On March 25, the final conference of the international project “Towards attractive workplaces and a Just Transition in the European electricity sector (AWJEES)” was held in Brussels, bringing together social partners, experts and policymakers from the European electricity sector.
The conference was also attended by a Lithuanian representative – Tomas Maleckis, a member of the UAB “Elektrėnų komunalinis ūkis” workers’ trade union, representative of the Lithuanian Industry Trade Union Federation in the Standing Committee on Utilities of the European Public Services Union (EPSU).
According to him, this event has become an important platform for exchanging good practices and strengthening cooperation between European countries in order to ensure that the energy transition is not only economically beneficial and sustainable, but also socially fair.
The event discussed the most important challenges facing the electricity sector in achieving a green transformation, as well as discussing workers’ rights, qualification needs and gender equality.
As the results of the research conducted during the project show, the electricity sector is one of the most important in achieving Europe’s climate neutrality goals, but at the same time it faces significant challenges – a shortage of qualified workers, accelerating technological changes and the need to ensure a socially just transition for workers.
The discussions emphasized that a successful energy transformation is impossible without a strong social dialogue. Trade unions and employer organizations must actively participate in planning changes in order to protect workers from the negative consequences of the transformation – job losses, skill mismatches or unsafe working conditions.
It was also emphasized that it is necessary to invest in retraining employees and developing new skills, as the requirements in the sector are changing rapidly – especially in the areas of technological and digital competences.
The data presented at the conference show that the electricity sector is still dominated by men – women make up only about a quarter of the workforce. This indicates the need to more actively promote gender equality, improve working conditions and increase the attractiveness of the sector for women.
It was emphasized that in order to achieve a successful and socially just energy transformation, it is necessary to:
- strengthen social dialogue at all levels,
- ensure quality jobs,
- invest in lifelong learning,
- more actively involve youth and increase the attractiveness of the sector.
