From February 23rd to 25th, 2023, the 8th European Social Week took place in Lyon/ France on the topic "(R)evolution Europe. World of work and social dialogue of the future", organised by ESRI (European Social Responsibility Institute), in cooperation with CFTC and EZA and funded by the European Union.
Sixty-six representatives of workers' organisations from Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Czech Republic and Ukraine took part in the conference.
Project goal:
The aim of the event was to discuss important issues relating to the development of the world of work with competent speakers and employee representatives. These include, also due to the topicality, the consequences of technological developments through artificial intelligence and digitisation, the challenges posed by the Green Deal, the effects of the Russian war against Ukraine with the consequences for supply chains and the sanctions and consequences of inflation for workers.
The different information and references in the various employee organisations in the different countries should be mirrored with the information from the speakers and exchanged with each other. Here, the different experiences with concrete events in the change of work should be exchanged.
Content:
The event was divided into different focus areas for the presentations and discussions:
-Future Europe - Consequences of the Crises
-Future of labour market policy and social policy
-Sustainable management
-Digitisation and artificial intelligence
-Changes in work using concrete examples (home office, young people's expectations of work, lifelong learning and the compatibility of family work and gainful employment) and
-Future of Cohesion - Impact of digital and green transformation on Europe's regions.
Our time is characterised above all by the fact that the challenges are very diverse, extremely complex and take place at the same time. This makes it difficult for decision-makers to justify their political measures in a way that is understandable to all and to expect understanding for them. Everything is connected to almost everything.
Politicians spoke on the topic future of Europe - consequences of the crises or labour market policy and social policy. Elmar Brok (Germany), a long-time member of the European Parliament, stressed the importance of acting together in crises. He made it clear how important it is, especially in times of crisis, to work together as "Europe". He was of the opinion that the Russian war against Ukraine and the Corona crisis have shown and still show how important cooperation between individual states and European institutions is, despite its inadequacies. In the end, it has already led to a strengthening of "Europe". Elmar Brok expressed his hope that this teaching will continue in the future.
Karien van Gennip (Netherlands), Minister for Social Affairs and Labour in the Netherlands explained in her presentation the measures that have been taken in the Netherlands to secure employment and put social security on a sustainable footing. She drew attention to new developments in the labour market that have not yet been adequately protected by labour law. It is also important in the Netherlands to have sufficient skilled workers available for the future.
The second day began in the plenum with an addition to the programme. Uliana Pyrih, from the youth organisation of the Ukrainian trade union VOST "VOLYA", reported impressively on the precarious situation of young people in her country. She expressed the hope that the war would soon be over and that her country could be rebuilt.
When it comes to changing work, ethical issues play an important role. Prof. Sophie Izoard-Allaux from the Catholic University in Lille (France) made a fundamental contribution to this. She emphasised the ethical challenges from a Christian-social point of view for sustainable and responsible economic activity, but also for sustainable consumption.
In the next block of topics, the focus was on the Green Deal and its impact on work. Dr Frank Siebern-Thomas, from the EU Commission (Directorate General Employment) in Brussels, presented the various initiatives of the Commission on the Green Deal. In this context, he described various programmes of the Commission, which on the one hand, are intended to support the urgent ecological change, but on the other hand, try to absorb negative effects on work itself and employment. According to Dr Frank Siebern-Thomas, there should therefore be no change without the necessary accompanying measures. He particularly emphasised the new Green Deal Industrial Plan, which tries to combine green transformation with social and industrial policy interests.
The impact of the green economy on work was addressed by Joseph Thouvenel, union secretary of the CFTC (France). He made it clear that support from the EU is necessary here, without which there would be negative effects on various sectors. As an example, he named the serious changes that are to be expected in the automotive industry. His fear was that while we could make the green transition, it was making little headway in other parts of the world. This would be to the great detriment of employment in Europe.
The question is asked again and again as to whether technical developments destroy more jobs than create new ones. Prof. Francesco Seghezzi, President of the ADAPT Foundation (Italy), described the changes at work caused by digitisation. In doing so, he emphasised many changes, which, however, according to the results of more recent studies, should not lead to a reduction in employment overall. The problem should not be the number of jobs but the change in quality. Therefore he strongly recommended that the unions focus on the quality of the changes in their programmes and goals. Among other things, this involves controlling employees, working hours, overwork, developing skills and the boundaries between work and life.
Claudio Zettel from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) showed scenarios of possible development of the world of work in the transition to the 22nd century. This is a DLR project that was developed in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, among others. This clearly showed how important it is for workers' organisations - but also for politicians - to influence developments. In the end, it could also come to a "purely technically determined system of government" in which there is no room for freedom and democratic structures. The results of development are particularly influenced by three driving forces: technical change, demographic development/migration and ecological or climate change. This comprehensive change also has a clear impact on our social security systems. Further information on the scenarios for the work of the day after tomorrow: www.arbeit2100.de.
Ludovic Voet, from the European Trade Union Confederation, pointed out the problems that already exist today when there are no regulations for professions and activities that have been agreed between the social partners or the state provides minimum regulations. Ludovic Voet draws attention to the urgent need for regulation.
On the last day, there were short presentations on the home office (Robert Weber, Luxembourg), what young people expect from work (Aneta Szczykutowicz, Poland), lifelong learning (Geoffroy de Vienne, France) and the compatibility of family work and gainful employment (Michela Morandini, Italy) in the centre. Specific problems were presented that already exist due to the change in mentality and technical change. For many of these problems, there are no adequate solutions to protect employees, either at the European level or nationally.
The last contribution focused on the question of the future of cohesion. European funding for the Cohesion Fund is around a third of the budget and could have a significant impact on reducing or eliminating regional social inequalities. Roman Römisch, from the Vienna Institute for International Economic Comparisons (Austria), presented a new study by the Bertelsmann Foundation (Germany), in which he played a key role. Here it was examined what effects the digital and green transformations are likely to have on regional developments in individual countries. As a result, there are opportunities to introduce disadvantaged regions to more developed regions through appropriate funding. To do this, however, considerable funds would have to be reallocated from the cohesion fund. It is becoming a significant new task for the workers' organisations to ensure more regional balance.
Conclusion:
The technical developments and the green transformations will not differ significantly in the countries of the EU. However, depending on the level of development, how this is dealt with will be different in the individual countries. It is, therefore, important to see how other workers' organisations deal with the challenges of technical and green transformation. In this way, important points of reference are conveyed for work in the social dialogue.