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ICT is a key enabler for economic recovery. The EU acknowledges the need to tailor policies to the ICT sector as a whole, including ICT SMEs. The ICT sector holds a significant growth potential and ICT has vast societal implications such as sustainability, gender balance, healthcare, dignified and independent living, culture, e-governance, transports, education etc. In order to benefit from the potential of the ICT sector, it is crucial to respond to the most pressing challenges that both ICT companies and their workforce are facing: the promotion of employment and job creation, the definition of working conditions, the identification of skills and training needs, and the impact of ICT on other industry sectors are all key aspects of the ICT industry. In many sectors, the afore-mentioned issues are addressed by the social partners at national and European levels achieving agreements on the objectives related to employment, working conditions and industrial relations.



However, in the case of the ICT sector there is no particular European Social Dialogue Committee for ICT. Though there is the Social Dialogue Committee for the telecoms sector, this platform only partly addresses the concerns of SMEs and their employees in the European ICT sector. In order to identify the relevant employers and trade union organisations on local, national, and European level that could be potentially interested in getting involved in a future social dialogue in ICT, a research task consisting of a mapping exercise needs to be carried out. The research task will further include the creation of an action plan for establishing a platform for a social dialogue in the ICT sector.



The deadline for receiving bids is 31 May 2013. The tender specifications can be found in the related files tab. Please contact Anna Harvey: anna.harvey@uniglobalunion.org for further information.