By Andrea Barbara Schuessler
The future of work, driven by digitalization and globalization, will be a major challenge for governments and companies, Germany's finance minister Olaf Scholz said in a speech at the Global Solutions Summit in Berlin.
"I'm convinced we're only in the early stages of this development," Scholz said.
"When apps and internet platforms go hand in hand with the new forms of outsourcing, labor and social law must respond. When employees become semi-self-employed, it is important to continue to grasp the benefits and rights that have hitherto been attached to companies and to adjust them,” he said.
Global Realignment
In an industrial company or sector, well-organized trade unions and strong representation of workers in companies were and would still be needed to organize fair wages, social protection, good working hours, and social protection, Scholz said.
But in the digital world, software and hardware are produced around the globe, and software is exchanged across borders and between continents within seconds.
"The value chain and the work are being realigned, but how do we ensure labor and social standards In other states around the world? Only by agreeing on standards and clear legal regulations - employee protection, wages, taxation of international companies or internet platforms," Scholz said.
"The Global Solutions Initiative provides a new, permanent, supportive advisory structure to G-20 and G-7. Independent of the official processes, yet firmly connected with official engagement groups and working groups, the initiative delivers independent, long-term-oriented policy briefs for world leaders. The Global Solutions Initiative brings together leading think tanks and stakeholders to provide policy solutions to the most relevant global institutions" - the G-20, the G-7, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the UN, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization - according to the summit's website.
published in Bloomberg BNA July 26, 2018