- Conference
- Date
- June 16, 2017
- Decision
Conference notes that automation and digitisation of jobs is changing the nature, quality, and distribution of employment, not just within sectors such as manufacturing and distribution, but in the sphere of public services too.
Conference also notes that a number of recent studies predict that between 25% and 40% of current UK jobs could be lost to automation and digitisation; and that a specific study by the Reform thank-tank predicts that 250,000 job losses will come from public service employers in the sectors that UNISON represents.
In addition, Conference notes that even jobs in public services that are not lost due to automation and digitisation could be changed and restructured due to the implementation of new technologies.
Conference believes that the use of new technologies could be a positive development and improve the lives and work of UNISON members.
However, this can only be the case if the technology is developed and implemented taking into account the interests and needs of workers. Recent examples, such as the ‘staff tracking’ technology introduced into Amazon warehouses and work practices in the so-called gig economy, have shown that there is strong potential for new technologies to impact negatively on workers if controlled and implemented in the interests and needs of employers only. Whilst these negative impacts have emerged in the manufacturing and distribution sectors, the potential for these to cross over to organisations providing public services is great.
Conference resolves to:
- Instruct UNISON to set up a national working group or commission to investigate and analyse both the potential positive and negative impacts of new technologies, automation and digitisation on UNISON members and public services in general;
- This working group or commission will consider the impact of public service job losses due to automation and digitisation, transitions to new technologies, and potential responses. This should include an analysis of the current social security systems, and potential alternatives such as basic income, as a response to potential job losses within the public sector;
- Provide resources and training to enable branches to assess their members’ risk and vulnerability to negative impacts of automation, and to assess the effect on staffing levels and terms and conditions.
South West Region
NEC POLICY: SUPPORT AND AMEND
51.1
Insert new point 3) and renumber accordingly:
“3) Ask the National Executive Council to continue to examine the organising challenges posed by platform companies such as Uber, which are already being copied in the field of social care, and their use of bogus self employment and reliance on gig employment. And hence to prioritise this important work as part of its overall review of automation and digitalisation so that the union’s organising strategy meets the new challenges ahead;”
National Executive Council