New ACTU president warns AI is automating entire jobs

The newly elected peak union body president has warned that AI is automating entire jobs, being used for surveillance and making management decisions, pledging to push for greater protections against job losses alongside higher wages and workplace flexibility.

Emma Kingdon, 38, who is based in Melbourne and is one of the youngest people to be elected president of the Australian Council for Trade Unions (ACTU), will begin her term in December as part of a generational transition for the organisation.

In August, the council appointed Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) head Melissa Donnelly as secretary, replacing Sally McManus, who left the role in July. Kingdon will take over from Michele O’Neil, who staggered her departure date from McManus by several months to assist with the leadership transition.

Kingdon, who grew up in Perth’s outer suburban Rockingham, where she first worked in a fast-food KFC outlet and joined the retail workers’ union, said the cost of living remained the No.1 issue for working people.

“I come from a working-class family in Rockingham in WA and I get how hard it is to make ends meet, and that is what drives me every day to see workers get ahead,” she said.

In an interview with this masthead, Kingdon said another major concern was the rapid introduction of AI into workplaces and industries.

“It’s changing jobs by automating some tasks, and in some cases, it’s responsible for the automation of entire jobs,” she said. “There are issues around employers using it for surveillance, and AI making management decisions on things like rosters.

“There are whole industries where AI tech bros are stealing creative work and journalists’ work, so there needs to be more protections for workers, and it’s an area that will continue to be a focus of the union movement.”

Kingdon took aim at employers – especially big businesses – saying they needed to do a “much better job” at consulting workers about changes including AI and job losses.

“Today, NAB has announced that they’re going to be axing two and half thousand jobs,” she said, adding it was “outrageous” in a cost of living crisis.

However, she said there was more that could be done “on all levels”, including by the government, which has created an “Office of AI” and was looking to develop mandatory requirements for large AI data centres.

Kingdon has worked at the United Workers Union, Finance Sector Union, and with the council, including as its national campaigns director focused on driving union membership growth.

The share of Australians holding union membership has fallen from 15 per cent a decade ago, but recovered from a record low to 13 per cent in 2024, driven largely by young workers who Kingdon said were “feeling like the system is rigged and stacked against them”.

Most recently, Kingdon has been an executive officer for the CFMEU administration after the scandal-plagued union was placed into administration in 2024.

“I went there and rolled up my sleeves: I don’t shy away from a challenge,” she said. “But it’s been in administration for two years and there’s still work to be done there.”

Kingdon said she would be pushing for higher wage growth and supporting opportunities for workers to win back time. “Whether that’s through working from home, a four-day week or through additional annual leave, that’s obviously been a priority of working people,” she said.

Kingdon, who is a mother of two, said she had “four great loves” in her life: family, the union movement, the Essendon Football Club and Star Wars.

O’Neil, who will finish her term at the start of December, said Kingdon was a “highly effective and formidable union campaigner” with experience representing workers across a diverse range of industries.

Donnelly said Kingdon was a highly experienced campaigner who had taken on hard challenges and helped overturn bad workplace laws.

“[Kingdon] dealt with some of the toughest corporate bosses in the major banks and has never left a negotiating table or a picket line without getting the best possible outcomes for her members,” she said.

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