Foreword Across the world, management in both the public and pri­vate sectors is deploying digital technologies with the aim of improving productivity and efficiency. Such technologies have a direct impact on working conditions and workers’ rights. Jobs are being(semi-)automated, new competencies are required and work and workers are becoming quantified as their actions and non-actions are turned into data points and analysed through algorithmic systems. The negative impact of these systems on workers is well documented. Yet anecdotal evidence from multiple countries suggests that shop stewards and Occupational Health and Safety representatives to a large degree are not discussing the use of digital technologies with management. The representa­tives mention that they feel they lack knowledge about the particularities of digital technologies and why they should pay careful attention to them. Many report that manage­ment never raises the issues of digitalisation with them, nor do they feel they have a sound overview of how to apply existing laws and agreements to spur these discussions. Although some unions are successfully negotiating contract language about the digitalisation of work as evidenced by PSI’s Digital Bargaining Hub, the vast majority are still not. To support unions in their negotiations with management, this series of reports brings to light what rights workers have when digital systems are deployed at work and what obligations management have in relation to the workers. The reports provide ready-to-use checklists of questions, and collective bargaining suggestions to bridge legal gaps. The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung realises that technology de­ployment without workers involvement not only subjects workers to control but also changes the balance of power at the workplace in favour of employers. Workers may feel in­creasingly alienated and objectified. We have understood that an unprotected and disempowered workforce is not only less productive but tends to lose trust in the promises and institutions that are supposed to guarantee decent work and a decent live. Therefore, contributing to workers’ capacity to claim their rights and negotiate working condi­tions in a digitalised workplace is a service to democracy and justice. This is what this project aims to achieve – by making transparent what institutional power, i.e. rights, laws and labour market agreements workers have at their disposal. We hope that the case studies presented will lead to a more thorough and strategic response by workers and organised labour in the countries studied and to more coun­tries embarking on the path towards negotiated introduc­tion and use of digital technologies. We owe Christina J. Colclough, Director of The Why Not Lab, Denmark, our gratitude for providing the initial spark for this project and for being an enthusiastic and competent mentor to the case study authors. Her relentless dedication to challenge, motivate and capacity build the labour move­ment to build power in the digital economy is unparalleled and has been the inspiration behind many collaborative un­dertakings of the FES Global and national Trade Union Pro­jects. We thank the authors of the country studies for their pro­fessionalism and enthusiasm to explore uncharted territory, for the discoveries of potential leverage points and for their “thinking forward” to take the next steps in building work­ers’ power. Finally, Blanka Balfer, FES, deserves praise for being the ­silent backbone of this project(and so many others) that al­low FES to use its global network for the benefit of the global labour movement. May this series of reports serve as a stepping stone for deeper engagement, collective bargaining and policy-mak­ing and policy-enforcing success in the digital economy of today and tomorrow! Mirko Herberg Director, Global Trade Union Project Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Foreword 3