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Track three

Digitalisation of Work and Employment

The adoption of new digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and cloud computing is significantly transforming work, organisations, and labor markets. This digital transformation presents substantial challenges for both workers and their organisations. Algorithmic management and platform work are increasingly prevalent – not only within traditional industries like manufacturing, retail, logistics, and elder care, but also in emerging sectors such as fintech and e-commerce. This trend raises questions about managerial authority and potentially obscures managerial decisions, making it more challenging to assign employer responsibility. Additionally, automation of work processes continues across numerous industries, affecting both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Today, this development is accelerating with the integration of AI, which brings new concerns around worker surveillance, data ownership, and evolving skill needs.

This digital transformation also presents challenges for organising workers. It complicates matters for both managers and employees, as well as the organisations that represent them in negotiations over wages and working conditions. Since the mid-2010s, digital platforms in industries such as transportation, cleaning, and freelancing have enabled workers to earn extra income online – often as self-employed rather than employees, which makes organising workers and negotiating collective agreements more challenging. We invite submissions on how digitalisation is transforming work and employment as well as capacities to negotiate over its effects. The proposed track would encourage submissions with the following questions, among others:

  • How does the adoption of digital labor platforms transform work? What are the benefits and challenges of integrating AI in workplaces for both workers and organisations? What are the outcomes of the expansion of platform work into knowledge work? What are the current trends and developments regarding the rights of platform workers?
  • What are the responses of trade unions to digitalisation and automation of work? How is the labor movement reacting to the platform economy? Why do unions’ responses to digitalisation vary? What new modes of collective bargaining are emerging in response to digital tools? How do collective bargaining institutions influence the adoption of these tools within organisations?
  • How does digitalisation affect workers and their outcomes? What impacts does digitalisation have on workers’ well-being? How does this shift influence their careers? What negative outcomes do novel technologies have on workers and society? Which groups of workers are most adversely affected, and who benefits?
  • What are the characteristics of legal frameworks governing labor law in relation to digitalisation within different national contexts? How does digitalisation vary across different regulatory and institutional environments?