Workers’ & social issues must be at the centre of the EU’s future Digital Single Market!

As part of the EU celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, industriAll European Trade Union was invited to the European Commission’s EU Digital Day event in Rome. Ministers and State Secretaries from 16 Member States, industry CEO’s steering national digitalisation initiatives, and European Commissioners Ansip and Oettinger pledged to support the roll-out of digitisation of industry across Europe. Their stated aim is to ensure that any company in Europe, big or small, wherever they are situated, and in any sector, can fully benefit from digital innovations.

“The digital transformation will only be embraced by citizens and workers if the digital transformation can find a solution for all the social disruptions it will bring. If we don’t consider this a priority, digital transformation will lead to more inequality and social and political uncertainty.” Luc Triangle

Two sessions were of particular interest to industriAll Europe: Digitising European industry on industrial policy and Impact of digital transformation on
jobs and skills on social issues. In a blog post published by the European Commission, Luc Triangle highlighted the four policy challenges that digitalisation brings for European workers in industry:

“(1) the potentially negative net impact of digitisation on the number of hours worked by humans;

(2) the concentration of power and wealth in the hands of digital industrial platforms (Amazon, AliBaba, Google, Amazon, Facebook), which risks depriving EU industrial players from the value added that they need to invest, innovate and provide good jobs;

(3) the dissolution of the employment relationship brought by “crowd-working” platforms;

(4) the potential for workers to be automatically evaluated and controlled.”

For Luc Triangle, the answer to these challenges cannot be restricted to a digital skills agenda. His deep belief is: the social dimension must be at the centre.

“The digital transformation will only be embraced by citizens and workers if the digital transformation can find a solution for all the social disruptions it will bring. If we don’t consider this a priority, digital transformation will lead to more inequality and social and political uncertainty.”

He called for all national initiatives on digitalisation of industry to engage in a serious social dialogue on its consequences on jobs. These discussions should ensure that, “in a digitally-transformed society and industry, every person is enabled to:

earn a decent living from his/her work – i.e. prevent unemployment and in-work poverty
have a reasonable confidence in his/her future – i.e. prevent precariousness”.

Workers’ & social issues must be at the centre of the EU’s future Digital Single Market!

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