- Conference
- Date
- June 16, 2017
- Decision
In October 2016 Deloittes published their annual ‘State of the State’ report. It received widespread media coverage due to the sensational headline of up to 861,000 public sector job losses (16% of the overall workforce) due to automation by 2030.
The findings are based on; three separate categories of jobs, the predicted job growth and the probability of a role being automated. It is predicted the loss of jobs will reduce the public sector wage bill by £17 billion approaching 2030.
Whilst it is anticipated there are less jobs within the public sector which can be automated this will have a significant impact on redundancies and tax receipts, especially when the wider impact of automation on the UK workforce is considered.
The Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, predicts 15 million jobs (40% of the UK workforce) could be automated in a generation.
Deloittes are optimistic that automation will be used to enhance and enable the creation of higher skilled, better paid jobs but there are significant risks and problems associated with how automation is managed and the implications this will have for UK society approaching 2030.
Conference calls on UNISON’s National Executive Council to form a working group to examine the impact of automation in the public sector and how the wider automation of work will impact on the public sector.
Conference calls on UNISON’s National Executive Council to develop strategies from the findings which will inform and shape the debate and use of automation in workplaces going forward.
Police Staff Scotland (UPSS)
NEC POLICY: SUPPORT AND AMEND
52.1
Insert new penultimate paragraph:
“Conference asks 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. Conference resolves 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