Sen. Bernie Sanders tells UAW crowd automation could displace millions, urges Medicare for All and stronger worker protections
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Summary
At a UAW CAP conference, Sen. Bernie Sanders warned that AI and robotics pose an existential risk to jobs, cited a HELP Committee report with large displacement estimates, lauded recent UAW bargaining gains, and called for policies including Medicare for All, the PRO Act and guaranteed pensions.
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders addressed a United Auto Workers CAP conference and warned that rapid advances in artificial intelligence and robotics threaten vast numbers of American jobs while urging a suite of worker-centered policies.
"AI and robots will replace all jobs. Working will be optional," Sanders quoted industry leaders as saying, and he urged unions and activists to shape technology's benefits so "this technology is not just gonna benefit the billionaires who own it, but it's gonna work for the working families of our country." (Sanders cited the quote while attributing it to tech executives.)
Sanders, speaking as the ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, cited a committee report's estimates that AI and automation "could replace nearly a 100,000,000 jobs in America over the next decade," and he read a list of illustrative sector estimates for roles he said were at risk. He described those figures as estimates and emphasized uncertainty about the exact outcome.
The senator framed the risks of automation alongside recent union gains. He praised UAW-led bargaining that he said produced at least a 33% wage increase over four years in negotiations with the major automakers, eliminated two-tier wage structures, and secured protections against outsourcing. Sanders also highlighted a 21% wage increase won by maintenance and dining workers at Cornell University as evidence of union leverage.
On policy, Sanders urged legislation and programs to protect workers and share gains from technology. He called for Medicare for All, passage of the PRO Act to strengthen labor organizing rights, preserving and expanding defined-benefit pensions, and protecting Social Security. He said concrete steps such as considering a 32-hour workweek are ways to distribute productivity gains from automation more broadly.
Sanders framed economic concentration and political influence by wealthy individuals and corporations as drivers of the problems he described. He criticized the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United for enabling large private spending in politics and said billionaires' influence has undermined democracy. During the speech he attributed a large political expenditure to Elon Musk in support of Donald Trump; the figure given in the transcript appears inconsistent and Sanders presented it as an example of outsized spending rather than a precise certified figure.
He also criticized divisive political rhetoric directed at immigrants and called for cross-racial solidarity: "Instead of letting them divide us up, we have got to stand together, black and white and Latino, Asian, gay, straight." Sanders used an anecdote about a UAW member testifying before his committee to press for defined-benefit pensions and noted that many older Americans face retirement insecurity.
The speech interwove policy prescriptions and organizing appeals: Sanders urged attendees to bring conference energy back to local unions and communities and framed the moment as a movement-building opportunity to secure wages, health care, pensions and worker protections as technology reshapes work.
The event closed after Sanders' remarks with the emcee calling the international executive board and staff to the stage and ending the conference with calls of "solidarity forever."
