MET social partners discuss the social dimension of the transformation in the automotive industry

The event, which is part of the EU-funded project TRIREME, gathered over 70 participants, namely trade union and employers’ representatives across  Europe, as well as industry associations, researchers, companies and Commission representatives. 

The workshop took a deep dive into the current situation faced by the automotive industry. Against this background, the social partners highlighted the
challenges that the industry is currently facing and the key role that social partners have in managing the transformations within different workplaces.
On her side, the head of Unit for Social Dialogue in DG EMPL highlighted that social dialogue will remain at the core of the EU priorities in the current
mandate. She further stressed that the Commission will actively work to have a strong competitive industry in Europe that should go hand in hand with the creation of quality jobs.

To specifically address the situation of the automotive industry, Eurofound gave a detailed presentation on the challenges that the sector is currently undergoing in Europe with a special focus on the needs in terms skills and continuous training. The afternoon session gave the national MET social partners the opportunity to present the initiatives and activities which have proven to be successful in tackling the social aspects of the green and digital transitions in the automotive sector at regional, national and local levels.

• The Italian social partners of the MET industry demonstrated an innovative online platform that offers services for training in their sector.
  The main goal of this portal (MetApprendo) is to encourage continuous training in industries. Today, it gathers over 17,000 companies and close
  to 1 million workers.
• The Norwegian social partners spoke of the recently adopted reskilling and upskilling agreements that will give a push to continuous learning in industries and ensure companies can benefit from a skilled workforce in order to remain competitive.
• The German trade unionist presented the situation in Germany and different initiatives that social partners are developing in different automotive companies. 

Judith Kirton-Darling, General Secretary of industriAll Europe, said: “The automotive sector and its workforce need investment, industrial strategy and
Just Transition. Deregulation, austerity and relocation to low-cost countries will merely deepen our dependency and the social crisis we are in. This workshop spotlighted the need for collective and negotiated solutions to manage the transition. The social partners’ solutions and best practices have demonstrated their key role in this transition.”

Delphine Rudelli, Director General of Ceemet, added “This workshop has proven how effective the numerous national, regional and local up- and re-skilling joint initiatives have been in boosting training participation in our industries. EU policymakers should facilitate a structured exchange of best practices and leverage these successful examples. 

“We will continue our ongoing work to compile and analyse good practice examples in order to develop recommendations at a later stage.”