The first Labor Congress of Catalonia started today with the inaugural conference by the North American economist and activist, Jeremy Rifkin, who encouraged Catalonia to lead a bioregion in the Mediterranean to implement changes in the biosphere that reverse climate change . In the opinion of the sociologist who advises the European Union, Spain must take advantage of the current presidency of the EU to lead changes in the model. It can be achieved in 20 years. “One of the most dangerous ecosystems for the future is the Mediterranean”, a warning to justify the need to act in that territory.
He said it before more than a thousand participants in the congress organized by the Generalitat and which has to define what work will be like in the coming decades. The president of the Government, Pere Aragonès, welcomed the participants, highlighting the pacts and agreements reached by the Catalan Executive with the unions and employers' associations, as well as in the elaboration of the budgets and the national pact for the industry.
I take advantage of your brief introduction to highlight that the unemployment and employment figures for the month of March are the best in the historical series,
In the inaugural conference, Rifkin tried to break some myths about the effects of new technologies in the world of work. In his opinion, thinking that robots can take away jobs is a childish thought: "robots will not be the ones to install the solar panels." At the subsequent round table, co-consultant Albert Cañigueral insisted that the person who will get the job will not be the artificial intelligence but the one who best knows how to "talk" with artificial intelligence.
Regarding the way to carry out the necessary changes to fight climate change globally, Rifkin doubted that organizations such as the IMF (International Monetary Fund) or the World Bank are the ones with the recipes to solve it because they are partly responsible . He also bet that large companies may not survive the changes and he bet that the future would be for SMEs and cooperatives. A sector where Catalonia has great potential, he assured him. “GDP has been slowing down for 20 years and productivity has been lower for 20 years and we have a structural unemployment due to generation Z”.
Regarding the new trades for the future, apart from those related to renewable energies, Rifkin opted for all those jobs related to infrastructures, mobility, logistics or water management. And all from the perspective of SMEs or cooperatives.
In the second round table, in addition to Cañigeral, Enriqueta Camps-Cura (UPF), Genís Roca (PuntCat Foundation) and Pilar Carrasquer Oto (UAB) participated, moderated by Andreu Mas-Colell (UPF).
