Negotiated in under two months and running until 2028, the deal sets up dedicated committees on both AI and the green transition. Their role is to assess impacts of the twin transitions on employment, and ensure workers are trained and informed. The agreement has a forward-looking approach, particularly the strong emphasis on skills development and training.

Taming AI through collective bargaining

This agreement is a positive step towards addressing AI through structured social dialogue. On AI, a streamlined group of trained workers’ representatives will review projects upfront - aiming to plan for change rather than react afterward.

The initiative reflects how quickly AI is spreading across the company. Most employees have already received basic training, and dozens of applications are being tested or rolled out across 800 job profiles. So far, the impact on employment is not seen as negative, with tasks shifting rather than disappearing. But Schneider says it will monitor risks closely, including work intensification, loss of autonomy, and other psychosocial effects. Human oversight of AI remains a core principle.

Addressing the green transformation through a Just Transition

The agreement also sets up a structured approach to social dialogue on the green transition, like the one created for AI, by establishing a dedicated committee responsible for anticipating its impact on jobs. It includes joint training to help both management and employee representatives better understand complex environmental issues, improves how sustainability information is shared, and commits to using clear indicators to ensure transparency and avoid greenwashing. The committee is tasked with making recommendations on issues such as working conditions during extreme weather, commuting and fleet electrification, and the development of relevant skills.

Additionally, the new bodies will look at practical questions, from adapting work to extreme weather to decarbonised commuting and electrification. The agreement builds on existing measures but aims to bring them into a more coherent framework—embedding social dialogue at the heart of Schneider Electric’s twin transition.

Isabelle Barthes, industriAll Europe’s Deputy General Secretary congratulates the French trade unions for this big win: “The agreement in Schneider is a best-case example of how the twin transition can be tackled in a fair way for workers by involving their trade union representatives in the anticipation and management of change. While the European Commission continues to push for deregulation, social partners in leading companies like Schneider show that a regulatory approach is needed.

Examples like the Schneider agreement are excellent, but we cannot leave the responsibility for ensuring a fair twin transition only to the social partners. This is particularly the case, since in many European countries employers refuse to sit at the bargaining table. The European Commission must also walk the talk and present a strong Quality Jobs Act that includes a framework for ensuring a fair twin transition with instruments for timely anticipation and management of change, including for skills development through training, so that good jobs are maintained and created in Europe.”