Governments, employers and trade unions must work together to enable European companies and workers to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by digitalisation, and avoid job losses and worsening working conditions warned the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).
Speaking at the European Commission’s ICT 2015 conference in Lisbon today, Peter Scherrer, Deputy General Secretary of the ETUC, asked European Commissioner Oettinger to set up a European Digitalisation Forum for EU institutions, national Governments, employers and trade unions to anticipate and deal with the impact of digitalisation.
“Digitalisation creates new opportunities but also new risks” said Peter Scherrer. “Digitalisation can be a force for good if properly handled. Negative impacts such as job losses, more fake self-employment, more outsourcing and stressful working conditions must be avoided. European Governments and employers have to invest in digital training and education so young and old workers are up to the challenge. Europe cannot afford for its workers and its companies to be left behind.”
Commenting on the launch next week of the European Commission’s ‘single market package’ including on digitalisation, Scherrer added “Digitalisation is not just about opening up markets, it must also be about dealing with the social impacts on employment, on working conditions and on work-life balance.”
