Transport unions adopted global AI principles in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 16 September 2026, according to the ITF. The document, Seizing Control: Transport Workers’ Principles for Artificial Intelligence, covers how AI is introduced, monitored, and governed in transport workplaces.
According to the ITF, the principles require mandatory information, consultation, and negotiation before AI systems affecting workers are introduced or modified. The ITF also says the framework addresses data and surveillance, including informed consent, compensation, control over personal data, and limits on surveillance.
A separate report from Hiru News / Gold FM News said the conference was held in Colombo on 15 September 2026 and involved 90 trade union representatives from 60 countries. The ITF says the conference ran from 15–18 September 2026 and brought together union leaders, negotiators, and workers from across transport, including aviation, ports, shipping, rail, road transport, warehousing, urban transport, and the platform economy.
What the ITF says the principles cover
In the ITF’s account, AI is already allocating work, monitoring drivers, setting fares, running signalling systems, and shaping decisions on hiring, pay, and discipline across transport. The organization says the principles are meant to govern that use of AI in workplaces.
The ITF says the framework requires worker information, consultation, and negotiation before AI systems affecting workers are introduced or modified. It also says workers must have rights over data generated by their labor, including informed consent, compensation, control over personal data, and limits on surveillance.
Who is affected
The ITF says the principles are aimed at transport workplaces across aviation, ports, shipping, rail, road transport, warehousing, urban transport, and the platform economy. The research bundle also says the ITF represents more than 16.6 million workers.
The principles explicitly address hiring, pay, discipline, safety, and surveillance, and the ITF says it will take the framework into bargaining and advocacy.
Why this is a bargaining development, not just commentary
The ITF’s principles are described as a global labor framework, and the reporting presents them as a concrete bargaining and regulation development. In the ITF’s telling, transport unions are trying to turn AI governance into enforceable workplace rights, including limits on surveillance and a right to challenge AI-driven decisions.
That matters because the sources describe AI as already affecting core employment conditions in transport, including hiring, pay, discipline, and work allocation. The principles attempt to address those uses directly rather than treating AI as a future possibility.
Conference details and source scope
The ITF press release is dated 16 September 2026 and says the principles were launched that day in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The same source says the conference ran from 15–18 September 2026. The Hiru News / Gold FM News report says the conference was held in Colombo on 15 September 2026 and that 90 trade union representatives from 60 countries attended.
The supplied sources identify the ITF and NUSS as organizers in the reporting, and the reporting names several participants. Named individuals in the bundle include Stephen Cotton, Frank Moreels, Baker Khundakji, and Horacio Calculli.
What to watch next
The most important follow-up is whether the ITF’s principles show up in actual bargaining language, workplace policies, or sector agreements. The sources say the framework is intended to guide bargaining and advocacy, but they do not yet describe a specific negotiated outcome.
Another question is how transport employers respond to the principles’ information, consultation, negotiation, and data-rights demands.
Bottom line
According to the ITF, transport unions have adopted global AI principles that require worker information, consultation, and negotiation before AI systems affecting workers are introduced or modified, and that give workers rights over data and surveillance.
Sources
- Transport unions adopt global principles to put workers at the heart of AI — ITF Global
- Int’l conference on impact of AI on transport sector held in Colombo — Hiru News / Gold FM News