Shaping digital transformation in partnership and with a human-centred approach
An industriAll Europe & Ceemet joint statement
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerates the technology dissemination and the digital transformation of metal, engineering and tech-based industries and workplaces. It has increased the urgency and need for social partners to find joint approaches to manage a swift and sustainable digital transformation. Ceemet and industriAll Europe have therefore renewed their shared vision of the challenges and opportunities of digitalisation for workers and employers.
In the joint statement ‘Impact of digitalisation on the world of work’ the social partners identify four areas in which social dialogue can shape the ongoing technological change to the benefit of both, employers and workers:
- work organisation
- skills
- occupational health & safety
- data protection.
Social partners have reached a growing number of collective agreements to the benefit of employees and employers. Whether the outcome is about facilitating, for instance, the access to remote work or investments in broadening the digital skills set of workers at all levels, the outcome is a win-win for both. The current COVID-19 pandemic translates into an accelerated digital transformation in the metal, engineering and tech-based industries and brought social partners closer together, showing once more that challenges can be better tackled together.
A strong social dialogue as cement for societies and companies
With digital transformation happening at a different speed across regions and companies and in a context of rapidly changing technological parameters, industriAll Europe and Ceemet express their firm believe that finding tailor-made solutions will become increasingly important.
This requires strong, mandated and representative social partners that have room for manoeuvre to deal with the new challenges and bargain around emerging new issues. For the latter, Member States need to make sure that social partners can manage and shape the digital transformation of industry. This includes adapting collective bargaining to a changing world of work. The EU, on the other hand, should allocate more and easily accessible EU funds to support capacity building of social partners for an effective and well-functioning social dialogue across Europe.
industriAll General Secretary Luc Triangle states that: “Sector agreements create a level playing field for all companies and workers to ensure equal treatment and standards across an otherwise fragmented landscape.”
Ceemet Director General Delphine Rudelli comments: “Examples show the key role social partners play in supporting a swift and sustainable digital transformation of industry, whose relevance doubled in times of COVID-19.”
Joint statement 'Impact of digitalisation on the world of work': EN, DE, FR
Contact: Andrea Husen-Bradley (press and communication)