Work: The future is here

Thanks to the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Kano for the extended invitation to the platform discussion on the future of work last Monday. The platform itself explains it all: New digital form of work is already here. There is a received local wisdom that what Friday would look like is mirrored on […]

Thanks to the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Kano for the extended invitation to the platform discussion on the future of work last Monday. The platform itself explains it all: New digital form of work is already here.

There is a received local wisdom that what Friday would look like is mirrored on Thursday. I agree with James Baldwin that “There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now”. Since the lockdown in March occasioned by COVID-19, many workers have been  turned into serial instant platform discussants/workers.

This seems the new norm of work in  banks and financial institutions, some public service departments, media and telecommunications, educational institutions etc. The terms of engagements are not often defined compared to the past fixed physical interactive work. Invariably we are all digital/platform workers in a “platform economy” aptly defined by CITAD as  “economic and social activity facilitated by platform” which “…brings employers, employees, service providers, clients, etc into interaction mediated by online platforms which often create ambiguity on our conventional conceptions of who employers, employees and even service providers are, because many who work on platforms consider themselves as providing services rather than be engaged in employment relationship”.

Its easier nowadays for staff to get Passcodes and IDs than knowing what their rights are under the new digital labour exertion. Witness the “proliferation of platform driven employers”  such as uber, taxify, konga, jumia, Yudala, Shopify, Fiverr, FinTech, and mobile money operators.

Undoubtedly, technology and globalization are transforming the world of work and work place. Historically, the only thing constant is change in the world  of work; from first to the fourth industrial revolution.  Some have even compared the rapid changes in the world of work to  “when horse-drawn carriages were replaced by automobiles at the beginning of the last century”. Work is always work in progress. The International Labour Conference, held in June, 2019 adopted a landmark ILO Centenary Declaration with focus on the future of work.

ILO Centenary took place at a time of transformative change in the world of work, driven largely by innovations, demographic shifts, and globalization, “as well as at a time of persistent inequalities, which have profound impacts on the nature and future of work, and on the place and dignity of people in it”. In many  instances, new jobs have been created with new skills producing new knowledge workers. In many instances, jobs have  been lost on a massive scale worsening existing crisis of unemployment and under-  employment especially in developing nations.

ILO has rightly called for a just transition from one form of employment to the other. It has also demanded for a  human-centred approach to the future of work.  The challenge before the employees,  employers and government today lies in  ensuring a just transition to a future of work that contributes to sustainable development in its economic, social and environmental ramifications. The critical questions begging for answers are: Who   provides the necessary acquisition of skills, competencies and qualifications for all workers in transition from one form of work to the other?

How do we address existing and anticipated skills gaps? Who ensures the education and training systems for the labour market needs, taking into account the evolution of work?  Are platform work freely chosen employment and decent work opportunities as envisaged by the ILO? No easy answer. What is clear is that technological changes are inevitable. The challenge is to manage the change. Irrespective of if jobs are fixed, part-time, digital or home working, how do the work impact on  people in terms of pay, capacity and general welfare? I find useful the position of IndustriALL Global Union on digitization.

It encourages  workers and their  unions “… to pay particular care to those who find it difficult to adapt to the changes that digitalization entails, whose abilities to learn and upskill are less developed.”  It goes on to say “These colleagues cannot simply be left behind, even if paid decent compensation. No society can afford more citizens who are not fully integrated…”

“When looking into the details of future work schemes, we must be careful to not just condemn the future. There is both good and bad, challenges and opportunities. Digitalization may lead to a better work-life balance, less hazardous work places, fewer hierarchies (and maybe a more democratic workplace), and possibly shorter working hours for everyone. At the same time, unions need to protect workers and the bargaining agenda should among other things reflect: New working time arrangements that seem better adapted to the needs of employees and companies can easily develop into uncontrolled overtime, leading to stress and so on.

In the future, collectively agreed and/or legal requirements on working hours need to be respected and protected. A digital work environment allows online access to work at any time. A right to disconnect is therefore indispensable. Data protection is crucial, as the creation and use of immense data pools is a key principle of every future business model and production system and must not be used against workers. Rethink schemes of premium payments.

Today, premiums are paid for overtime, night work, noisy work places and so on. New premiums should allow space for all those workers who cannot benefit from reformed work schedules, remote working and so on, because they have to work in a traditional shift model at an assembly line for example.  Digitalization, new mobility concepts, green technologies and so on will also create a lot of new jobs, many of them in the IT and service sectors. How can unions make sure that these new jobs will provide decent pay, decent working conditions, health care and the like?

How do we stop the trend towards more and more precarious jobs? How do we organize crowd workers?  These questions require a bargaining agenda, but more importantly they require new trade union strategies. Lastly, the future of work is also linked to the future of the nation. Labour creates wealth. Only secured Decent work can guarantee sustainable development.