Abstract
The chapter discusses the process of digitalization of the public sector and public services in Europe and addresses its impacts on the domain of work and employment. The emerging interest and involvement of the public service trade unions in Europe in the digitalization-related debate is discussed. The argument is that digitalization, being examined in the literature mainly from a ‘technical’ perspective, starts increasingly to challenge stakeholders in general and trade unions concretely in terms of work and employment consequences. However, there is an evolving process being built on a still-limited concrete knowledge and ideas to deal with it. Even if the 2015–2016 policy debates within the European trade union movements are intense, they are still too general.
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Notes
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The present report is prepared in the framework of a contract with the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) in the period March to June 2015 (‘The digital economy and public services’).
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For example, the 45th Standing Committee on Local and Regional Government, 22 September 2015, Brussels.
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HM Revenue and Customs, HMRC Digital Strategy, December 2012, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/digital-strategy-december-2012.
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Digital Agenda Norway (2012), Digitizing Public Sector Services. Norwegian eGovernment Program, Oslo, https://www.regjeringen.no/globalassets/upload/fad/kampanje/dan/regjeringensdigitaliseringsprogram/digit_prg_eng.pdf.
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See also Dunleavy, P. and Margetts, H. (2010), The Second Wave of Digital Era Governance, American Political Science Association Conference, 4 September 2010, Washington DC, USA.
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The paradigm of the open government is driven by opening up public data and services and facilitating collaboration for the design, production and delivery of public service. It is also about making government processes and decisions open, in order to foster citizen participation and engagement.
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And need to follow developments related to digitalization in other sectors—see, for example, Luce, S. (2015), Background Report For the UNI Europa Commerce Conference, Gdansk, May 2015.
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Kirov, V. (2017). Digitalization of Public Services in Europe: Policy Challenges for the European Trade Union Movement. In: Meil, P., Kirov, V. (eds) Policy Implications of Virtual Work. Dynamics of Virtual Work. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52057-5_10
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