Workplace Report (October 2024)

Editor's Note: A different - if not new - approach to work

The TUC Congress in Brighton was an important moment to assess the state of unions. Responding to the new reality of a Labour Government, debates on collective bargaining spoke to a belief that unions can now drive real change.

Our lead feature in this month’s Workplace Report, highlights the dangers of using AI and algorithms to manage people at work. As the article points out, there are laws that exist to protect workers and these need to be enhanced to face new threats.

What's even more crucial is that unions harness their collective power to negotiate terms with employers that ensure any roll-out of AI enabled technologies and the use of algorithms is done to improve, not degrade, people’s lives.

The value of agreements was a view frequently expressed at the TUC Congress. Delegates noted the security earlier sectoral agreements gave those whose work was insecure and involving short-term fixed contracts. Agreements meant that workers knew their new job would be consistently rewarded.

This approach has been out of favour in the UK for too many years. There is now a tangible hope this might change. The new Government has a mission to take a new approach to economic policy and its ‘securonomics’ agenda must also mean security for individual workers. Collective bargaining can do that.


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