Seeing as the risk of technological advancement is one that puts many non-skilled jobs at future risk, there has been little international action passed to directly address this issue, yet many countries have placed potential policy measures aimed to protect non-skilled workers. Many European Union nations, for example, have considered a policy of placing a “robot tax” to prevent companies from experiencing extreme economic gain at the expense of their employees. While this has not yet been implemented in Europe, South Korea decided to temporarily cut a tax break for companies investing in automation last year in hopes of protecting at-risk workers (“If Robots Steal Our Jobs”). In the past industrial revolutions, the driving force behind workers rights was always unions and collective bargaining. These rights are detailed in the Fundamental Workers Rights protected internationally by the International Labor Organization. The International Trade Union Confederation sees to it that these standards are upheld worldwide. One such example of this standard was the November 20, 2018 ruling of the European Court of Human Rights which defended a Russian worker under article 11 of the European Convention on human rights which ensures a worker’s right to assembly including forming trade unions and striking (“International Trade Union Confederation”). The ILO has created the world’s largest global development institution for workers, the Better Work Program, which works with 2,000 businesses in 7 countries to set labor standards and ensure sustainable practices. Currently employing 2.2 million workers, this program has been highly effective in the protection of labor rights and unions on an international scale. This program has utilized aid from Tufts University to carry out an independent impact assessment and conduct 15,000 surveys from garment workers to provide an in-depth analysis of its overall effectiveness. (“Progress and Potential”).
Country Policy
Considered one of Europe’s “top-tech nations”, the delegation of France has yielded widely successful efforts of implementing new technological advancements and ensuring the protection of its workforce, having doubled the amount of worker visas for the technological industries to 2,000 per year to jumpstart research on artificial intelligence(Scott, Mark, 2018). With a large amount of its workforce employed in the technology industry such as in computer science and IT, France and its working population would benefit from new and efficient technological advancements. (Martens, Fraser, 2013) France remains steadfast in its dedication to protecting its workforce but has recently made improvements in its labor code to accommodate the new companies and technologies that will improve economic growth. France has recently streamlined the workers council, staff representatives, and health and safety committees into a single entity that can negotiate with most companies on behalf of all French employees. This streamlined process is a business friendly way to allow all social and economic concerns of employees to be heard by the company. The new revisions also allow for smaller companies with fewer employees to negotiate directly or through an elected staff representative which is much easier on French tech startups while also ensuring worker safety. French companies are also obligated to provide compensation for displaced workers to provide some indemnity as well as identify other possible positions of employment matching a workers qualifications and experience. This redeployment obligation and compensation are ensured by French law and monitored by the labor rights and powers given to employees and unions (Myrtille Lapuelle, 2017). Although France has faced some criticism due to its rigid labor laws that make the hiring and firing process for employees difficult and a French wealth tax has levied on those with personal assets of at least 1.3 million euros, president Emmanuel Macron has voiced a policy towards loosening these laws, cutting corporation taxes, and supporting entrepreneurs (Kharpal, Arjun, 2018).
Proposed Solutions
In efforts of ensuring the protection of the workforce from technological advancement, the delegation of France proposes increasing competitiveness among businesses to increase the need for workers through the promotion of entrepreneurship. This can be made possible by modeling new startup facilities after Paris’ Station F, which incentivizes the creation of new business and technological industries through the use of tax credits. Previously utilized in France, the amount of private-sector researchers rose 30% between 2007 and 2014, adding 37,000 high-value jobs, therefore allowing the use of technology while also expanding and ensuring the protection of a country’s workforce. (Martens, Fraser, 2018) France also recognizes the necessity for compliance of labor standards in the international community and social security protection for its workers and proposes doing so through the use of programs modeled after Tufts Labor Lab. Benefiting the international community as a whole, this program works to expand knowledge on the usage of computer programs for technological development and is largely composed of undergraduate students. These students learn a variety of skills that can be beneficial to carrying out future jobs in the tech industry such as data analysis and depiction of research findings. The program is currently active in 14 countries (“Tuft’s Labor Lab”). To help displaced and young workers train for higher-level jobs, France proposes creating centralized massive open online courses. France Université Numérique is the MOOC platform funded by the French government that is a cost effective way for people to access a variety of courses for higher education. This platform has international benefits since 52% of the users are outside of France (Shah 2017). The majority of users of the France Université Numérique platform are also already in the workforce which presents a valuable opportunity to gain additional training and certification for other jobs. One concern about this program is the less than optimal completion rate of 10-25%, however an improvement to be made to fix this is open cooperation between companies and higher education curriculum (Shah 2017). The same data also shows that more specialized and professional courses have higher completion rates. Many occupations require a licence, as much as 30% in countries such as the US, so creating specialized and professional courses by directly consulting with employers with a licence or certificate of completion at the end should incentivise workers displaced by automation to seek this higher education (Selingo, 2018). Flexible curriculum addressing the skills gap between the unemployed and available occupations has seen success in places such as the Des Moines Community College where large scale retraining of laid off workers attracted high tech industries in advanced manufacturing (. For non-skilled workers employed in manufacturing industries most directly at risk being replaced by automated counterparts, France finds it a necessity that workers are given labor compensation in the form of continued salary pay for unfair dismissals. Dismissals for economic reasons are only justified if it is not personal, results in the position ceasing to exist, and if it is based on actual economic difficulties that threaten the company’s competitiveness. France proposes ensuring workers are made aware of their rights when at risk of being replaced by automation through the use of a smartline in which workers are given access to information regarding social security and compensation specific to their country of employment under programs modeled after Labor Voices. Here, audit teams unfamiliar with the business or factory and collect anonymous information that can be tracked over time from employees to ensure compliance with labor laws to prevent disincentivized worker layoffs. This startup included a $600,000 deal to work with Walmart on ensuring the protection of workers in 279 of its factories(Williams, Dennis, 2018).
Response to Questions to Consider
Q: Which potential policy measure would most help your country respond to the labor crisis created by technological advancement? Why?
France already funds higher education, childcare support, healthcare, and social security programs with its progressive taxes, so a universal basic income could be a potential policy measure that could help the workers displaced by automation make a smooth transition to the many new occupations technological advancements would open. France has many industries susceptible to automation but a universal basic income would help those displaced workers find jobs in other major french industries such as machinery and electronics. A universal basic income supported by the taxed productivity of automation could provide the income support that workers below the poverty line need to invest in retraining, allowing them to obtain jobs in the new technological industries when moving towards automation.
Q: What factors would make your country potentially susceptible to negative effects of technological advancements? And what factors will help it avoid negative impacts of these technologies?
France may be potentially susceptible to the negative effects of technological advancements in that its industries are heavily susceptible to automation, therefore putting millions of non-skilled workers at risk of losing their jobs to machinery. In addition, France’s easily accessible education yet high income taxes put France at risk of losing its educated workforce to brain drain from countries offering higher paying jobs for the skills learned in France. Therefore, while large businesses may save the cost of worker salaries, France’s educated population and workforce will be significantly depleted. To avoid this, France has a large industry of business startups and machinery that would experience more benefits than drawbacks by technological advancements.