Giving Compass' Take:
- Nicole Froio and Jade Jasmine Hurley reports on National Abortion Hotline workers fighting against the implementation of AI, which they say could jeopardize jobs and patient care.
- How might implementing AI in this health care setting impact the most marginalized people the hotline serves?
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Unionized workers of the National Abortion Hotline initiated a 24-hour unfair labor practice (ULP) strike on May 26 over AI implementation disputes with the National Abortion Federation (NAF), which houses the hotline. Contract negotiations that began last October had come to a halt, union members of the Washington-Baltimore News Guild Local 32035 told Prism, as NAF leadership refused to include “bare minimum” worker protections against AI implementation.
AI has been a point of contention since the beginning of contract negotiations, said Jen, a spokesperson for the NAH Union who declined to share her real name due to safety concerns amid the national anti-abortion climate.
“We are asking that management to agree to bargain with us over the implementation and effects of any AI that would result in layoff of staff on the hotline,” Jen said, adding that the contract would be valid for three years. “They have repeatedly said it’s not their intention to lay off staff and replace them with AI, but won’t agree to language like that written in our contract.”
Besides the possibility of workers being replaced, NAH Union members are also concerned about how implementation of any AI systems would impact people seeking abortions through the hotline.
“We truly believe that replacing patient-facing staff with AI would be incredibly unhelpful and most acutely impact the most marginalized people that we serve,” Amber Pugh, another spokesperson for the NAH Union and a hotline case manager, said.
NAF told Prism in an emailed statement that it “shares these concerns deeply.”
“Patient privacy and criminalization risks have long informed our approach, particularly in today’s increasingly hostile environment for abortion access, which is why we have no plans to replace Hotline staff with AI and have never communicated otherwise to staff,” NAF said.
But unionized workers do not feel that their concerns have been heard, as NAF “refused to come back to the table” in April, according to Jen. Jen said she thought that the union had made a good-faith effort.
Read the full article about the National Abortion Hotline by Nicole Froio and Jade Jasmine Hurley at Prism.