Kern County workers mark Labor Day at Stramler Park, call for AI guardrails
Hundreds gathered at Stramler Park for a union picnic focused on job security and how artificial intelligence gets used on the job, not who it replaces.
Kern County workers mark Labor Day at Stramler Park, call for AI guardrails
Key Takeaways
- Hundreds of workers and families gathered at Stramler Park for Labor Day.
- Alissa Reed of the Building and Construction Trades Council said the day recognized workers' role in the economy.
- Nurse Sandy Reding urged AI guardrails and human oversight in healthcare.
- Union families, including Attila and Todd Bachman, voiced support for local workers.
The shade at Stramler Park filled up fast. "It's recognition of the work that people do," said Alissa Reed, who leads the Kern, Inyo and Mono Counties Building and Construction Trades Council. She said Labor Day still lands where most people live, which is at work.
On a holiday built by unions.
What workers said
Union families lined up for food, kids chased a soccer ball, and the talk kept coming back to job security. Attila and Todd Bachman said they brought their grandson to show him what solidarity looks like on a day off. "We came to support all the unions here and bring our grandson to have a good time and play," Attila said. It was a picnic. The point was also the message.
Reed called it a reminder of what earlier generations bargained for, like the eight-hour day, weekends and paid holidays. Those wins didn’t fall from the sky, she said, they came from organizing and contracts that spell out safe conditions.
AI on the job, not replacing it
That list now includes how artificial intelligence shows up at work. Bakersfield Memorial Hospital operating room nurse Sandy Reding, who represents the California Nurses Association, said she isn’t against software that helps, but she wants rules that keep a human in charge of decisions that affect patients. "We're not against AI. We're not against tech, but they need guardrails, and there needs to be a human being behind the technology to make sure everything is safe," she said.
Workers in the trades said the same thing in plainer terms, that new tools can help with scheduling, checklists or estimates, while the craft and the call on safety stays with people. The concern is less about gadgets and more about bosses using tools to cut headcount or speed the work without protections that match the change.
Why it matters in Kern County
Kern County’s economy runs on skilled hands in health care, construction and public works, plus a lot of shift work. As employers roll out more software and AI-enabled systems on shop floors and hospital units, the question that lands in Bakersfield is simple and very local, whether contracts keep up with the tech and whether the person on the line has the right to slow it down when safety is at stake. That’s what brought so many out Monday, workers said, even on a day off.
A stack of folding chairs sat under a blue pop-up.
Reding put it this way: "They need guardrails, and there needs to be a human being behind the technology to make sure everything is safe."
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