October 23, 2026 - AI is coming for your job. We’re fighting back.

Think the Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolution isn’t happening? Think again.

The numbers speak for themselves: up to 165,000 jobs lost to AI just this year, on top of thousands more in 2025. And it’s accelerating. Just a few weeks ago, Kroger informed over 3,000 employees that their jobs will be eliminated by AI.

As it gets hungrier for more and more data, AI needs more computing capacity. The explosive growth of data centers across the nation is the result. And even though ordinary citizens say loudly and repeatedly that they don’t want these monstrosities in their neighborhoods or next to their farms, politicians keep allowing them to be built.

They are doing it at the expense of real long-term jobs for real people, including coal miners and the thousands of jobs that come with mining coal. Despite being the historically cheapest form of fuel for electricity generation, coal is being forced out by a combination of short-sighted energy policy and huge campaign contributions from oil and gas interests.

That means the energy used to feed these coming data centers will be generated by natural gas – a fuel with a long history of price swings that often make it too expensive for consumers.

UMWA President Brian Sanson

Look no further than what FirstEnergy subsidiaries Mon Power and Potomac Edison are asking of the West Virginia Public Service Commission. They propose to prematurely shut down reliable baseload coal plants like Fort Martin and replace them with natural gas facilities. They call it a benefit for ratepayers, but that is simply not the case.

Recently, we watched the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the PJM, the regulators that determine how electricity is used throughout much of the country, bypass coal in favor of more expensive fuels like natural gas. The cost of coal-fired power was 80% cheaper than the natural gas power purchased from other states. Over the last decade, the number of West Virginia coal-fired power plants have been cut in half while West Virginians’ electricity rates have risen by over 40 percent.

Mon Power reported on October 6th that high energy prices appear to reflect PJM’s heavy reliance on economically uncompetitive natural gas generation. They went on to say in their report that in January-February of 2026 the use of this natural gas cost the ratepayers in West Virginia alone over $145 million. That’s a lot of money for ordinary working families, money that many don’t have to spare and none should have to pay.

Across West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kentucky, state and local officials are gutting zoning rules and cutting backroom deals that include Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) with elected officials. They are eliminating public hearings and silencing citizens’ voices.

West Virginia politicians even went so far as to pass legislation that removed a county’s ability to have any say on where data centers get built in their community. And at the same time, the state and some local governments hand out millions of dollars in tax breaks to the Big Tech companies building them.

These tech companies generate hundreds of billions of dollars for themselves every single year. They do not need tax dollars meant for coalfield communities, and local families should not see their electric bills skyrocket just so a data center can run around the clock.

That brings us back to jobs. The rush behind fuel switching to keep data centers running is not about keeping the lights on or lowering costs for working families. It is driven by an artificial intelligence race, with global tech companies using more power to enhance dangerous AI technology.

Some CEOs of these same companies have warned that AI is advancing too fast and poses a very real danger to humanity. Others say it isn’t. Either way, AI is predicted to eliminate a massive number of jobs across our society in the next 3-5 years. What should be of great concern to all of us is that the decisions about how fast AI advances are being made by just a few dozen billionaires and the politicians receiving millions in contributions from them.

Our society is not prepared for the future job losses that lie ahead. Who will pay into Social Security, Medicare, and all the economic drivers that these jobs provide for our economy? It won’t be Elon Musk and the other Big Tech billionaires.

This is a familiar position for the United Mine Workers of America. We have taken on powerful interests again and again to fight for Appalachian workers, families, and communities for 136 years. We have no intention of stopping now.

The stakes are too high for us all.