Brussels, 26 September 2017 (ITUC OnLine): G7 Labour
Ministers are meeting in Turin (29 September - 1 October) to address the Future
of Work as global anxieties about jobs and rising inequality between the one
per cent richest people and the rest of the population continue to grow.
The 2017 ITUC Global Poll found 74 per cent of people
worry about inequality and 73 per cent of people worry about losing their jobs.
"People are anxious, and working people are
struggling to get by. They know that global companies hold the power to set
economic rules and that the economic system works in the favour of the richest
one per cent," said Sharan Burrow, General Secretary, International Trade
Union Confederation.
Structural changes in economies driven by digitalisation,
demographic changes and migration are changing the shape of jobs and
workplaces. Technological advances have the potential to deliver enormous
benefits to society, but will also have profound consequences on employment and
the quality thereof. Moreover, digital divides persist in the G7 when it comes
to women, disadvantaged groups and rural regions and worldwide: around fifty
per cent of the world's population still has no access to the internet - while
estimates on jobs displacement due to automation and the rise of artificial
intelligence (AI) vary between an alarming 50 per cent and a more nuanced nine
per cent of occupations being displaced altogether.
"Technological innovation has always been supported
by unions, and workers show a broad acceptance of new technologies. Eighty-five
per cent of respondents in the ITUC Global Poll agree that new technologies
will make jobs easier to do. People view
technology as bringing opportunities but are aware that there is a chance for
negative side effects on jobs that need to be addressed by rules and government
action," said Burrow.
Trade unions from G7 countries will present key
principles for Labour Ministers to ensure that workers have a seat at the table
in designing the future of work and that there is a fair and equitable
distribution of economic gains from globalised and digitalised economies.
"For many, the future of work is already here. We
need a Just Transition for workers whose jobs are at risk as well as for
collective bargaining to sustain growth through rising wages," said Pierre
Habbard, Acting General Secretary, Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD
(TUAC).
"Business models in the digital economy are too
often based on using non-standard contracts that result in workers bearing all
the risks. G7 Ministers can help shape a future of work that is based on
quality jobs and not gigs, and call on such companies to uphold their
responsibility as employers," Habbard added.
Trade unions are calling on G7 Labour Ministers to:
- Endorse
Just Transition principles for workers;
- Commit
to social dialogue on the impact of automation and digitalisation;
- Ensure
fundamental labour rights - including freedom of association and the right to
bargain collectively, and decent wages and social protection across the digital
economy, and specifically the platform economy;
- Stimulate
job creation, public and private investment in the green and care economies,
ICT- and STEM-related sectors and high-speed broadband coverage;
- Enable
the labour market participation of women and young people by formalising
informal work;
- Introduce
a lifelong learning guarantee; and
- Promote
quality apprenticeships.
Read the Trade Union Statement to the G7 Labour and
Employment Ministers' Meeting: http://www.ituc-csi.org/trade-union-statement-to-the-g7-19112
