The Workers Union has launched a new event to highlight the threat that automation poses to workers’ jobs.
“A Future that Works for Everybody” will see the union step up its commitment to protecting working people from the effects of technological change.
The news comes as the World Economic Forum (WEF) forecast that 50 percent of all work tasks will be dealt with by machine by 2025.
The Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2020 argues that the jobs most at risk are in data processing and administration. Despite this, the authors say that ‘we have the means to reskill and upskill individuals in unprecedented numbers.’
The Workers Union Says
The WEF’s report is a timely reminder of the challenges that face our society. A couple of weeks ago we highlighted the dangers of allowing displaced workers to drift into unemployment without providing them with opportunities to retrain. Now the WEF has joined us in drawing attention to the urgent need for governments to address this issue.
There is only so much time left to take proactive action. The future is happening now for many workers. The economic contraction caused by the financial crisis of the late noughties has been compounded by the Coronavirus pandemic. Companies have responded by accelerating the rate of automation, looking past human capital to increasingly digital solutions.
Not surprisingly this presents manifest risks for people in low-paid, vulnerable sectors of the economy. Corona has forced business chiefs to look elsewhere for answers, and digital technology has provided them.
To meet this challenge, our campaign will focus on encouraging partnership working between government and business. Both sectors will need to increase their investment in reskilling and training for the jobs of tomorrow. In essence, the public sector must supply additional incentives for change; the private sector must be prepared to use them.
Successfully resolving this tension is the key to creating a future that works for everybody. Without doing so, the social and economic consequences will be felt for many years to come.
The Workers Union – Britain’s hardest working union
