/ 25.11.2022
The National Trade Union Bloc together with Concordia Employers’ Confederation, as partners in the “Renewed social dialogue for a new world of work” project. The transition of jobs and digitization in two industrial sectors from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe – Romania, Hungary, Slovakia -WorkTransitionCEE” organized on 24.11.2022 the seminar “Good practices for the digital transition in the world of work – Trends in shaping the future of work”.
We presented the Best Practices Guide for employees and employers for the digital transition in the world of work and discussed with social dialogue partners, public authorities and NGOs about the trends and recommendations identified and projected within the WorkTransitionCEE project, thus offering a possible approach model to the challenges generated by digitization both in the labor market, but also in the sphere of social dialogue.
“Digitalization is about the restructuring of competences. The success and evolution of each of us, whether we are talking about people or companies, will be closely related to the ability to integrate new technologies in our professional or personal life. Increasing IT&C skills and preparing future generations with digital skills starting with early education is critical if we at least want to maintain social welfare. Eduard Floria, TF Labor and Social Dialogue Leader Concordia Employers’ Confederation
“Romania, at the moment, is in last place in terms of this composite index – of the IT and economic society, the development of digitalization skills. If in terms of communication infrastructure, Romania is doing well, it was somewhere among the first 15, in 11th place if I remember correctly, in all the others we reached the last place even if we have evolved a little. We have evolved a little less than the other member states. If until about two years ago we were in the penultimate place, now we have reached on the last… We are on the last place in the skills of the workers, but also in the implementation of digital technologies by the companies”, mentioned Minel Ivaşcu, Vicepresident of National Trade Union Bloc.
According to the Best Practices Guide for employees and employers for the digital transition in the world of work, and the surveys conducted among employers and employees in the automotive industry and in the oil and gas industry in Romania, it shows that 82% rely on customer requirements when taking the decision to invest in automation and digitization. Other determining factors are: competitive practices (80%), cost reduction (75%), lack of skilled labor (67%), global pressure (64%) and national strategy (31%).
At the same time, the most important factors that obstruct automation and digitization refer to the lack of financial resources (77%), followed by the lack of availability of employees (75%), the lack of digital knowledge (67%), the need for continuous education (62 %), lack of quality and execution standards (54%) and cyber security risks (44%),
This event took place under the umbrella of WorkTransitionCEE, a project co-financed by the European Union, which brings together six representative social partners from Romania, Hungary and Slovakia, both unions and employers, to better understand the risks, challenges and opportunities in Industry 4.0 for labor transition in Central and Eastern Europe.