The Emma Coalition

Securing the Future of Global Employment

For years, organizations have been discussing, studying and making predictions about the effects of “technology-induced displacement of employees,” also referred to as TIDE^™. Despite all the attention on TIDE, there is no organization specifically devoted to helping employers and their workers prepare for it.

Littler, the world’s leading labor and employment law firm; the National Restaurant Association, the leading business association for the restaurant and food service industry; and Prime Policy Group, Washington’s preeminent bipartisan government relations firm, have come together to develop the Emma Coalition^™ to fill this glaring need. The Emma Coalition is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization designed to prepare American businesses for TIDE.

Why the Emma Coalition?

For years, organizations have been discussing, studying and making predictions about the effects of automation on the global labor market. The Emma Coalition seeks to organize a nationwide effort and partnership among small, medium and large American businesses and the organizations that represent them; representatives of organized labor; and nonprofit, research and academic institutions to prepare the workforce for the coming TIDE through education, training and engagement with policymakers. With proper preparation, employers and their workers can ride and thrive in TIDE. Without proper preparation, TIDE will overwhelm them.

Read more in the May 2019 report from Littler, “Automation & Artificial Intelligence: TIDE at the Tipping Point.”

Who is Emma?

Emma is not only the granddaughter of Michael Lotito, one of this initiative’s co-founders, but a metaphor for why this project was undertaken. Failure to chart an implementable path forward could dramatically impact the lives and work of America’s Emmas. Thus, we need to take steps to manage the growing dominance of new technologies in the workplace.