ILO's presentation at the Unicoop Florence Annual Convention focuses on the role of social and solidarity economy in the future of work

News | 12 February 2018
The Unicoop Florence Annual Convention this year focused on the future of work where ILO’s Enterprises Director Vic van Vuuren was invited as a keynote speaker. Unicoop Florence, a consumer coop that has its roots in the 19th century, organizes an annual conference for its members, customers, and main stakeholders that reflect on issues of great social importance. The theme of this year’s conference, that took place on 9 and 10 February 2018, was on "The Technology of the Future: Threat or Hope?" reflecting on transformations introduced by technology. Co-organized with Dynamo Academy, the conference highlighted the many facets of the contemporary scenarios on the future of work as posed by new technologies.

In his key note speech Mr. van Vuuren noted that the “care economy” is not the only area where social cooperatives and other social and solidarity economy organizations have a great development potential. He added “The creative and cultural industries also present a growing sector in terms of occupation with similar characteristics, is also fertile ground for the adoption of social and solidarity economy models that can empower workers and provide more security.” He also suggested that “in the transition to the platform economy gig economy workers have also been using cooperatives and online platforms to reclaim their rights”.