AIG Israel Workers Threaten Strike Over Contract Dispute, AI Job Fears

Some 850 employees of the insurance company AIG Israel gathered in protest on Wednesday, abandoning their posts to demand a renewed collective labor agreement. The workers, supported by the Histadrut labor federation, are threatening to strike the company's call centers and headquarters starting Friday if no progress is made in negotiations scheduled for Thursday. This escalation follows nearly a year of stalled talks to renew the existing agreement, which expired previously. The union's demands center on improving wages and employment conditions, and crucially, on regulating the company's potential use of artificial intelligence (AI) to reduce staff. Employees fear that implementing AI, including a planned voice agent for customer service, could lead to job cuts and insecurity. They insist that the impact of new technologies must be addressed within the collective agreement.

AIG Israel has a history of labor disputes, with the current union established in 2014. The first collective agreement was signed in 2015, including provisions for salary increases, enhanced pension contributions, welfare budgets, and a process for appealing dismissals. Despite the company reporting strong business results recently, the employees' representatives argue that management's current offer falls short of industry standards. AIG has previously stated that it presented fair proposals and that AI implementation would be handled responsibly and in dialogue with employee representatives. The company had not yet responded to the latest protest actions at the time of reporting.