No C 307/4 Official Journal of the European Communities 19. 11. 84 
Opinion on the Commission communication to the Council concerning technological change 
and social adjustment 
(84/C 307/03) 
A. LEGAL BASIS FOR THE OPINION 
On 14 February 1984 the Commission decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, 
under Article 198 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, on the 
abovementioned communication. 
Procedure 
The Section for Social Questions, which was responsible for preparing the Committee's work 
on the subject, adopted its opinion on 12 July 1984 in the light of the Report by Mr 
Nierhaus. 
B. OPINION OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
At its 219th plenary session (meeting of 26 September 1984) the Economic and Social 
Committee adopted the following opinion unanimously. 
I. GENERAL COMMENTS 
1. The Committee welcomes the Commission 
initiative, the aim of which is 'to propose a Community 
strategy for new technologies which, complementing 
those already launched in the sphere of industry, 
research, development and innovation, will bring a 
positive response to the social challenges'. 
The Committee entirely agrees with the Commission 
that: 
— if 'the survival of European industry and the essential 
strengthening of its competitiveness depend on the 
ability to adjust to new forms of demand and new 
technologies'. 
— then 'a positive response must be found to the social 
challenges' posed by technological change. 
It is obviously right to make use of the potential offered by 
technological innovation to initiate economic growth. 
This cannot, however, be limited to encouraging 
adjustments to new forms of demand already existing in 
embryo (as they are found at present). It is also necessary 
at the same time to promote additional, new demand by 
means of back-up measures and to adopt selective 
measures in order to further research, technology and 
industrial policy, so that new areas of growth can be 
opened up (e.g. techniques for protecting the 
environment). 
In the activities initiated by the Commission so far, 
assessment of technical consequences and measures to 
cope with the social effects have been largely neglected. 
The Community has of course suggested social, labour and training measures to organize innovation processes 
and cushion their social repercussions, but these measures 
are not enough. The Committee welcomes all the more 
the Commission's acknowledgement that the innovatory 
and growth potential of new technologies can be liberated 
and fully exploited if the social consequences of 
technological change can also be dealt with. To this end it 
is necessary: 
— to assess the consequences of new technologies in 
order to determine their economic utility and their 
compatibility with the social fabric and the 
environment, 
— to take measures to ensure humane planning and 
application of new technologies in the fields of 
production, management and services, and to avoid 
jeopardizing the health of workers, 
— to make arrangements for cooperation between 
employers and workers and between their 
representatives in the planning and shaping of the 
operational application of technology. 
2. The Committee agrees with the Commission that 
the Community strategy for new technologies should 
back up and complement the activities of the Member 
States. Assessment of consequences, and measures to 
cope with the social problems resulting from 
technological change, are an important precondition for 
this, since they can help to reactivate the traditional 
competitive advantages of European industry (quality 
standards, a high level of know-how and a high average 
level of skills). 
Limitation of the Community strategy to back-up and 
supplementary measures designed to stimulate the 
potential for innovation and to cope with the social effects 
19. 11. 84 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 307/5 
of technological change would also take account of the 
fact that this process is not only influenced by the 
institutions of the Member States but also - in some 
aspects even independently - shaped by the two sides of 
industry in the Member States. 
II. EVALUATION OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSALS 
1. The social effects of technological change 
1.1. The introduction of new technologies - in 
products and production processes - changes the level 
and structure of employment. Although there are various 
assessments of the consequences for employment, it is 
agreed that, depending on the economic trends and the 
extent of the spread of new technologies, at present the 
industrial application of such technologies tends to 
eliminate more jobs than it creates. It should also be taken 
into account that even more jobs can be lost if the 
improvement of competitiveness through new techniques 
is disregarded and the opportunity to reach the 
international technological level is missed. 
1.2. The changes in the structure of employment will 
accelerate in the next few years as new technologies 
continue to be introduced. Above all, it is to be expected 
that - at least at this stage - new information and 
communication technologies will lead not merely to a 
considerable change in the employment profile of the 
tertiary sector, but also to a loss of traditional job 
opportunities in many branches of that sector. In future 
the tertiary sector will no longer be able to perform to the 
same extent as hitherto its traditional function of 
compensating for job losses in the industrial sector. It is 
therefore important to create more job opportunities in 
new - 'quaternary' - fields. 
1.3. For nearly all employment groups, technical 
change goes hand in hand with considerable changes in 
the nature of the work and the skills required. Whereas 
for technical, scientific and similar staff the skills required 
are usually higher and of a different kind, those with the 
lowest - and to some extent those with medium - skills 
are threatened with the prospect of beirig underqualified 
and with greater employment risks. This is all the more 
serious for those groups (e.g. many women and migrant 
workers) who have already suffered disadvantages in 
training and working situations. 
1.4. New production and management techniques 
frequently affect working conditions and the health of 
workers. New technologies can of course reduce the 
physical stresses resulting from work. However, new mental and nervous stresses are created (e.g. by faster 
working speeds, monotony, overwork or increased 
monitoring). 
1.5. The flexibility of new technologies makes 
possible - mainly in large firms, to a lesser extent in small 
and medium-sized firms - decentralization of firms' 
planning and decision-making processes, activities and 
jobs. Their introduction can, however, also entail a 
centralization of technological know-how, planning 
expertise and entrepreneurial control. It can often create 
new relationships of dependence between subsidiary or 
supplier firms on the one hand and parent companies or 
dominant firms on the other. 
1.6. Similarly, new technologies - more so than 
conventional production and office techniques - make 
possible new, and above all more flexible, forms of work 
organization with increasing skill requirements and 
enhanced working conditions. However, this positive 
effect depends on the way in which new technologies are 
introduced into production and management. 
1.7. The productivity effects and flexibility of new 
technologies should make possible new ways of 
organizing working hours, but the effect on working 
hours may vary: 
— new technologies in production and management can 
lead to a considerable extension of shift working, 
because of the economic advantage of making full use 
of the capacity of capital-intensive plant and of 
computers, 
— the flexible organization of work and production 
made possible by new technologies also allows 
working hours to be made more flexible (it has yet to 
be determined, on the basis of objective criteria and 
the subjective expectations of the workers concerned, 
whether this development can be equated with an 
improvement in working conditions), 
— as a rule, the productivity and flexibility of new 
technologies " make it possible to reduce and 
reorganize working hours; the possible ways of 
shortening or restructuring working hours should be 
negotiated between the two sides of industry. 
1.8. The industrial application of new technologies 
can alter the scope for applying workers' and their 
representatives' rights to information, consultation and 
participation. In particular, the centralization or 
decentralization of corporate planning and decisions, the 
introduction of computer systems used by more than one 
firm, and the growing monitoring capacity of new 
No C 307/6 Official Journal of the European Communities 19. 11. 84 
technologies can be instrumental in threatening the 
traditional power balance between the two sides of 
industry. With regard to information, consultation and 
participation, the degree and type of coordination 
between the two sides of industry should therefore be 
commensurate with the scale of the technological changes 
and the size of the firms. 
2. Possible ways of meeting the challenge of technical 
change 
2.1. The Committee welcomes the proposed measures 
to improve the training and further training of technicians 
and qualified specialists, which the Commission sees 
as complementing earlier training measures and 
initiatives. 
The Committee has often expressed an opinion on the 
challenges to policy on training and vocational training 
resulting from technological change, and reaffirms those 
views, especially its calls for: 
— a greater effort to introduce schemes for linking work 
and training ('alternance') in which disadvantaged 
groups of persons - especially women, handicapped 
persons and the elderly - should be more closely 
involved (*), 
— provision of broadly-based multi-skill training; 
establishment of specific basic and further training 
programmes to enable workers and executives to keep 
pace with technical progress; statutory of contractual 
guarantees in respect of further training and 
retraining assistance for persons affected by technical 
changes connected with the industrial application of 
information technology (2), 
— short-term adjustment aid for training and retraining 
both at plant and inter-plant level in connection 
with the industrial application of information 
technology (3), 
— continuing further training for the unemployed, 
especially those who have been unemployed for a long 
time, and providing information on technical changes 
which occur while they are unemployed, with a view 
to increasing their mobility (4), 
— promoting the training of young scientists (5). 
To supplement these measures the Committee 
recommends: 
— research on education and training policy with a view 
to identifying the key specialized and social skills 
H OJNoC205, 11. 8. 1980. 
(2) OJNoC77, 21. 3. 1983. 
(3) OJNoC77, 21. 3. 1983. 
(4) OJ No C 286, 24. 10. 1983. 
(5) OJ No C 341, 19. 12. 1983. needed to cope with technological change, since it is 
only on the basis of such skills that the proposed pilot 
projects and measures will have an effect on 
training, 
— specific pilot projects to raise in advance the 
qualification level of disadvantaged groups of 
employees, so as to give them a chance of further 
gainful employment even in a labour market altered 
by new technologies, 
— an assessment of the possible - against the 
background of the total costs resulting from technical 
changes - joint participation by firms in the 
financing of measures to improve the qualifications of 
employees made redundant as a result of such 
changes, 
— promotion of 'workforce pools' (composed of 
unemployed persons with various levels of skill) in 
which skills for new activities - particularly those 
which are socially useful (environmental protection 
techniques, producing energy from alternative 
sources, rational use of energy, etc.) - are developed, 
tested and taught, 
— promotion of specialized and university-level further 
training in the humane planning and application of 
new technologies, and in the development and 
dissemination of innovatory skills. 
2.2. The Committee supports the Commission 
proposals on the organization of working hours and of 
working and living conditions. The Committee has 
already touched on essential aspects of these proposals in 
earlier opinions: 
— 'the Committee is convinced that reduction and 
reorganization of working time, combined with a 
campaign to inform and involve workers and unions, 
could facilitate both the introduction of new 
technologies and the training and retraining which 
they would entail'; moreover, measures in this 
direction would make the reduction and 
reorganization of working hours more compatible 
with the maintenance of competitiveness, and thus 
enable such reduction and reorganization to play a 
larger role in employment policy (6), 
— many opinions emphasized the need to keep pace with 
the development and promotion of new technologies 
through timely measures designed to assess their 
employment, social and environmental 
consequences, 
— it was proposed that a preventive industrial health and 
safety policy be developed to help to humanize 
(<) OJ No C 23, 30. 1. 1984. 
19. 11. 84 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 307/7 
working conditions and the work environment (*) 
and that parallel investigations be carried out into the 
psychosocial and psychosomatic effects of the new 
information technologies on those employed in this 
field (2). 
To supplement these measures the Committee suggests 
that: 
— when concerted action is taken to improve working 
conditions, more account should be taken of the need 
to reduce mental stress at work, primarily through 
jobs with a wide-ranging content, humane planning 
of work and techniques, and giving workers more 
freedom of decision, 
— in the context of measures to improve the quality of 
life and work, more account should be taken of the 
risks to the privacy of workers as citizens entailed by 
the growing supervisory potential of new 
technologies. Recommendations should be drawn up 
on how to tackle such problems in the context of 
data-protection and individual privacy provisions. 
The Committee also recommends that, as a basis for 
further discussion, documents should be drawn up on the 
state of progress on the shortening and reorganization of 
working hours in the Member States, and research should 
be initiated on the employment and social consequences 
— including the views of those affected - of new types of 
work and new ways of organizing working hours. 
Since traditionally disadvantaged groups of employees 
are often affected by technical changes, the Committee 
suggests that the Member States be recommended to 
consider the possibility of suitable measures to protect 
such groups against the effects of rationalization 
measures. 
2.3. The Committee endorses the Commission's view 
that, in the interests of the economically efficient and 
socially acceptable introduction of new technologies, 
workers and their representatives should have a say in 
decisions concerning such technologies which affect 
them. 
The Committee welcomes the Commission's intention: 
— to intensify research and dissemination of 
information on experience and methods of 
consultation of workers when new technology is 
introduced in firms, 
— to promote measures to improve specialized 
knowledge of technical innovations on the part of 
both sides of industry, as agreed by the Standing 
Committee on Employment at its meeting on 10 May 
1984, — to support the two sides of industry in efforts to 
develop measures for the social protection of workers 
concerned, and for ensuring that technological 
change takes place in a socially tolerable way; 
conditions and agreements prevailing in the Member 
States should be taken into account. 
In this context the Committee draws attention to the 
points made in its opinion of December 1980 on 
'European society faced with the challenge of new 
information technologies: A Community response' (3). 
In the Committee's view, it must be borne in mind that 
technical innovations in particular require early and full 
consultation of workers and their representatives. 
Employers would be failing in their duty towards workers 
if they did not take the necessary steps to ensure workers' 
involvement in the introduction of new technologies and 
the planning of humane wqrking conditions. Effective 
protection of workers against possible negative 
consequences of the introduction of new technologies is 
possible only if influence is exercised in advance on the 
planning and construction of technological systems, and 
if contractual measures to cope with the social and 
employment effects are introduced early enough. 
Account must also be taken of problems arising from new 
forms of work (e.g. computer work at home) made 
possible by new technology. 
3. Technical change and changing living conditions 
3.1. The communications from the Commission to 
the Council concentrate on proposals to cope with the 
social effects of technical change in the world of work. 
However necessary the proposed measures and activities, 
it should not be forgotten that the introduction of new 
technologies decisively alters other important aspects of 
life. 
3.2. The Committee therefore recommends: 
— that research also be carried out on the effects of the 
introduction of new technologies in agriculture, so as 
to make it possible, on the basis of a wide-ranging 
assessment of the technical consequences, to take 
measures to cope with structural changes in this 
sector, and in particular: 
(a) that account be taken of the social effects of the 
introduction of biotechnology on small farmers 
in the Member States, especially those in remote 
areas, 
(b) that the effects of biotechnology on certain 
aspects of agriculture (stockbreeding, cultivation 
(») OJNoC205, 11. 8. 1980. 
(2) OJ No C 77, 21. 3. 1983. (3) OJNoC 353, 31. 12. 1980. 
No C 307/8 Official Journal of the European Communities 19. 11. 84 
of new types of cereal, and forestry), the effect of 
certain biotechnological factors on the food 
industry and their importance for the consumer 
be also included; 
that research also be carried out on the effects of new 
technologies, and particularly new media, on social 
communication structures and processes, so as to 
make possible a timely assessment of the risks and 
opportunities for social and cultural life; 
finally, that consideration be given to the problems 
and opportunities entailed in the more frequent 
introduction of new techniques: 
— as regards consumer interests, 
— above all, as regards alleviating the difficulties 
encountered by many groups of handicapped 
persons. 
HI. CONCLUSION 
1. The Committee once more stresses that measures to 
cope with the social effects of technological change must be viewed in the light of the abovementioned ideas on 
social policy in the Community. 
2. The Committee shares the views of the Standing 
Committee on Employment in pointing out the need for 
appropriate use of Community financial instruments to 
help create a Community innovation strategy capable of 
coping with the social consequences of technological 
change. 
3. In addition to the measures being taken to alleviate 
current and imminent changes caused by evolving science 
and new technology, the Committee would urge the 
Council to appoint a top level group, mandated to assess 
and advise on the long-term effects of technological 
change on the social structure of the Community. The 
Economic and Social Committee, as the representative of 
economic and social interest groups in the Community, 
can make an important - indeed essential -
contribution to the formulation of future measures and 
policies in this field - via the forthcoming conference on 
'Europe and the new technologies', and by further work 
on these issues. 
Done at Brussels, 26 September 1984. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Francis CEYRAC 
Opinion on the proposal for a Third Council Directive on summertime arrangements 
(84/C 307/04) 
The text referred to the Committee has been published in Official Journal of the European 
Communities No C 179 of 7 July 1984, page 11. 
A. LEGAL BASIS FOR THE OPINION 
On 6 July 1984 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under 
Article 100 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, on the 
abovementioned proposal (J). 
Procedure 
The Section for Transport and Communications, which was responsible for preparing the 
Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion under the urgency procedure laid down 
in the Committee's Rules of Procedure (Article 47). The rapporteur was Mr Binnenbruck. 
(l) OJNoC 179, 7. 7. 1984, p. 11.