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UNI Global Union’s General Secretary Philip Jennings brings a stark call to action to leaders gathering in Davos this week to debate the 4th Industrial Revolution.

Jennings said, “We are seeing record levels of inequality and if this culture of excess is allowed to thrive, the winners of the 4th Industrial Revolution will only be the 1 percent. 

"Davos leaders must face up the challenges presented by the 4th Industrial Revolution. We are experiencing a time of profound technological advancement. We have important choices to make. Do we continue on the path to unfettered digital capitalism where the creation of wealth is siphoned off by a tiny majority or do we aim for a period of just transition to create a sustainable system based on economic inclusion?

"As with the challenges of climate change we must adapt, mitigate and seek a just transition for workers if we are to create a sustainable future. Just transition is another way of demanding solidarity. Solidarity might sound old fashioned but it is a concept that has never gone out of date. The labour movement is not seeking to put a spanner in the works of the new digital revolution. We are laying down a manifesto where people are not left behind."

Jennings believes policy platforms for a just transition in the digital age should include:

• Quality jobs
• Upskilling
• Social inclusion
• Stronger labour market institutions

"To achieve a just transition, digital businesses, such as Uber and Amazon, must accept that labour standards apply just as much to them as they do to long standing businesses. Governments also have a responsibility to make sure they have policies in place to ensure businesses are properly regulated. We need to create a future where workers and families do not carry all the risk, and where a social safety net is in place from training, through social insurance to income guarantees. The 4th Industrial Revolution should not be used as an excuse to run roughshod over human and workers’ rights won over the last hundred years.

We should not fool ourselves into thinking we are talking about the distant future. A poorly regulated financial sector and a technological revolution spells trouble for labour markets today. Davos Man is right to be nervous, the Royal Bank of Scotland warning we are heading for a cataclysmic year and there are warning signs we could be on the way to another financial crash: this means we should not give a free pass to the finance sector as we tackle the implications of the digital revolution.”