Workplace AI and educational technology directly affect terms and conditions of faculty employment — and that means they are bargainable. United Faculty's position is grounded in California Education Code section 87359.2 (enacted by AB 2370, 2024), which requires the instructor of record at a California Community College to be a human, and in the Chancellor's Office Vision 2030 AI work plan and the "Humans" framework that increasingly shape statewide practice.

United Faculty seeks bargained CBA-article protection (not a side MOU) covering at least the following:

• 90-day advance written notice of new AI deployments, with documentation and impact analysis.
• Preservation of bargaining-unit work — AI cannot eliminate, reduce, or replace unit work without prior written union agreement.
• Human-in-control authority and a member's right to speak to a human; bans or limits on algorithm-driven employment decisions without human review.
• Paid training and minimum competencies before any AI deployment that affects faculty workflow.
• Workload and staffing protections — productivity gains from AI cannot be used to justify staffing cuts or expanded duty expectations.
• Worker data rights, surveillance limits, and meaningful opt-in / opt-out for any AI tool that processes faculty work.
• Anti-bias requirements: audits, transparency, disclosure when AI is used in hiring, promotion, or evaluation.
• A joint technology committee with formal union representation.
• FERPA compliance as a hard limit — student work and personally identifying information cannot be entered into third-party AI systems without explicit institutional authorization.

United Faculty also opposes the use of AI-detection tools as the sole basis for academic-integrity discipline; the legal exposure and the disparate impact on multilingual and neurodivergent students are well documented. We support critical AI literacy in instruction — teaching benefits and harms — over blanket bans.

Toni Nielson serves as UF's voting representative on the District Technology Committee. Faculty input on AI policy is gathered through Rep Council and through bargaining surveys; see Get Involved > Subscribe to UF Updates.