“If the use of AI goes unchecked, employers will concentrate more and more power in their hands”

Yauheni Dzenisenka, an activist with the Salidarnast Association, spoke to Salidarnast about how new technologies are shaping the labor market—and why workers need trade union support.

In Warsaw, the office of the Polish Metalworkers’ Union (FZZ) hosted a workshop organized by the Youth Committee of the Pan-European Regional Council of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). The main topics included the rapid development of AI and its impact on the world of work, as well as ways to improve protection of platform workers’ rights.

“For many trade unions, AI is a new challenge,” says Yauheni Dzenisenka, who represented the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP) at the meeting. “Unfortunately, some unions—including those in European countries—often place themselves outside this context.

“To a certain degree, this reflects a denial of modern realities. One of these realities is that Artificial Intelligence can partially or completely take over certain occupations. Whether we like it or not, employers will increasingly use mechanisms that replace workers with AI.

“The meeting was organized by young unionists because youth are best positioned to drive efforts to counter these trends. Yet involving young workers in trade union activities—and more specifically, in the transformation of labor relations driven by new technologies—remains a major challenge for many unions.

“Today, it’s still impossible for Artificial Intelligence to fully replace all human labor—at least in the foreseeable future—but AI is developing so rapidly that the situation could change sooner than expected.

“AI-driven technological and scientific advances are accelerating. The automation and digitalization of labor have a major impact, especially on middle managers who used to oversee workflows and workers. Now, AI handles those tasks. We must recognize these realities and seek solutions.”

— What do you see as the risks associated with the introduction of AI into work processes?

“The greatest risk is that decisions will be taken by employers unilaterally. For example, on a certain day a company announces that it intends to lay off 40 or 50 employees because it does not need so many people whose work can be done by the AI. Such decisions must only be taken through collective bargaining.

“In order to make sure that unilateral decisions by the management do not come as a surprise to workers, several countries have already introduced a practice of securing unions’ or worker representatives’ right to discuss what AI mechanisms and technologies can be used in this or that job with their employers. In other words, they have a voice in their employer’s decision-making process related to the deployment of AI. They have a right to know what mechanisms exactly are used so that they can foresee or forecast which specific jobs are to be replaced by AI in the future.

“What we currently observe is that, following the introduction of AI, workers are expected to deliver greater volumes of work and they feel tangible pressure coming from the availability of AI-based “assistants” which show significantly greater productivity and speed in dealing with certain tasks. In this situation, workers lose their understanding of their job as such.

“And if the use of AI goes unchecked, employers will concentrate more and more power in their hands, expanding their opportunities to take decisions that hurt workers. This is the greatest risk.

“As far as younger workers are concerned, it is all quite clear: I suppose they can relatively easily adapt to new circumstances. While for middle- or pre-pension-age workers the situation is much more challenging: many of them will find it hard to master technologies of tomorrow. How can unions help in this regard?”

“Unions, for instance, can provide their members with access to trainings focused on how the AI and various algorithms operate. But, unfortunately, these days even those initiatives that still exist in terms of providing such trainings come largely from workers themselves rather than unions. These are the conclusions of the research conducted by the International Trade Union Confederation. That said, it is the unions with their resources and capacities who should be driving these worker training processes and be more active in this area.”

— The workshop participants also spoke about platform economy operations and the state of labor rights within them. Here, we’re primarily talking about economically developed countries. Does that mean other countries are less affected?

“No, it doesn’t. In fact, major platform operations—like Meta, for instance—and others involved in outsourcing and labor recruitment, transfer parts of their operations to African and Southeast Asian countries, where labor is cheaper.

“Nigeria, for example, has a large share of its workforce engaged in the platform economy. And such countries are among the leaders when it comes to organizing platform workers.

“I’d like to give you an example. Today, many people work as social media content moderators. In Kenya, these workers have formed a union for the first time. Their working conditions are among the toughest—just imagine browsing through hardcore content, such as violent material, all day long. What psychological state would someone be in at the end of a workday? Or after a month of such work? Or a year?

“Many countries still offer these workers no social protections—protections that are routinely available in standard labor relationships. This highlights how platform operations often employ workers from countries with underdeveloped economies. That’s why it’s so important for unions to organize not only nationally, but also internationally.

“One of the major current objectives of the International Trade Union Confederation is the adoption of an ILO Convention in June 2026 to regulate platform work. This convention should recognize platform workers as full participants in the labor market, with full rights. Because in many countries, they aren’t even considered workers—in particular, they don’t have employment contracts.

“For example, in Poland, one food delivery company uses bike rental contracts as the basis for labor relations. That just shows the kind of rights platform workers currently have.”

— And what is the situation of platform workers in Belarus?

“As you know, in 2022, the regime destroyed all independent trade unions in the country. The only thing left is the pro-government Trade Union Federation (FPB), which has been expelled from the international labor movement. As a result, there is no exchange of experiences and no effort to develop a common strategy in this area.

“Moreover, the FPB now has different priorities: militaristic clubs for the public, patriotic upbringing of children, and ideological work for the State at the workplace level.

“The FPB is not engaged in any real protection of platform workers’ rights—the kind of protection that is only possible when workers themselves are given a voice. Despite its declarations of ‘wins’ in this area at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization forum in May 2025, such work can only be carried out by democratic trade unions.

“And in today’s Belarus, platform workers will not be setting up any structures of their own, because they are all too aware of the potential for retaliation. Not that they would be allowed to do so even if they tried. Their only option is to join the FPB.

“On top of that, Belarusian legislation is not adapted to new economic realities. In contrast, the European Union has adopted directives regulating the operation of major platforms and the use of AI in the workplace.”

Victoria Leontyeva

Read in rus