Periodic Reporting for period 1 - WE-TRANSFORM (WORKFORCE EUROPE - TRANSFORMATION AGENDA FOR TRANSPORT AUTOMATION)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2020-12-01 al 2022-05-31
The high-level objective of WE-TRANSFORM is to promote collectively prioritized themes on the future of jobs and working conditions across all existing and evolving transport modes by considering the digitalisation and automation processes that are occurring and are expected to occur within the transport sector. To achieve such high-level objective, three specific objectives have been identified, namely: 1) to set up and foster a collaborative platform for the discussion of the effects of automation on transport labour with relevant stakeholders, mainly through the establishment of a cross-national Living Hub – meant as an inter-continental European-based platform including Japan, Canada, USA and South Korea – that will comprise of the key stakeholders of all transport modes, researchers, decision makers, trade unions and workers’ associations; 2) thanks to the social debate within the Living Hub environment, to co-create user-friendly and shareable knowledge related to automation impacts on transport labour to assess the impacts on workers within all transport modes and related sectors (indirect/induced effects), with attention to specific categories such as women and people with disabilities and to gain a sound understanding and insight into the factors which can drive automation-driven transitions; and 3) to enable and support durable and effective dialogue on innovation and the reality of workforce requirements and conditions. Identified stakeholders will use CI to co-design a comprehensive, evidence-based, action-oriented agenda to minimise the potential negative effects of automation on labour force.
Moreover, a business model which includes a multiannual financial plan to make the Living Hub perennial beyond the duration of this project is foreseen.
Working Package 1 focuses on project management, and so far it has produced all the provided essential deliverables that describe the methodology, steps and path to follow to reach the objectives of the project.
In Working Package 2, the Stakeholder Forum has been established targeting workers and stakeholders from all sectors as well as workforce members and unions, public authorities and policy makers, industry for all transport modes, including both passenger and freight transport as well as other sectors (e.g. tourism, banking) also impacted by automation (D2.1). The methodology and the tools needed to make the Living Hub operational for the co-creation of knowledge, through the involvement and dialogue with stakeholders and workers, are contained in D2.2. Two stakeholder workshops have been organised in the first reporting period: the first fully online, and the following as hybrid event (both online and physical presence), both with high participation.
Working Package 3 defined the state-of-the-art review on the impacts that digitalisation and automation have on the workforce, through different methods. An in-depth analysis of the state of the art has been carried out using an AI Tool together with the partners’ knowledge. This effort allowed to gather scientific publications, reports, and documents that made clear the lack of knowledge on the studied topic. Numerous projects and initiatives (~87) have been identified but only one EU project (Skillful) and a national project (Leader in the Netherland) were related to the themes treated (D3.1). Lastly, the barriers, gaps, successful and failure factors from automation and digitalisation were analysed and discussed in the focus groups and through a survey and a poll (D3.2).
Working Package 6 focuses on the dissemination and communication strategy. Templates, graphical identity, promotional tools, and a monitoring tool to monitor the efficacy of the dissemination campaigns have been produced (D6.1). The website also contains the Knowledge base (D6.2) that is a publicly (previous registration) accessible platform in which the results from the project are gathered to support the public. Lastly, possibly related projects to build relationships with them and analysed their results to build a comprehensive and wide knowledge on the topic were analysed.
WE-TRANSFORM has adopted an innovative approach, applying a participatory approach, using Collective Intelligence (CI) in the cross-national Living Hub to construct a policy agenda that goes beyond the usual patterns. To this end, eight Thematic Areas have been defined: 1. Governance of transition; 2. Common skills to develop between same-level workers in different sectors of the transport industry; 3. Minimisation of exclusion processes in the reskilling of the workforce; 4. Platforms for gig workers: implications on jobs production; 5. The role of local and regional authorities; 6. Role of workers in Automated Public Transport Settings; 7. Regulation of transition in the view of collective bargaining; and 8. Automation and sustainability. In the second half of the project, other topics will emerge and be added to the current Thematic Areas.
The action-oriented agenda to be formulated in WP5 is fed by the previous WPs and, the just started WP4 will support to evaluate the potential impacts, including all the legal aspects. This will lead to concrete actions to perform and monitoring methods to support workers, by clearly defining roles and responsibilities, as well as key milestones and time-horizons.