«In the ongoing transformation process will be work still a mean of emancipation and freedom? We are concerned about increasing inequalities, even with improved welfare schemes. In current predominantly financial economy cooperatives still combine capital and work: we must think about governance as a way to preserve democracy in such context», said Giuseppe Guerini.

Guerini also shared his views on the sharing economy: “it is a trendy concept but does «sharing» mean democratically owned and controlled? Not necessarily. Cooperatives can dignify work”. Marianne Thyssen, EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility read her speech, Guy Ryder, Director-General of the ILO and Esther Lynch, Confederal Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation were among the participants of the conference.
The event served to identify the key challenges and opportunities related to the Future of Work in the EU context and aimed at providing input for future initiatives by the EESC as well as contributing to the ILO global initiative on the Future of Work.