Los Angeles, CA — The People’s Tech Coalition, a statewide alliance to establish workers’ rights for the 21st century, is excited to announce the publication of a landmark report on “bossware” by the UCLA Labor Center, the UC Berkeley Labor Center, and other organizations. “Bossware” uses digital technologies, including artificial intelligence and surveillance tools, to monitor, manage, and discipline workers. As bossware rapidly reshapes the workplace, labor and community groups are organizing for solutions.
The report comes as California recently passed new laws with the first ever guardrails on automated firing, surveillance, and emotion recognition technology, going further than any other state. The People’s Tech Coalition is launching a statewide campaign to pass further protections at the city level across California. Rather than wait for federal action, regional chapters will build on the state regulations, pushing cities and counties to strengthen workers’ rights and protections from bossware.
“Workplace technology is changing faster than policymakers can keep up. What we do in Los Angeles doesn’t just matter here—it shapes the national conversation. If we insist that employers be transparent, accountable, and answerable to workers when rolling out AI and surveillance, we can set a new, more equitable national standard,” said Yvonne Wheeler, President of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO. “Los Angeles has a long history of making the politically impossible possible. From wage standards and paid sick leave to fair scheduling and worker protections, the policies developed here have often become models for cities and states.”
The report, Bossware Comes to California: The Impact of New Management Technologies on Workers and the Need for Policy Regulation finds accelerating bossware use by employers, including, facial recognition, location tracking, as well as AI productivity monitoring and discipline. Bossware is part of the workplace technology industry that is fueled by over $3.55 billion of investment annually and projected to grow 8-18% in key areas over the next decade. The report finds bossware is often used without sufficient disclosure to workers, can exacerbate health and safety risks, deepen existing workplace inequities, give employers unchecked control and erode worker power.
“This report draws together the direct testimony of more than 25 workers from across the state and an extensive body of legal and policy scholarship,” said Brian Justie, Senior Research Analyst at the UCLA Labor Center and report co-author. “Our analysis found that employers are already using bossware to reshape the California workplace, subjecting workers across sectors and occupations to a significant number of potential risks and immediate harms.”
The report spotlights Maya, a telephone triage nurse whose employer uses AI “sentiment scores.” A nurse in a serious medical situation, Maya said, could remain “calm and neutral,” but be penalized for “flat or low sentiment.” Significant studies show severe racial and gender bias in AI sentiment analysis. The report demonstrates bossware is already transforming workplaces and causing dehumanization, frustration, and endangerment among workers.
As new technologies are used to cut jobs, disempower labor, and profiteer from dangerous exploitation of workers, groups including the California Federation of Labor Unions and the People’s Technology Coalition are pushing back with solutions to put the power over the technology transforming our workplaces back into workers’ hands. Advocates and the report underline the need for policy regulations on workers rights that reflect 21st century technologies.
“Unchecked AI bossware is undercutting existing labor protections and shifting power toward employers, often without workers’ knowledge or consent. Employers must be held accountable, workers must be informed of bossware use, harmful uses must be prohibited, and protections must cover all workers with meaningful enforcement,” said Hugo Soto-Martinez, Los Angeles City Councilmember for District 13. “While California’s new laws are a solid foundation, four regions throughout CA are joining together to pass city legislation that expands worker protections even further.”
“The findings in the report are striking. It is clear that the harmful impacts of bossware technology pose a major risk to the dignity, health, and safety of workers across industries in California,” said Stasia Hansen, Deputy Director of Research & Strategy at EBASE. “While technology will continue to change, workers and communities in the Bay Area deserve decision-making power over the tech that impacts their lives. Our cities and counties must use their legislative authority to regulate how employers use emerging technology; workers have shaped our region and state and it is only right that we implement solutions to guarantee worker dignity and safety.”
“The stories highlighted in this report echo what we’ve been hearing from workers across the state. Bosses are using AI technology to undermine workers’ rights, make our jobs less safe, and eliminate human oversight. We are proud to have enacted the nation’s first set of landmark AI workplace laws, but there is much more work to do,” said Lorena Gonzalez, President of the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO. “The Los Angeles Labor Movement is helping lead the way in ensuring we can build on these laws at the local level and continue to demand transparency and protect workers from the harms of unregulated AI technology.”
The researchers write, “These outcomes are not inevitable consequences of technology. Workplace technology can improve safety, job quality, and productivity when its design and implementation is worker-centered… [and the harms] result from choices about who controls the technology… and whether workers have enforceable rights.”
“Bossware is a choice, and right now that choice is being made by executives and lobbyists, not workers,” said Maria Noel Fernandez, Executive Director, Working Partnerships USA. “Right now, unions and community groups are standing together to change who decides, and we are taking our seat at the table in every city hall and county board in California.”
The People’s Technology Coalition includes the Los Angeles Federation of Labor, the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, Working Partnerships USA, the South Bay Central Labor Council, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, Alameda Central Labor Council, and Center on Policy Initiatives.
