[2019] Motion 19 Demands for the future world of work

carried motion
Carried motion

Received from:

In recognising the scale of the problems in today’s world of work and the challenges workers and society face from automation, the use of data and the introduction of new technology and Al, Congress agrees that now is the time for the union movement to be advancing a serious set of demands on behalf of workers to redress the balance of forces in the economy and entrenched inequality in society.

The scale of the challenges workers face must be matched by the scale of our ambitions and Congress agrees that our demands for the future should include the following:

i. a standard four-day working week for all workers, with no loss of pay by 2025
ii. worker ownership funds to transfer a stake of private companies into the hands of workers
iii. through collective bargaining workers’ control over the introduction of technology in the workplace that impacts on job numbers or surveillance/monitoring of staff
iv. a slowdown in the intensification of work and a reversal of the trend for ever-longer working lives in terms of both occupational and the state pension age
v. legal minimum standards on pension income to provide a decent standard of living, promoted in a similar way to the living wage
vi. maximum pay ratios of 20:1 for all employers.

Communication Workers Union

Amendment

  • Add new sub-paragraph at the end:
    “vii. Underemployment and short-hours contracts need to be tackled alongside measures to reduce the standard working week. All workers should have a right to a contract for at least 16 hours per week, a contract that reflects and guarantees their normal weekly hours and an end to zero-hours contracts.”

Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers