Unions and the Future World of Work. Agenda Item 8

Transcription

1 Unions and the Future World of Work Agenda Item 8

2 UNIONS AND THE FUTURE WORLD OF WORK AGENDA ITEM 8 Across the world our labour markets, employment forms and industrial relations are changing. In a complex web of globalisation, climate change, migration, shifts in economic power, demographic changes as well as digitalisation, many workers currently face disruption, loss of bargaining power and hostile anti-labour policies. Some authors and experts claim that the digital innovations we are witness to today, and the consequential job displacements and work changes, are nothing new. They posit that the changes resemble technological adaptations throughout history, and that time has shown that workers, skills, production methods and businesses adapt to the new technologies. Whilst there is some truth in this position, UNI Global Union together with many other global unions, experts and commentators, believe that what we are witnessing is only the beginning of a radical disruption with far-reaching consequences for our labour markets, workers rights and societies. Rather than affecting one single, or a few occupations, the rise of artificial intelligence, the significance of data collection and the displacement of work tasks by robots and machines will affect all occupations on all skills levels.

3 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DATA The figures speak for themselves. Figure 1 shows how data is collected at an ever-growing scale. In 2014, McKinsey estimated that the value of data flows exceeded 2.8 trillion USD 1. Three years later, the World Economic Forum calculated that 90% of all data had been produced since Just imagine what that means to the value of data flows today! Indeed, PwC has calculated that global GDP will be 14% higher in 2030 as a result of AI - the equivalent of 15.7 trillion USD, more than the current output of China and India combined 3. Data is used to build artificial intelligence, algorithms, and to target individuals with products, services and marketing. It is collected as we use social media, the internet, shop with loyalty cards, use a customer service, when we go to the doctors and use our GPs. Behind us we are leaving a data trail as citizens and importantly as workers. The recent Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal has all too clearly shown how the data mined on us all can be used to manipulate opinions and have a detrimental effect on democracies, individual and collective freedoms and ultimately our basic human rights. Figure 2 shows how big the big money of data really is. In our workplaces, as we underlined to the World Economic Forum in this article 4, our data, both personal and job-related is stored and monitored, and can have an enormous impact on our work and promotion opportunities. Acknowledging this at an early stage, UNI has already issued the Top Ten Principles of Workers Data Privacy and Protection 5 aimed to safeguard our rights and influence over how companies use, analyse and even sell our data. Annual size of the global datasphere Zettabytes : 47zb, 16% : 12zb, 9% : 2zb, 9% Figure 1: Annual Size of Global Datasphere (source: IDCS Data Age 2025 Study) 2025E: 163zb, 36% Data created LIVERPOOL JUNE 2018 MAKING IT HAPPEN 3

4 E-COMMERCE, DATA FLOWS AND THE DEEPENING OF THE DIGITAL DIVIDE Data control and ownership has become central to debates on the global division of assets, wealth, opportunities and power. In the current wave of trade and investment agreements, such as TiSA, TPPA, the failed TTIP, the EU-Japan Agreement and within the WTO, the most developed countries are pushing for policies that will deepen, not bridge, the digital divide. UNI together with our sisters and brothers across the union world and with many NGOs, successfully lobbied against the inclusion of new e-commerce rules in the WTO at the WTO Ministerial in December We claimed that the rules as written will leave developing nations trapped in a global system of exploitation, in which the very few will gain ever more power and wealth at the expense of the many. The Global North s push for an unfettered, unregulated, free flow of data with no obligations towards the Global South must be stopped. Finding sustainable solutions to empower the 95% of citizens in the least-developed countries that do not yet have internet access, or the 60% of the world s combined population who are still off-line, is one of our key concerns. The digital economy must be empowering for all. Figure 2: What tech companies are profiting every 10 seconds on your data Source: 4 LIVERPOOL JUNE 2018 MAKING IT HAPPEN

5 JOBS DISRUPTION, DECENCY AND DECISION-MAKING OECD Average 57% Thailand 72% Nigeria 65% China 77% Argentina 65% US 47% South Africa 67% India 69% Ethiopia 85% UK 35% Figure 3: Jobs at risk of automation (World Bank Development Report, 2016) Many warnings abound concerning the disruptive impact of artificial intelligence, algorithms, robots and data. Figure 3 shows the World Bank s jobs at risk of automation estimates. Ranging from an OECD average of 57% to a whopping 85% high in Ethiopia. In 2018, the OECD published a report aiming to go beyond an estimate of the share of jobs at high risk of automation by also highlighting the significant changes that jobs will undergo as a result of the adoption of new technologies 6. It concluded that: 1 in 2 jobs are likely to be significantly impacted by automation: that 14% of jobs within the OECD are highly automatable thus effecting 66 million workers in the 32 countries of the study. In addition, another 32% of jobs will change as a larger number of tasks that constitute these jobs can be automated. This in turn points to the increasing importance of a continuous re- and up-skilling of workers. However, there is currently a chronic under-investment in people. UNI Global Union demands that economic policies and business goals must aim to keep people in work. Education and access to continuous re- and up-skilling are key to this. In addition, we must remember that humans must remain in command; we must never give in to the inevitability of digital disruption as if there is nothing we can do. Politicians must act, and companies must take responsibility to keep people in work. 6 LIVERPOOL JUNE 2018 MAKING IT HAPPEN 5

6 DECENT WORK Aided by digitalisation, the individualisation and casualisation of work is spreading leaving workers with little, if any, social and fundamental rights. The ILO s extensive report on Non-Standard Employment 7, speaks of a rise of temporary work, part-time work, temporary agency work and other multi-party employment arrangements, disguised employment relationships and dependent self-employment in many parts of the world. The rise of the gig economy platforms that circumvent market regulation and labour laws and rights is the very embodiment of this individualisation of work. Workers are now left to bear the whims and insecurities of the market, yet are offered little, if any, social protection. UNI has called on governments and global institutions to revamp and modernise social protection systems, so all workers, in all forms of work, have the same strong and enforceable social and fundamental rights, including the freedom of association. This includes, in particular, the right to join a union and the right of unions to have access to workers, to negotiate collective agreements and the right to strike to attain said agreements. Codetermination rights as well as the right to be heard and informed must also apply in the new networked world of work. The definition of the workplace must be broadened to reflect this. We must ensure that the use of digital technologies, automation and artificial intelligence does not undermine conditions of employment or work. We support the G20 s Labour and Employment Ministers 8, who are united to promote employment pathways that foster strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive economic growth benefiting all countries and people so that no one is left behind. NON-STANDARD FORMS OF EMPLOYMENT ARE NOT NEW, BUT THEY HAVE BECOME A MORE WIDESPREAD FEATURE OF CONTEMPORARY LABOUR MARKETS. WE NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT ALL JOBS, REGARDLESS OF THEIR CONTRACTUAL ARRANGEMENT, PROVIDE WORKERS WITH ADEQUATE AND STABLE EARNINGS, PROTECTION FROM OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS, SOCIAL PROTECTION AND THE RIGHT TO ORGANISE AND BARGAIN COLLECTIVELY, ILO s Deputy Director-General for Policy Deborah Greenfield We must continue to assert that all workers must have the right to decent work under fair conditions with a voice on the job. We underline that dialogue and involvement are the best means through which sustainable and constructive change processes can take place. We must all commit to accompanying people through this transition. Companies must act responsibly and develop information and consultation tools and routines to this end. We must move beyond GDP as a measure of success and join forces with the people and organisations who realise that whilst GDP measures growth and income, it far from encompasses factors like economic inclusion, the environment, social well-being, equality, health and happiness. Reprioritising the notion of success, reinvesting the profits of digitalisation into new decent jobs, and giving workers a share of the gains made from rationalization are three constructive ways forward LIVERPOOL JUNE 2018 MAKING IT HAPPEN

7 YOUNG WORKERS There is little doubt that the young workers of today and tomorrow are facing a precarious labour market. Already now, youth unemployment levels are unacceptably high despite more youth than ever taking higher education. The 2018 OECD reports stresses: A STRIKING NOVEL FINDING IS THAT THE RISK OF AUTOMATION IS THE HIGHEST AMONG TEENAGE JOBS. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AUTOMATION AND AGE IS U-SHAPED, BUT THE PEAK IN AUTOMATABILITY AMONG YOUTH JOBS IS FAR MORE PRONOUNCED THAN THE PEAK AMONG SENIOR WORKERS. IN THIS SENSE, AUTOMATION IS MUCH MORE LIKELY TO RESULT IN YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT, THAN IN EARLY RETIREMENTS. OECD, Automation, skills use and training, 2018, page 8 UNI will reach out to the young workers for which the future world of work is already their world of work. We will hear their concerns and raise their issues to the highest of levels. THE MANY POSSIBILITIES The challenges are indeed many. But so are our possibilities. A window of opportunity to shape the future of work so it is a decent, empowering one for all workers currently exists. Whilst collective bargaining and social dialogue may seem like old answers to a new problem, we must demand that workers have a seat at the table to help chart the transformations ahead. We must continue to expand our networks with likeminded organisations and push for a digital future that puts people and planet first. Two of the central themes in this motion on Unions and the Future of Work, namely Ethical AI and Workers Data Rights, have already received worldwide attention. Together with this motion, these three principle documents will guide and inspire our work and strengthen our united voice as we move forward and deeper into the Future World of Work. Together, we will Make It Happen, united in creating a sustainable, empowering future for all. LIVERPOOL JUNE 2018 MAKING IT HAPPEN 7

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