TV: "A World without work"

Documentary on France 5-20 h .50by Brittany in Pittsburgh passing through Brussels, San Francisco, Tarn or Switzerland, this informative documentary Across Planet, co-written by Noel Mamère and Philippe Borrel, has something to worry about millions of Workers.

We knew less qualified already severely affected by mass unemployment because of robotization and "smart" machines, more reliable and less costly than humans. By having stevedores testify, authors put words on ills of today's work.

The example of logistics sector, which employs 700 000 people in France, is enlightening. The robots have invaded warehouses. How to make se machines and men coexist? It is good to remember that one in five French employees is a worker. What future can we imagine for se millions of workers? ­

With accelerated automation of companies, worst is perhaps to be feared. The problem is similar on or side of Atlantic where millions of American workers, little or moderately qualified, lose ir jobs. Those who undergo new technological world without being able to enter appear to be condemned.

"Adjustment Variable"

The danger of losing his job begins to touch white-collar, middle-class heart. Even in tertiary sector, human employment is threatened as is shown by increasing interest of banks and insurance companies for machines of "Virtual Account Manager" type. According to several international institutes, 40% to 50% of jobs will have disappeared in next 20 years!

"The human has become an adjustment variable among ors." A factor that is always less important, because machines are always more predominant in capital production system. Human beings even end up being perceived as grain of sand that makes system malfunction, says Daniela Catchlove, a science anthropologist at University of Lausanne. A vision too pessimistic?

A few thousand miles away, Fred Turner, professor of communication science at Stanford University in California, is a bit more confident in future: Our biggest challenge is to make it clear that technological innovation Does not necessarily lead to increased inequality and impoverishment of people. It is not a fatality. To do that, we would have to impose rules on companies that do not want m, such as sharing profits ... It is part of work of those who govern us. »

While waiting to find a solution to inevitable unavoidable scarcity of salaried employment, some try to imagine a new society where full employment would be replaced by full activity and where a universal income paid to everyone would become It's obvious.

According to British economist Guy standing: If we had a basic income, you would see that we would turn away from employment to benefit of time devoted to solidarity, to volunteerism, to work in common, to development of all its capacities. With a sense of better control of our time. For example, most precarious workers would not need to work sixty hours a week for a wage of misery. »

In last few months, experiments on payment of a universal income have been underway in Nerlands and Finland. The beginning of a new company?

A world without work, by Philippe Borrel (Fr., 2016, 65 min).