Digitalisation of the economy and its impact on labour markets —

<strong>Digitalisation</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>economy</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>its</strong> <strong>impact</strong> on labour markets
TUC (2014a) Congress 2014, Final agenda, Motions <strong>and</strong> nominations for The 146 th
Annual Trades Union Congress, 7–10 September 2014, Liverpool (https://www.tuc.
org.uk/sites/default/files/Congress_2014_Final_Agenda_All_LR.pdf)
TUC (2014b) TUC Disabled Workers' Conference 2014 - Report <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Disabled
Workers' Conference 28-29 May 2014 (https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/
files/DisabledWorkersReport2014.pdf)
Ver.di (2015) Digitalisierung im Dienstleistungssektor - Für Gute Digitale Arbeit
(https://innovation-gute-arbeit.verdi.de/<strong>the</strong>men/digitale-arbeit)
Ver.di - Gewerkschaft auch für Cloudworker (http://www.ich-bin-mehr-wert.de/support/
cloudworking) www.cloudworker-beratung.de
3. At European level
The ETUC has entered <strong>the</strong> debate initiated by <strong>the</strong> European Commission on a
European digital agenda (European Commission 2015). In June 2015 <strong>its</strong>
Executive Committee adopted a resolution in <strong>the</strong> form <strong>of</strong> a first evaluation <strong>of</strong>
this agenda (ETUC 2015) 52 . Generally speaking, <strong>the</strong> ETUC judges <strong>the</strong>
Commission’s approach to be too narrow, in particular excessively confined to
matters – that are indeed important but not exclusively so – <strong>of</strong> training <strong>and</strong>
qualification <strong>of</strong> employees, <strong>and</strong> to questions linked to <strong>the</strong> internal market <strong>and</strong>
technical st<strong>and</strong>ards. ‘Digitalization is not just a technological issue or a
question <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> market, it is also about just transition <strong>of</strong> traditional jobs to
digital jobs in <strong>the</strong> industrial <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> service sector; it is a question <strong>of</strong> future
society <strong>and</strong> <strong>its</strong> cohesion. Digitalization is a megatrend for <strong>the</strong> world <strong>of</strong> work,
one we must be involved in shaping’ (ETUC 2015).
In <strong>its</strong> resolution, <strong>the</strong> concerns expressed by <strong>the</strong> ETUC relate essentially to <strong>the</strong>
following:
— <strong>the</strong> protection <strong>of</strong> personal data as a fundamental right;
— <strong>the</strong> social <strong>impact</strong> <strong>of</strong> digitalisation on companies in general <strong>and</strong> on labour
in particular, on labour law, working conditions, <strong>the</strong> life/work balance,
social rights;
— <strong>the</strong> risks <strong>of</strong> development <strong>of</strong> precarious digital work;
— <strong>the</strong> improvement <strong>of</strong> digital skills;
— anticipation <strong>and</strong> management <strong>of</strong> transitions;
— <strong>the</strong> persistence in Europe <strong>of</strong> a significant gender gap <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> an ICT skills
gap.
52. https://www.etuc.org/documents/digital-agenda-european-commission-preliminary-etucassessment#.VmVj2XarR9P
WP 2016.02
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