Digital And Techworker Alliance (DATA)

Microsoft has announced the opening of 60,000 voluntary exits from the company. This comes alongside their sweeping layoffs in Xbox and Activision-Blizzard. Microsoft is going all in on AI and the answer to balancing the books of a deeply unprofitable project is to cut headcount.

That’s why we’re supporting DATA-CWU members in Microsoft to build a union that can be a real counter-balance to prevailing management trends. By organising and owning the power we have as workers we can win job security & better work practices.

joindatacwu.ieJoin the Communications Workers' UnionJoin DATA - Digital & Techworker Alliance

Join today and don’t let your employer sacrifice your livelihood for their business model www.joindatacwu.ie

While the voluntary redundancies have yet to hit Ireland, our members are telling us time and again that morale in Microsoft is on a downward trajectory. Workers are worried about their futures and watching the workplace culture they value be constantly degraded.

Given the horrendous experience of Covalen workers during their AI-adjacent layoffs, what’s the number on protection workers need? CWU Deputy General Secretary lays it out straight - it’s simple, it’s collective bargaining.

Ireland is an outlier in Europe when it comes to workers access to collective bargaining. If we want to protect jobs and the broader economy in increasingly turbulent times, then workers need to have a legal pathway to union recognition.

Collective bargaining not only protects workers, it protects the common good

While stronger legal regulations could be put in place around how companies carry out redundancies, we believe that workers having access to meaningful representation and legitimate negotiations are the best guarantees for improving outcomes.

At the Workers’ AI Counter Summit, workers, artists, academics and researchers came together to challenge the conversation around AI and ask a crucial question: who is AI really working for? And who gets to shape the future of AI?

We’ve pulled together some soundbites from the summit, but there’s plenty more to hear. 👀 Head over to datacwu.ie to watch the full videos of talks and panels from the weekend and read up on resources from our speakers! #WorkersAgainstSlopaganda #DATACWU #WorkersAICounterSummit

Yesterday, we addressed the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence to highlight the impact of AI on workers and the urgent need for stronger protections. #DATACWU #CWUIreland

The CWU is calling for: - Stronger trade union recognition and collective bargaining rights. - Enforceable safeguards around workplace AI, monitoring and automated decisions. - A just transition that protects workers, provides training and ensures the gains of AI are shared fairly.

We believe workers must have a meaningful voice in how technology is introduced and used in their workplaces. The question isn't whether AI will shape the future of work. It's whether workers will have the power to shape that future too.

Yesterday, we addressed the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence to highlight the impact of AI on workers and the urgent need for stronger protections. #DATACWU #CWUIreland

AI is already being cited in restructuring and redundancies across the tech sector, while workers face increased monitoring, more intense workloads and uncertainty about their futures. Meanwhile, the promised productivity gains are not necessarily translating into better pay or conditions.

Where is AI taking us? And who gets to make these decisions? Not only is generative AI affecting workers, but it is also affecting wider society. Watch Paris Marx discuss the affects of generative AI on wider society.

Paris Marx's new book Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech’s Data Empires is available from today. We encourage anyone who is interested in Paris' presentation to check this out! #WorkersAICounterSummit #DATACWU

Where is AI taking us? At the Workers’ AI Counter Summit, journalist and author Paris Marx explored the impact of AI on workers, job losses, surveillance, and how generative AI is not as developed as we are being told.

As AI reshapes workplaces and industries, workers must have a say in the decisions that affect their jobs, their rights and their futures. ✊

@politico.eu are bringing attention to the rise of trade union organising in Ireland’s tech sector, as AI-driven layoffs and growing uncertainty push workers to fight for a say in their future. #WorkersAgainstSlopaganda #DATACWU #WorkersAICounterSummit

Politico also highlights the Workers’ AI Counter Summit, organised by the Digital and Techworker Alliance (DATA) Branch of the Communications Workers’ Union (CWU), which brought workers, researchers, activists and trade unionists together to put workers’ voices at the centre of the AI debate.

When conversations about AI focus on innovation and profits, it’s workers who are often left out despite being the ones whose jobs and working conditions are directly affected by these changes. Join DATA today at datacwu.ie and start organising your workplace. 🔗https://shorturl.at/olxWk

Our own organiser John Bohan couldn't have said it any better: “The tech industry was founded on the idea that it would never have a union, because they're making people rich, and treat them really well,” Bohan said.

“But post-Covid, workforce adjustments happened again and again, with layoffs and declining conditions in the sector. We started to see more people wanting to get organised around redundancies.”

Workers’ AI Counter Summit - a look back! Over two days, workers, activists, researchers and artists came together in Dublin to discuss AI and ask a crucial question: who gets to shape the future of AI?

The summit created a space for workers to discuss AI, its impacts on workers and society and allowed them a voice in this conversation.

A thank you to all of our speakers, contributors and attendees. Your knowledge, insights and solidarity made these two days what they were! ✊ Stay tuned for more highlights, insights and voices from the summit 👀 #datacwu #workersaicountersummit #workersagainstslopaganda

Day one of the Workers’ AI Counter Summit! ✊ A day of ideas, debate, creativity and conversations about who benefits from AI, who bears the costs, and how workers and communities can shape the technology affecting our lives.

Thank you to everyone who joined us and shared their experiences and opinions. And we're not finished yet. Day two continues tomorrow! #WorkersAgainstSlopaganda #DATACWU #WorkersAICounterSummit

We’re here! The Workers’ AI Counter Summit starts today at CWU headquarters in Dublin.

We’re here to put the voice of workers at the centre of the conversation. #WorkersAgainstSlopaganda #WorkersAICounterSummit #DATACWU

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Watch the livestream: teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-joi...

We’re here! The Workers’ AI Counter Summit starts today at CWU headquarters in Dublin.

As governments and Big Tech shape the future of AI, workers and communities must have a say in how these technologies are developed and introduced into our lives and workplaces.

3 DAYS TO GO! The Workers’ AI Counter Summit is almost here! Join workers, organisers, researchers, artists and activists on 10th & 11th October at CWU Headquarters in Dublin as we ask: who gets to shape the future of AI and what role will workers have in it?

datacwu.ieAI Counter Summit | DATA IrelandWorkers’ AI Counter Summit Become A Member Download the Agenda Here AI Counter Summit Registration10th – 11th October 2026Click Here Who gets to shape the future? On 16th October, the Irish Government...

🎤 Speakers 🛠️ Workshops 💬 Discussions 🎬 Ghost in the Machine screening 📍 CWU Headquarters, 575 North Circular Road, Dublin 1 Don’t miss it. Register now and join us! www.datacwu.ie/ai-counter-s... #WorkersAgainstSlopaganda #DATACWU #WorkersAICounterSummit

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@uni-europa.bsky.social

On this World Day of Decent Work, we stand with all the young people whose futures are threatened by the EU's deregulatory race-to-the-bottom. Join us and dozens of trade unions at 10am on 20 October in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg to "fix or sink EU Inc."

The Workers’ AI Counter Summit is almost here! Join us on the 10th and 11th of October at CWU Headquarters, where workers, trade unionists, academics, artists, and activists will come together to discuss AI, the impact it has on the workplace and wider society.

🔸Mia Marzotto - Digital Rights Advocacy Lead at Oxfam Ireland 🔹Patrick Bresnihan - Associate Professor of Geography at Maynooth University 🔸Arkadia Jacob - Art in Anti-Generative AI Resistance workshop

datacwu.ieDigital and Techworker Alliance | Tech Workers Union IrelandJoin the Digital and Techworker Alliance (DATA), part of the CWU, representing tech and ICTS workers in Ireland.

Plus panels, workshops, creative sessions and a screening of Ghost in the Machine on Saturday at 7 PM. Check out the full agenda and speaker line-up at datacwu.ie and register to take part. #WorkersAgainstSlopaganda #DATACWU #WorkersAICounterSummit

Across two days, we’ll hear from a brilliant line-up, including: 🔹Paris Marx - Author of Hyperscale 🔸Abeba Birhane - Cognitive scientist and AI researcher 🔹Sonia Fereidooni - Member of No Tech for Apartheid (NOTA) and UTAW

📣 Workshop Announcement for Workers’ AI Counter Summit Magic: How to Overthrow Your AI Overlord Bored of the never-ending bleakness of modernity? Tired of doom-scrolling on the toilet? Feel like folding up your brain into a non-Euclidean origami swan and watching it float downstream?

Join us on 10th – 11th October 2026 at CWU Headquarters, 575 North Circular Road, Dublin 1 #WorkersAgainstSlopaganda #WorkersAICounterSummit #DATACWU

Photo credit: Sinem Görücü / ow.ly/W6Bc50ZR1cC / ow.ly/aqGx50ZR1cy Deborah Lupton / ow.ly/W6Bc50ZR1cC / ow.ly/aqGx50ZR1cy Hanna Barakat & Archival Images of AI + AIxDESIGN / ow.ly/W6Bc50ZR1cC / ow.ly/aqGx50ZR1cy

Then join James Anderson, comedian and Neoplatonic philosopher, for a workshop exploring creativity, magic and the strange borderline where the sacred and profane trade places.

Through wit, metaphysics and creative experimentation, James will explore how we can fight the AI overload on vectors that have yet to be charted. Come prepared to think differently! 👉 Register now for the Workers’ AI Counter Summit at ow.ly/i8au50ZR1cI

Workers' AI Counter Summit presents Ghost in the Machine (@ghostdoc2026.bsky.social) Join us at 7pm on Saturday 10th October at the Workers' AI Counter Summit at CWU Headquarters, 575 North Circular Road, Dublin 1 #WorkersAgainstSlopaganda #WorkersAICounterSummit #DATACWU

youtube.comGHOST IN THE MACHINE (2026) OFFICIAL TRAILERYouTube video by Ghost in the Machine

This new film is her most ambitious work yet - over eight chapters, Veatch helms an urgent excavation of the philosophical, cultural, and political forces driving the global AI boom. 🎥 Watch the trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9DA...