Activities of Marju LAURISTIN related to 2016/2271(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Digitising European industry - Internet connectivity for growth, competitiveness and cohesion: European gigabit society and 5G (debate)
Amendments (30)
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the Commission communication on ‘Digitising European Industry’ (COM(2016)0180); recalls the objective of raising the contribution of industry to EU GDP to 20 % by 2020; underlines the important role that digitalisation can play in this context and the urgent need to establish an ambitious EU strategy that coordinates national and regional efforts, avoids fragmentation and maximises opportunities for consumers, workers and businesses;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
A a. whereas an average of 9% of jobs are at high risk of being automated, while for another 25% of jobs half of the tasks will change significantly due to automation
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Stresses the need for adequate investment in research and innovation, infrastructures, cybersecurity and digital skills in order to ensure a well- functioning digital single market where industries can benefit from all its opportunities; stresses also that the EU is lagging behind its competitors in this respect and substantial additional resources are urgently needed for these investments; regrets that the communication fails to meet adequately the challenges ahead in this regard;
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses that the digitisation of industry represents a major challenge in terms of the organisation of work and therefore requires targeted responses from the Commission and the Member States regarding employment, social and education policies, as well as the provision of up-to-date infrastructure;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Regrets the increasing disparities between regions in industry competitiveness and digitalisation; calls on the European Commission to ensure that cooperation and investments at European level on industry digitalisation lead to progressive convergence between different areas, including through better coordination of existing funds, and to increased opportunities for SMEs' digitalisation;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2 b. Highlights the risk of shifting of profits from industrial players towards the owners of proprietary digital platforms and of concentration of market into the hands of few actors creating de-facto monopolies, in particular with regard to platforms; considers necessary effective and consistent actions by the competition authorities and, where necessary, legislative initiatives, to ensure fair competition between a plurality of actors, also in the digital environment;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes the strong regional differences as regards the digitisation of industry, which have consequences on jobs and growth; calls, therefore, for efforts in developing digital infrastructure to be stepped up, particularly in regions lagging behind, and for universal access to the open internet to be promoted; stresses the importance of networking and cooperation of the already established national digitisation initiatives such as Industrie 4.0, and calls for increased efforts to support regions and sectors currently lacking such initiatives
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the Commission and the Member States, in cooperation with social partners, to regularly assess the impact of digitisation on the quality, number and types of jobs and to adjust related policies accordingly; points out that due to the digitisation of industry, the differential between the creation and loss of different types of jobs may have consequences on the financial sustainability of social security schemes, pension systems and unemployment insurance systems of the Member States; recalls that not all future jobs are equally affected by the digitisation of industry and that the importance of human interaction should not be underestimated;
Amendment 36 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses that citizens’ and businesses’ trust in the digital environment is necessary for unlocking the full potential of industry digitalisation; calls on Member States to timely transpose the "NIS Directive" and to engage in effective cooperation in order to guarantee a safe environment in the EU for citizens and businesses; asks a series of new and concrete initiatives to strengthen resilience of businesses, especially SMEs, against cyber-attacks and welcomes the new public-private partnership on cybersecurity recently launched by European Commission;
Amendment 42 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Believes that digitalisation should provide consumers with more choice, more user-friendly and customised products and more information, in particular on the quality of the products or services, as well as on their social and environmental impacts;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Stresses that digitisation also offers opportunities to reshore manufacturing; calls on the Commission and the Member States to develop reshoring strategies to promote growth and jobs in the Union;
Amendment 44 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3 b. Recalls the risk of digitisation aggravating unequal distribution of wealth in view of a deepening digital divide which could split society, Member States and regions into those who are able to profit from increased digital productivity and those who are not; calls on the Commission and Member States, therefore, to investigate possible ways of reducing inequalities rising through automation;
Amendment 47 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Recognises the opportunities related to the digitisation of industry; stresses, however, that new forms of work must comply with labour and social legislation and guarantee the protection of workers’ and consumer rights; recognises the positive effects digitisation of industry has as it increases flexible working arrangements that can create a better work-life balance, diversify choices through mobile telework, and allow people from rural and secluded areas to join the labour market provided that they are equipped with the necessary infrastructure; emphasises, however, that the digitisation driven trend towards increased flexibility may increase the danger of unstable and precarious employment;
Amendment 47 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Deems it necessary to ensure the full respect of workers’ and consumers’ right to privacy and to protection of their personal data in the digital environment; emphasises the importance of the correct implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation, ensuring the full application of the principle of ‘privacy by design and by default’; believes that consumers and workers should be in control of the data they produce or that are linked to the products and services they use and should be properly informed about the impact of their decisions over these issues; considers that the issue of worker-related data and their use raises important concerns and should be swiftly clarified; calls on the Commission to define some minimum requirements on this issue; underlines the need to set up an European Directive on Privacy at the workplace;
Amendment 48 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Calls on the European Commission to clarify as soon as possible safety and liability rules for autonomously acting systems (such as vehicles and drones), to ensure fast and effective legal compensation in case of incident and to harmonise the conditions for testing;
Amendment 49 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5 b. Considers interoperability necessary in particular in the domain of Internet of Things to ensure that the development of new technologies improves the opportunities for consumers, who should not be locked-in with certain specific providers; stresses the challenges relating to safety, security and liability with regard to IoT, apps and non- embedded software and calls on the Commission to put forward enhanced efforts on these issues, including in order to raise consumers' awareness and promote a safe use of these instruments;
Amendment 50 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5 c. Urges the Commission to develop comprehensive statistics which complement existing ones, such as the DESI index, in order to better evaluate digitalisation processes in different areas and sectors;
Amendment 52 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Expects that digitisation will improve accessibility of social services and other public services for all, including the elderly and people with disabilities;
Amendment 56 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Highlights the very important consequences of industry digitalisation for society, business models, working conditions and jobs demand; regrets the lack of analysis on the part of the Commission of the social effects of the digitisation of industry; calls on the European Commission to carry on an in depth analysis on these issues, focusing also to the consequences of industry digitisation on the number and the quality of jobs, and to present it to the European Parliament by the end of 2017;
Amendment 57 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. While recognising the opportunities of industry digitalisation, stresses also certain challenges it is posing to job demands, working conditions and workers' rights, in particular in non-standard employment relationships, and highlights the necessity to ensure the full respect of employment rights and adequate social security coverage in the digital world of work; believes it is necessary to involve social partners in the definition of European and national initiative on industry digitalisation; welcomes the proposals to hold high-level roundtables and an European stakeholders forum on digitalisation; believes workers' representatives' involvement to be necessary with regard to companies' decisions over externalisation and digitalisation;
Amendment 59 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Considers it necessary to ensure high-quality education, lifelong learning and vocational training, including in the field of basic and advanced digital qualifications and skills, also to fight digital exclusion, and advocates for the necessary public and private investments; highlights the importance of promoting skills on non-proprietary content; stresses the necessity to work with social partners in order to anticipate skills' need in the long term and welcomes the establishment of the Grand coalition for digital jobs and of other European initiatives in this field; encourages Commission and Member States to ensure mutual recognition of digital qualifications by establishing a European certificate or grading system.
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Notes the growth of the platform economy; calls, therefore, for an EU framework on platform work;
Amendment 65 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5 b. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that digitisation of industry and the consequent increase in new forms of work will not be detrimental to social contributions and that all contributions will be paid for all forms of work; notes that digital solutions can facilitate the collection of taxes and social security contributions;
Amendment 66 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5 c. Recalls that the European Court of Justice has defined the concept of 'worker' on the basis of an employment relationship characterised by certain criteria, such as subordination, remuneration and the nature of the work; stresses the need for a clear definition of a 'platform worker' in order to ensure compliance with labour and social laws;
Amendment 67 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 d (new)
Paragraph 5 d (new)
5 d. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to involve the social partners regularly when adapting the regulatory framework for the digital economy; calls on the social partners to conclude collective agreements for the platform economy;
Amendment 70 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Member States to ensure universal access to training in digital skills21st century skills, in particular digital skills, usage of big data, critical thinking, problem solving and teamwork, in order to allow equal participation of all citizens in the digital single market, be it as employees, entrepreneurs or customers; stresses that it is the industry's task to offer suitable training for acquainting their employees properly with new technologies; calls on the Member States to develop skills strategies for the digital age involving social partners as well as education and training institutions, to adapt their educational systems to digitisation and to promote teaching and interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in educational institutions from an early age; stresses that adapting curricula in primary schools can have particular importance in increasing interest in STEM subjects whereby particular efforts must be made to overcome the severe gender gap in the ICT sector; emphasises the importance of lifelong learning for all workers in the digital era; points to the importance of upgrading occupational training programmes for the digital era; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that workers losing their jobs due to digitisation have rapidly access to retraining in digital skills if they so wish;
Amendment 78 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Notes that the skills mismatch in the digital economy is not only about lacking skills, but also the result of poor working conditions making some of the best-skilled workers choose to work elsewhere, and of poor management of human resources failing to fully tap into the skills and knowledge of the digital generation;
Amendment 81 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Stresses the need to identify potential occupational health and safety risks stemming from the digitisation of industry and to take appropriate measures.; points to the psychological and neurological effects of digitisation on employees as constant accessibility presents a risk of work-related mental health problems such as burnout; advocates, therefore, a 'right to log off' for workers outside the agreed working hours; calls on the Commission and its agencies, in particular EU-OSHA, to examine the effects of digitisation, robotics and artificial intelligence on mental strain and to make policy recommendations where necessary; calls for employees to be given the opportunity to play an active part in shaping their work environment and for social partners and unions to be involved at all levels;
Amendment 85 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7 a. Notes that the increasing use of new technologies and means of electronic communication at the workplace raises many questions concerning workers' privacy and the new possibilities of monitoring and surveillance; believes that the use, processing and storage of employee-related data needs strict rules in line with the Regulation 2016/679 to prevent an infringement of workers' fundamental rights and ensure a right to data access for the worker;
Amendment 88 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7 b. Believes that with the increasing digitisation of workplaces, it is essential to amend the rules of liability concerning the consequences associated with the actions or inaction of automated systems and robots, keeping also in mind work injuries caused by robots; is concerned by the lack of general framework and legal provisions in this context and calls for a legal framework that reflects the complexity of digitising European industry and its social implications.