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UNI Global Union General Secretary Philip Jennings told BBC reporter, Tanya Beckett, on Day 1 of Davos, that the robotic revolution was real and no longer belonged to realms of science fiction.

Jennings said, “We’re not just talking about robots replacing people in the factory line. We’re talking about the incursion of artificial intelligence in all the so-called professional skills and qualifications. Whether it’s in health and legal, accountancy and finance.”

See full feature here: (UK viewers only) http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06wy0nt/asia-business-report-20012016

The theme of the World Economic Forum’s Annual meeting in Davos is “Mastering the 4th Industrial Revolution and aims to create a debate about how digitisation is changing the way we work and live.

Jennings spoke to France 24 about the new digital revolution and the threat of ‘digital sharks’, companies with a ‘winner takes all’ attitude. The UNI General Secretary emphasised that regulation on its own was not the solution. He said what was needed was ‘Adaption, Mitigation and Just Transition’ to the new digital world to prevent the widening gap between the richest 1% and the rest.   

Full interview in French here

The plummeting oil price and stock markets is casting a big black cloud over Davos this year. Jennings was asked for his view by The Guardian’s Graeme Wearden and sounded a warning.

See exchange reported on Guardian Online below:

Graeme Wearden

Just grabbed a word with Philip Jennings, General Secretary of UNI Global Union, about the turmoil in the markets.

GW Are we heading into a crash?

PJ Yes, we are heading for a crash, I’m worried about it.

Emerging markets were meant to pull us through this crisis but China is slowing, and the impact will ripple out across the developing economy. And the jobs situation across the global economy will not improve

GW How bad could it get?

PJ We are worried about the economic climate - how deep the crash will be. Those RBS analysts [who said to sell everything] may be right - “cataclysm” could be the right word to use.

GW What should be done?

PJ We need leadership. The G20 needs to fulfil the promise they made at the last financial crisis, to not just save the banking sector but to also put the economy back on track.

The private sector need to understand that lack of investment isn’t helping, and we need to push wages higher. The G20 needs to put demand back in the economy.