A new world of work is coming, it’s time to master the machines
Shadow Secretary of State for Wales Christina Rees MP examines the impact that automation could have on Welsh jobs and the economy...
improvements to working conditions to an improvement in the care provided, it is possible to argue that the changes are within a devolved area of responsibility.
“The group chaired by Mick Antoniw will be looking at other sectors,” he said.
“There tends to be a high level of union membership in the manufacturing sector, but less so in some industries where women are predominant. Getting a better deal for them is part of the equality agenda.”
However, said Ms Mansour, employers could benefit too from an emphasis on improving training and skills.
Mike Jenkins, the retiring president of the Wales TUC, spoke of the warm relationship between the body and the Welsh Government.
He said: “We’re fortunate because we’ve got a government that is committed to the extension of collective bargaining.
“The Wales TUC and the Welsh Government work together.”
Praising First Minister Carwyn Jones, Mr Jenkins said: “Arguably the proudest moment for me was when I was invited to attend the signing by Carwyn of the Trade Union (Wales) Act, which rolled back the illiberal undemocratic Westminster Bill which set out to sabotage Wales’ devolution settlement.”
The Westminster Act, which applies in England, made it more difficult for public sector workers to embark on industrial action.
THE Wales TUC gathers in Llandudno this week, and all the big issues that impact on the lives of working people in Wales are on the agenda.
Brexit, the demographic change of an ageing population, and the UK government’s dogma of austerity; all of these have the potential to up-end the Welsh economy and have an impact on everyone.
I believe we must add another “big issue” to that list – automation.
In 2003, a now-famous study of the future of automation was undertaken at Oxford University.
It came to the stunning conclusion that 47% of jobs in the USA were at risk of disappearing in the automated economy of the future. The Bank of England later crunched the numbers for the UK economy.
Their conclusion? Fifteen million jobs that now exist in the UK would potentially vanish.
Even today, an incoming tide of new technology is transforming the workplace for millions of people. At the supermarket, every time we hear that annoying machine voice saying “unexpected item in the bagging area” we are reminded that in the retail sector jobs are changing.
Already, companies are experimenting in the US with shops that operate without staff at all, with payment deducted automatically from your bank account as you carry your purchases out of the door.
Retail, which employs tens of thousands of workers in Wales, will surely be a “canary in the coalmine” as the effects of automation roll out, but almost every area of employment will change. We see it already in banking, office work, call centres and manufacturing. But even highly skilled work; teaching, accountancy, the law, even the medical professions, will see change. When artificial intelligence can diagnose cancer from a CT scan more effectively than a doctor or radiographer, we should be glad of better patient outcomes; but we also need to think about the changing role of those professionals.
Now the truth is that no-one has a crystal ball to picture exactly how we will be making a living in 10 or 20 years from now, but the TUC report Shaping our Digital Future argued that we should embrace the new technology while making sure that the benefits of automation are shared across the workforce of the future.
Many argue that the rise of new technology will create new types of job – people working in roles that we simply cannot conceive of at present. Others say that we have the chance to think anew about job opportunities in fields that should be expanded, maybe in the caring professions. Will there be chances for many to pursue more creative, rewarding work that cannot be accomplished by any robot helper?
We can’t be completely accurate in our predictions. But we know this: the technology will come. That means demand for people with higher levels of skills will probably rise. Low-skilled work will likely be squeezed as machines replace people. And many people already in work will need to gain new skill sets to cope.
The technology will come. That means we need to ask ourselves some critical questions: how can we ensure that working people share in the benefits of all this change? How will we support people through the massive changes that are coming? And, can we do all this better in Wales?
In Wales, devolution gives us an edge. We have control of many of the levers that need to be pulled, especially in education and training. But government cannot do this alone. We need a commitment from business, unions and politicians to a big conversation on the future of work. This social partnership must be the forum where we map out the challenges we face and commit to confront them.
The Welsh Government already works in this way, and we need to take advantage of those relationships. We need to plan for the new world of work.
One thing is for sure, leaving this to “market forces” will spell disaster. In Wales we are still living with the fall-out of the collapse of so much of our heavy industry, and the consequences of throwing thousands on the jobs scrapheap, as government at the time allowed free market dogma to dictate the future.
We are still paying for those mistakes.
The TUC has already committed resources to thinking through the impact of new technology on tomorrow’s workplace. The unions are not simply in the business of protecting their members. They are also in the business of making a future that works for everyone.
The new technology is coming. So will we allow our society to be mastered by it, or will we master the machines, for everyone’s benefit? I know which future I prefer. But we must act fast, and act together.