It's not the robots we should be afraid of - it's our inaction
Kelly Shay, Assistant Secretary of Australian UNICARE affiliate United Voice in Western Australia, has written the following piece for the ACTU's blog Working Life about the automated future and what it means for all of us. In the UNICARE sector, affiliates are grappling with what the future holds and making plans to organise workers in the fast paced care sector. We recently held a webinar about the impact of technology shift on workers in the sector, at which experts and thought leaders such as Kelly presented on this issue. If you would like more information, contact UNICARE Director Kirsty McCully at kirsty.mccully@uniglobalunion.org
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EVERY day unionists fight for workers’ rights and justice for all. Today it’s more than ‘a fair days work for a fair days pay,’ it’s a fight for the society we believe in. A society based on fairness, compassion and equality for all.
At the same time the jobs, workplaces and employment practices of current and future union members are changing at a rapid pace, moving away from traditional jobs and workplaces to higher levels of precarious ‘on-demand’ employment.
On one hand we have to fight to keep what we have and at the same time we have to research, strategise and innovate in a highly complex and ever-changing world.
Technological change means more than new ways to get work done. It’s more than a quirky app on your iPhone that delivers instant gratification, connecting with friends, counting your steps, giving you directions. Digital technology is and will continue to be a major driver of change, disrupting and transforming work, politics, government and communications and it will move forward with us or without us.
Robots, apps, wearables and platforms are transforming the way we live. We see robots in hospitals assisting in surgery, dispensing in the pharmacy, carrying objects and guiding patients around hospitals and ‘robotic doctors’ which allow a real doctor to examine a patient from an entirely different and often remote situation.
There are over 150,000 healthcare apps allowing individuals to do everything from track weight and blood sugar levels to ordering home visits by Doctors or care workers. Apps like ‘Doctor Ondemand’ in the US, allows a patient to have a consultation with a doctor, have their health issue diagnosed, have a prescription issued, and/or be referred to a suitable specialist. The wearable, Applewatch, is being used by over 3 million pregnant women and their doctors to remotely monitor baby including its heartrate. Allowing both parties to hear and see the heartrate, arrange tests and give advice.
Platforms are taking over functions previously performed by organisations. Platforms like Kaiser Permanente’s ‘HealthConnect’ connects its clinicians with 9 million members for real-time access to medical records, engaging with members through mobile applications, providing self-management services, in-home monitoring and virtual consultations.
Increasingly ‘platforms’ cut out the need for organisations to exist by directly connecting clients/consumers with the product or job. For example, ‘Room2Care’ is an internet service which connects elderly clients with care givers. The care giver provides a room and care in their own home. This replaces the need for a home care agency which would traditionally employ a range of people in administrative and care roles. As ‘Room2Care’ is a service that connects the client to the carer, they do not directly employ care staff, and carry no responsibility for these workers. The carer is a contractor not an employee and the platform is a tool not an employer.
These advancements in technology have a massive impact on workers’ wages, conditions and job security. Leading to insufficient and unpredictable pay, little or no sick or annual leave, non-payment of superannuation, limited or no access to OHS & workers compensation. These are not new issues for many care workers today but in the future the scale and scope of them will be irrepressible.
The biggest threat of the on demand (‘gig’) economy and technology is that it transforms the way society thinks about work and employment in the 21st Century. It will see the decline of the ‘job’ as people become task takers, the decline of the employee as workers become contractors, the decline of security, stability and predictability, the decline of the workplace, the middle class and the ability for unions to organise using our current methods. It is a cultural movement that will change the concept of work and jobs.
The responses to these challenges are as wide and varied as the union movement herself. Some unions will not respond, some will take a lead in public policy and legislative response, some will look into a one off app, some will invest in innovation and try to stay ahead of the curve.
If we are to create society we believe so passionately in we must change. We must build the next forms of workers organisations for economic and political power that delivers real wins.
Technology is a key driver in the changing work of our members. We need to do more than embrace it. We need to adopt an aggressive, future-oriented and proactive stance on technology.
It’s not the robots we should be afraid of, it’s our inaction.