation.”
The AFL-CIO stated that the core of the organization’s demands include preventing the “exploitative” use of “gig” workers, who frequently are deprived of benefits and subjected to difficult working conditions, and preventing the offshoring of back-office or telemedicine jobs to nations with low labor standards. The organization also wants digital trade agreements to be subject to strong and enforceable labor standards.
However, the AFL-CIO’s demands also go against a key part of recent U.S. trade deals, which say that countries can’t force data to be stored locally by enforcing “data localization” policies. These provisions were included in the renegotiated North American free trade agreement, which went into effect in 2020. In recent years, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has argued that data platforms based in the United States should be able to operate in any country. This includes India.
According to the AFL-CIO, not all data is created equal, and in some instances, governments should be able to mandate that individuals’ sensitive personal information, such as biometric or medical data, be kept onshore to guarantee its safety.
In addition, the principles call for negotiating robust safeguards against the theft of voices, images, or likenesses that could be used in digital content produced by artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
In a statement, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said, “Corporations shouldn’t dictate the rules of the global digital economy with no regard for working people.” Important privacy rights are frequently violated and workers are exploited as a result of their drive to monetize data.”
Additional demands from the AFL-CIO for digital trade negotiations include:
as opposed to the largely voluntary “self-regulation” model that has proven to be inadequate, requiring governments to enact robust policies to safeguard individuals’ personal data.
Provide meaningful oversight of algorithms and source codes to guarantee compliance with labor regulations. According to the labor group, AI-enabled tools and automated employee monitoring systems can harm workers’ rights and encourage discrimination.
Discourage the use of contractors and require businesses to eliminate labor abuses in their own operations and supply chains by addressing “abusive” employment practices in the technology sector.
By vigorously combating the stolen or unlicensed use of copyrighted content on digital platforms, the United States can both safeguard the economic security of creative professionals, including workers in the music, film, and television industries.
Improved cybersecurity standards and a coordinated enforcement strategy are necessary to combat the rise in cybercrime by public and private actors.
