Knut Dethlefsen from the FES starts with the central question: How can social democratic forces win back the trust of the labour movement? As he opens exchanges set to run for more than three hours. At issue: For many workers, digitalisation and new technologies are a source of great anxiety. People’s concerns range from losing their jobs to increasing pressure in daily working life to whether social security systems can even keep up with such change. It’s here, exactly where people feel they are losing control over their future, that new political fears arise. Such uncertainty creates fertile ground for right-wing narratives that claim to offer easy answers to complex upheaval. That makes the task of trade unions all the more important, to find fair ways to mitigate the impact of technological change and link it with protection, co-determination and security. -nk
Katrin Rulle