TUAC - TRADE UNION ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE OECD

06/01/2016

Our economies, in particular the most advanced ones, are undergoing a profound transformation at an increasingly alarming rate. Robots, automation, digitisation and the shift towards a digital economy are not simply replacing jobs and creating new ones. They are also changing characteristic features of employment relations and jobs, as well as of how work is being organised. These issues are pertinent in terms of how the world of work will change in response to digital technologies and the implications for skills and labour market policies.

Current trends and possible scenarios as well as policy implications of these changes are at the focus of the OECD Policy Forum on the Future of Work in Paris on January 14, 2016, which TUAC speakers and delegates will attend (http://www.oecd.org/employment/ministerial/ ).

In order to broaden the debate and to provide a trade union input into the OECD Policy Forum and a subsequent meeting of Ministers of Labour and Employment, TUAC is conducting a workshop on “Work and employment in the transition towards the digital economy – Are long-standing approaches of labour market and employment policy appropriate to respond to new challenges?” at the OECD on January 13.

The workshop, which brings together participants from trade unions, research institutions, the ILO, the OECD and governments, comprises three sessions:

• Work and employment in the digital economy: Is growing economic insecurity inevitable – what are the choices?
• Have liberal labour market regimes and structural reform policies made labour markets more resilient and inclusive? Lessons from responses to the crisis
• New trends, old asymmetries – How to modernize and strengthen labour market institutions?

The workshop will discuss and assess the ongoing hype regarding the ‘sharing economy’ and how it impacts on workers, their employment and jobs, working conditions and social security. Particular attention will be given to the change of the standard employment relationship and the shift towards freelance, temp and contractor work. Moreover, presentations and discussions at the workshop will look at the performance of different labour market regimes during and after the recent economic crisis as well at the outcomes of labour market reforms implemented recently.

^{The agenda of the meeting in English and French can be downloaded on the right hand side.}