05/06/2025

BIZ & FINANCE THURSDAY | JUNE 5, 2025

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US labour unions fight to contain AI disruption

Refurbished tech products sell like hot cakes in US PARIS: US sales of French startup Back Market, which sells refurbished tech products, have surged in response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, as more consumers turn to devices already in the country, its CEO told AFP. Since returning to the presidency in January, Trump has imposed sweeping tariffs on allies and adversaries alike in moves that have rocked the world trade order and roiled financial markets. But the French startup specialising in the online sale of professionally refurbished phones, computers, gaming consoles and accessories says growth in the United States has accelerated. When tariffs were announced, “there was no mechanical impact on new product prices but there was fear and an immediate reaction in demand”, said Thibaud Hug de Larauze, Back Market’s CEO and co-founder. “We saw our growth triple the following week” and nearly two months later, “it’s still stronger than before”, Larauze said during an interview at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in London. Founded in 2014, the startup has become one of the flagships of French tech, operating in 17 countries and valued in January 2022 at approximately €5.1 billion euros (RM24.6 billion). Back Market achieved profitability in Europe last year and hopes to generate global profits in 2026. Its revenues grew by 45% year-on-year in 2023, reaching €320 million. In the United States, its biggest market outside Europe – with France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain leading the way – profitability is close, Larauze said. With tariffs, Trump created a “huge incentive for Americans to consume circularly and locally”, Larauze said, noting that the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) produced in the fabrication of tech products is twice as much as that of commercial aviation. If US tariff policy “can have positive effects on the environment and American purchasing power, obviously, we’re thrilled to meet this demand”, Larauze said. – AFP Barclays lifts S&P 500 year-end target to 6,050 LONDON: Barclays raised its year-end price target for the S&P 500 index to 6,050 from 5,900 yesterday, citing easing trade uncertainty and expectations of normalised earnings growth in 2026. This follows forecast increases by Goldman Sachs and UBS Global Wealth Management in May, and a similar move by RBC Capital Markets and Deutsche Bank this week. The new target is an upside of about 1.32% to the index’s last close of 5,970.37 points. In May, the S&P 500 logged its best monthly performance since November 2023, rising 6.2%, after US President Donald Trump moderated his stance on tariffs, robust corporate earnings, and data showing inflation cooling which helped markets bounce back from April’s downturn. The British brokerage also introduced its 2026 earnings per share forecast at US$285 and 2026 year-end target of 6,700 for the benchmark index. “After tariff headwinds are absorbed throughout the remaining quarters of FY25, we expect that 2026 will return to a more normalised pace of earnings growth,” Barclays strategists led by Venu Krishna said in a note. Tariffs next year are expected to have no additional direct impact compared to this year, though secondary effects on growth and inflation may extend into 2026, the brokerage added. Barclays maintained its 2025 earnings per share forecast at US$262. – Reuters

provisions in all collective bargaining agreements. The union is also developing educational toolkits to help workers understand and negotiate around AI implementation. A handful of unions have successfully negotiated AI protections into their contracts. Notable examples include agreements with media company Ziff Davis (which owns Mashable) and video game publisher ZeniMax Studios, a Microsoft subsidiary. The most significant victories belong to two powerful unions: the International Longshoremen’s Association, representing dock workers, secured a moratorium on full automation of certain port operations, while the Screen Actors Guild won guarantees that actors must be consulted and compensated whenever their AI likeness is created. These successes remain exceptional, however. The American labour movement, as a whole, lacks the bargaining power enjoyed by those highly strategic or publicly visible sectors, said Brindle-Khym. “Smaller contract-by-contract improvements are a long, slow process.” Despite frequent accusations by corporate interests, the unions’ goal is not to halt technological progress entirely. “Workers are usually not seeking to stop the march of technology,” noted Virginia Doellgast, a Cornell University professor specialising in labour relations. “They just want to have some control.” As AI continues its rapid advance, the question remains whether unions can adapt quickly enough to protect workers in an economy increasingly dominated by artificial intelligence. – AFP

The Teamsters have focused their efforts on passing legislation limiting the spread of automation, but face significant political obstacles. California’s governor has twice vetoed bills that would ban autonomous trucks from public roads, despite intense lobbying from the state’s hundreds of thousands of union members. Colorado’s governor followed suit last week, and similar battles are playing out in Indiana, Maryland and other states. At the federal level, the landscape shifted dramatically with the change in the White House. Under former president Joe Biden, the Department of Labour issued guidelines encouraging companies to be transparent about AI use, involve workers in strategic decisions, and support employees whose jobs face elimination. But US President Donald Trump cancelled the protections within hours of taking office in January. “Now it’s clear. They want to fully open up AI without the safeguards that are necessary to ensure workers’ rights and protections at work,” said HeeWon Brindle-Khym of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which represents workers in the retail sector. Meanwhile, companies are racing to implement AI technologies, often with poor results. “By fear of missing out on innovations, there’s been a real push (to release AI products),” observed Dan Reynolds of the Communications Workers of America (CWA). The CWA has taken a proactive approach, publishing a comprehensive guide for members that urges negotiators to include AI

Europe’s biggest carmaker, hit by fierce competition in key market China and a stuttering shift to electric vehicles, struck a deal with unions last year for massive job cuts in its home market. About 20,000 workers had so far accepted redundancy offers, out of a total of 35,000 employees due to be shed by 2030 under the agreement, the 10-brand group said. The jobs are being cut at the carmaker’s core Volkswagen brand, and amount to about 30% of its workforce in Germany. “We are on track,” Volkswagen board board member Gunnar Kilian said at a meeting with staff at the company’s historic headquarters in Wolfsburg, western Germany. He said the “socially responsible” job cuts as well as reductions in factory costs added up to “measurable progress”. Volkswagen, whose brands also include Audi, Skoda and Porsche, dropped a bombshell last year when it said it was mulling closing factories in Germany for the first time in its history. But after months of talks with unions and a series of walkouts, it decided against shuttering any plants, instead striking the agreement to cut jobs through voluntary redundancies. – AFP NEW YORK: As artificial intelligence threatens to upend entire sectors of the economy, American labour unions are scrambling to protect workers, demand corporate transparency and rally political support-an uphill battle in a rapidly changing world. “As labourers, the ability to withhold our labour is one of our only tools to improve our lives,” explained Aaron Novik, a key organiser with Amazon’s ALU union. “What happens when that disappears (to AI)? It’s a real existential issue.” Automation has already transformed most industries since the 1960s, typically reducing workforce numbers in the process. But the emergence of advanced “physical AI” promises a new generation of intelligent robots that will not be limited to repetitive tasks – potentially displacing far more blue-collar workers than ever before. The threat extends beyond manufacturing. The CEO of Anthropic, which created Claude as a competitor to ChatGPT, warned last week that generative AI could eliminate half of all low-skilled white-collar jobs, potentially driving unemployment rates up to 10%-20%. “The potential displacement of workers and elimination of jobs is a significant concern not just for our members, but for the public in general,” said Peter Finn of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, America’s largest union. o Intelligent robots and GenAI threaten to displace many workers

About 20,000 VW workers in Germany accept redundancy offers BERLIN: Around 20,000 Volkswagen workers in Germany have so far agreed to take voluntary redundancy as part of a major overhaul aimed at cutting costs, the struggling auto titan said on Tuesday.

A Volkswagen Golf on a production line at the company headquarters in Wolfsburg. – REUTERSPIC