Received from: Accord
Merged into composite 06
Congress notes that the coming wave of digitisation and automation presents both challenges and opportunities for the trade union movement and the millions of people we represent.
Artificial intelligence, big data, block-chain and growing automation will result in profound changes in workplaces and business models.
Congress notes that these changes will be felt particularly sharply in financial services – where it is estimated that up to 30 per cent of jobs in the sector could be potentially automatable by 2029 across advanced economies. The rise of challenger banks and companies operating in the shadow banking sector – many of which are not unionised – will pose additional challenges in the sector.
But Congress also notes the potential digital dividend that could be realised as a result of the application of new technology, and further notes that the trade union movement has a responsibility not just to respond to technological change, but to actively shape the future of work.
With this in mind Congress agrees to:
i. support the development of the TUC’s new Digital Lab initiative, to help unions develop their digital capacity and campaigning
ii. support union efforts to develop agreements with employers that provide job security, income security and fair share of productivity gains when new technologies and ways of working are introduced
iii. call on the government to establish a Future of Work Commission involving unions and employers, to ensure a just transition and that the digital dividend does not simply accrue to the tech giants and entrench existing inequalities.
Accord