Collective Bargaining and Digitalization: A Global Survey of Union Use of Collective Bargaining to Increase Worker Control over Digitalization

This article outlines and collates exemplary clauses from collective bargaining agreements and similar sources, such as guidelines for union negotiators on digitalization in public and private services. Based on the evaluation of agreements and single clauses and their mapping along seven key dimensions of workers’ rights and protection as regards digital technology in the workplace, the research shows that collective bargaining provides clear added value in the absence of legal provisions and by complementing and tailoring existing regulation to sectoral and workplace specificities, new emerging risks, and other challenges. The research that will feed into an online database on the issue by Public Services International shows that unions are increasingly aware of the need to negotiate new rights for the digital work environment, while certain gaps exist as regards new emerging challenges and topics, for example, in fields such as workers’ rights over digital tools and algorithms or equal opportunities