Labor Leaders Blast Gavin Newsom Over Ai, Demand More Regulation

SACRAMENTO, California — Top labor leaders from across the country delivered an ultimatum to California’s Gavin Newsom on Wednesday: regulate artificial intelligence, or face their wrath in 2028.

"It's time that the governor listened to us,” Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Labor Federation, told reporters at the group’s headquarters in downtown Sacramento. “If he doesn't want to talk to us? Well, when he's on the campaign trail, he can talk to my colleagues around the nation."

The news conference marked a broadside on Newsom from a half-dozen leaders of the AFL-CIO, one of the nation’s most powerful labor groups. Gonzalez bashed the California governor for failing to meet labor’s demands and siding with “his Big Tech billionaire friends,” as did AFL-CIO heads from Iowa, traditionally an early nominating state, and from swing states Nevada, North Carolina and Georgia.

Joined by AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, who warned of a coming “crisis” ushered in by AI in the workplace, the state leaders conditioned their support of Newsom — including for his likely presidential run — on him meeting labor’s demands to rein in AI.

“Just remember, governor, that there is no fate but what we make,” said Iowa AFL-CIO head Charles Wishman. “You are literally the person in the state that can actually help the rest of the nation on this.”

Wishman vowed that labor leaders would follow Newsom to presidential campaign trail stops like the Iowa State Fair, while Gonzalez warned of lacking “motivation to walk a lot of precincts” for the governor in 2028.

“This is that ‘which side are you on’ moment,” Shuler said.

Newsom’s office pushed back on labor leaders’ criticisms Wednesday. In a statement, Newsom spokesperson Tara Gallegos said “no Governor has done more” to protect workers and balance AI innovation than Newsom and argued California “has taken the most comprehensive, worker-centered approach to AI in the country.”

“While the Trump administration has abandoned working people, Governor Newsom delivers — raising the minimum wage for millions and expanding sick leave, paid family leave, and life-saving worker protections,” Gallegos added.

National labor unions are pushing AI regulations as a top policy priority amid polls showing growing and bipartisan majorities fear the technology’s potential impacts. Those include AI-fueled layoffs, youth suicides allegedly linked to AI chatbots and increasing use of high-tech surveillance technologies in workplaces. Layoffs have been particularly acute in California and other tech hubs as giants like Amazon and Meta shed staff to compete for AI dominance.

Gonzalez called the issue “bigger than NAFTA.” She joined the five other AFL-CIO leaders to pen a joint letter to Newsom on Wednesday warning him to act now “to prevent that kind of destruction” that critics blamed for ravaging Rust Belt communities following the 1994 treaty.

“White collar work will probably be the first tranche, but every job across sectors will be impacted,” Shuler told POLITICO. “If we don’t put the guardrails in place, this will be NAFTA 2.0.”

In California, labor leaders have tried for years to enact sweeping AI protections but have come up short, in part due to resistance from Newsom. The governor last year vetoed a bill that would have barred employers from relying on AI to hire, discipline or fire workers.

Newsom has defended his AI stance as striking a balance between curbing safety concerns associated with technology and promoting its innovation to boost California’s budget, which is heavily reliant on tax income from Silicon Valley and the ultra-rich. In 2025, he signed an internationally-watched AI safety bill from Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener among a slate of other rules for chatbots and AI-generated deepfakes, despite vetoing a labor priority.

The California Labor Fed began unveiling its latest AI agenda this week. Proposed measures include SB 951, which would require employers laying off workers due to AI to give advance notice, as well as SB 947, which would again attempt to require human oversight over algorithms used to make discipline or firing decisions.

Gonzalez also vowed to continue work on a bill introduced in 2025, AB 1331, which would ban the use of surveillance tools in bathrooms and public spaces in the workplace. She said the rest of the bills will largely fall under addressing surveillance issues, safety concerns related to AI and combatting joblessness.