The global framework agreement on digital transformation at Belgian chemicals group Solvay was signed on 17 March after being “discussed and elaborated with the European Works Council (EWC) and the Solvay Global Forum (SGF) with the support of lndustriALL Global Union”, the document outlines. The agreement comes after one year of talks and exchanges and seeks to provide a framework for management and employee representatives to engage locally with issues raised by the digital transformation to achieve detailed joint action plans. lt also defines the principles that Solvay should follow in order to successfully implement digital projects. The agreement covers social dialogue, assessing human impact before a project is implemented, and protection of privacy, among other things.
This open-ended agreement is applicable to all Solvay employees across its global operations. “ln case of discrepancies with legislation, the legislation providing the best protection for workers will apply,” it says. The agreement therefore sets out several principles “applicable for any project of significant importance which implements/introduces a new technology”. As such it provides a framework for the entire organisation to deal with issues arising from the digital transformation.
Social dialogue a key vector of transformation. The fruit of collective bargaining, the agreement starts in a coherent way on the importance of social dialogue in managing transformations.
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