Reinforcing Technology’s Place in Aviation Safety at Labor Summit During Consumer Electronics Show

ALPA's First Vice President Emphasizes Union's Priorities

Capt. Wendy Morse spoke at the Labor and Innovation Technology Summit, which coincided with the Consumer Electronics Show.

As a featured speaker during the sixth annual Labor Innovation & Technology (LIT) Summit yesterday, ALPA first vice president Capt. Wendy Morse emphasized why workers must be kept at the center of innovation amid the rapid pace of technological advancements.

Hosted by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), LIT coincides with the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), one of the world’s largest tech trade shows, at which companies present the latest innovations in technology, including automation and artificial intelligence. More than 130,000 people attend CES, including thousands of global news media outlets. This year, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian was the opening day keynote speaker.

Addressing the LIT crowd, Morse said, “Like many here today, airline pilots are also facing the threat of being replaced by technology. At its core, this is a safety issue because taking pilots out of the flight deck introduces unnecessary risk. Period. And as the largest, nongovernmental aviation safety organization in the world, ALPA takes our safety calling very seriously.”

Morse discussed ALPA’s ongoing education campaign, Safety Starts with Two, and highlighted some of the union’s long-term strategies deployed in 2024—strategic partnerships and targeted messaging—to prevent airline manufacturers and airline companies from taking pilots out of the flight deck. She also reinforced that pilots are not anti-technology but pro-technology when it enhances safety and does not degrade it.

“As we start the new year, ALPA’s focus will not shift, and we know we have a long battle ahead of us—technology and innovation aren’t going away. But as a 93-year-old union built on safety, neither are we,” Morse said.

Referencing the ongoing strike of the 700 members of the Culinary Workers Union of UNITE HERE Local 226, who work for the Virgin Las Vegas Hotel, she concluded, “Like our brothers and sisters of Local 226 who have been on strike since November 15, we won’t give up, and we won’t give in. Because, like we chanted yesterday on the picket line, ‘When we fight, we win.’”