1.1 In Germany, workers are taking the reins of digital transformation An innovative project initiated by the country’s largest union, IG Metall, is showing how labour’s proactive participation in the changing workplace can turn digitalisation and globalisa­tion from threats into opportunities. By Jennifer Hattam 1 Digitalisation and globalisation are creating massive upheavals in the world of work, transforming job tasks, workplace culture and the ways in which companies are organised. These changes often pose a threat to workers, by making their jobs redundant or moving them overseas. But by proactively engaging in such transformations, Ger­many’s IG Metall is showing that innovation processes can be man­aged in a way that benefits workers and employers alike. “Getting workers to participate in all the processes involved in shap­ing the future of work is essential to protecting their rights and ensur­ing decent working and living conditions,” says Jochen Schroth of IG Metall, Germany’s largest single union, with 2.2 million members. Schroth and co-author Kathrin Schaefers detailed this approach in a report, Shaping Industry 4.0 on Workers’ Terms – IG Metall’s »Work+Innovation« Project, published in September 2020 by the German foundation Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung(FES). 1 Jennifer Hattam is a freelance journalist based in Istanbul, Turkey. 12 Trade Union 4.0 shapes Industry 4.0