Preparing for AI: Workforce and Classroom Impact

The increasing presence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the public sector workplaces and classrooms highlights the need for clearer guidelines due to a lack of local board policies and explicit negotiated provisions.
There are significant labor-relations considerations and concerns regarding student privacy, academic integrity, and discrimination that need to be addressed to ensure fair teaching, learning, and preservation of contracts.
Local unions and boards should collaboratively develop policies and negotiate necessary contract language that includes board notification on the introduction or expansion of AI systems affecting employees’ work.
Boards should be prepared to negotiate changes that affect the terms and conditions of employment upon union request.
All employees, particularly educators, should undergo training on AI usage and its limitations to address questions and concerns regarding its appropriateness in educational contexts.
Policy must be developed to address the impact of AI on academic integrity and to manage the consequences when students submit AI-generated assignments.