António Moniz

The European Metal sector is at a critical juncture, navigating through the complex landscape of the twin transition towards digitalization and sustainability. This transformative journey, though essential, is fraught with challenges that if not addressed, could undermine the sector's resilience, competitiveness and social equity. The Metallica project emerges as a pivotal initiative in this context, aiming to mitigate these challenges by fostering enhanced worker engagement, participation and conflict resolution.

The European Metal sector is at a critical juncture, navigating through the complex landscape of the twin transition towards digitalization and sustainability. This transformative journey, though essential, is fraught with challenges that if not addressed, could undermine the sector's resilience, competitiveness and social equity. The Metallica project emerges as a pivotal initiative in this context, aiming to mitigate these challenges by fostering enhanced worker engagement, participation and conflict resolution.

Os partidos políticos deveriam ter a capacidade e a vontade de intervir neste tipo de decisão, trazendo para o debate parlamentar os temas relacionados com tecnologias emergentes. Para isso, há que ter uma posição própria sobre os riscos e as vantagens que essas tecnologias podem trazer

Este relatório pretende descrever e analisar o trabalho de campo realizado no âmbito do projeto CERP. O projeto pretende compreender o estado da arte em Portugal da negociação coletiva portuguesa com referências à transição sustentável e justa no setor dos transportes e no setor público.

Este relatório pretende fazer uma revisão da literatura sobre a negociação coletiva portuguesa com referências à transição sustentável e justa no setor dos transportes e no setor público.
Portugal tem sido dos países que iniciou já o seu caminho de transição e encerrou as centrais a carvão. Mas em países do Leste europeu, por exemplo, existe muita indústria associada à produção de electricidade a partir do carvão, e onde o encerramento levanta sérias questões sociais. Nestes casos, em particular, é necessário um processo gradual que inclua medidas de apoio à formação e reconversão dos trabalhadores envolvidos.

As mentioned in the introduction to this volume, artificial intelligence (AI) functionalities are swiftly becoming integral to knowledge work and digital services. They are, however, also applied in all areas of human work. That is making the public services in Portugal more accessible and efficient. Since mid-90s, with the national strategy towards the Information Society (Missão para a Sociedade da Informação), a wide program for the promotion and development of public digital services have started. In the last decades, and with the definition of this national strategy, successive governments and the national parliament have contributed to stimulate democratic participation, and support decision-making and policy development.

This chapter deals with the role of technology in industrial production. Hereby, the enabling character of technology will be strengthened from the perspective of Technology Assessment (TA) in various countries and epochs. Besides the remarkable evolution of technological progress in this sector, the interrelationship of technology with human labor, the creation of specific institutional settings as well as the innovation circles by capital investments must be considered when assessing industrial production. The argumentation line of the article is based on the hypothesis, that the increase of TA studies in the last three decades on industrial production indicates the societal problem orientation of these technological innovations and its impact on employment and job qualification. TA expertise raised awareness of the positive and negative impact of technologies in industry which brings together a variety of options for the decision makers. Furthermore, discourses on ethical values on the future of (industrial) work are highlighted by TA.

The introduction of exoskeletons by many companies has often resulted in potential users not wanting to wear them. Evaluations of the exoskeleton reveal benefits of use, including ergonomic advantages and a reduction of work-related musculoskeletal disorders. How can this contradiction be explained? By searching the available literature, we can identify the methods used to develop these devices and the methods employed to evaluate their acceptance and benefit. By looking at the product from different viewpoints and involving different disciplines, we will get to the root of this discrepancy. Our findings indicate that the product definition, development focus, and evaluation methods do not sufficiently and adequately address the primary goal of exoskeletons. The development of such devices should be prioritized not only for the delivery of support but also for the motivation of the user. Finally, we put forward the proposal to discuss the establishment of a novel development method for the prospective elaboration of exoskeletons.

Political and economic crises and issues such as global warming, decreased fossil fuel reserves, environmental pollutions and acid rains are just some of the problems caused by improper energy consumption. Energy efficiency optimization with the right policy and definition of accurate scientific methods proven in energy consumption includes planning, enforcement, organizing permanent control, and continuously reviewing technology upgrades. Additionally, developing legal solutions to implement these programs prevents the destruction and waste of energy resources and reduces the side effects of improper energy consumption. The shape of the city and its components can affect the city’s quality and its spaces, as well as the air quality change, creating a particular climate in their area, causing phenomena such as heat islands, dust, rain, albedo, atmospheric inversion, and some others. By making changes in the shape of the city, both on a large scale and a micro-scale, atmospheric currents and, consequently, air quality in cities can be improved. Urban morphological indicators, including building height, building type, occupancy level, segmentation, block size, block shape, density, and urban green, can affect the weather and climate conditions outside and inside the building and, thus, the energy demand in the areas. By creating effective reforms in the model of configuration of the urban regions, including the pattern of land fragmentation, the physical characteristics of buildings, the network of passages and open spaces, it is possible to increase the energy efficiency of buildings in the long term in the regional(synoptic) climatic conditions of the city and the neighbourhood.

In Portugal, digital transition was structured with national public policies since 2003. In 2017, initiatives for the adoption of Industry 4.0 concepts are implemented in Portugal. We analysed the diffusion and implementation of these technologies, in Portugal. Some questions were raised: has the interplay between public policies, state agencies and industrial relations players in the process been articulated, as in Germany? What have been the effects of these technologies on workers and organisations? Are the public initiatives in place enough or more is needed? Qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to collect evidence on the main features and constraints of a public policy for Industry 4.0, based on the case study of the automotive sector in Portugal. Findings suggest the need to balance regulatory policies on data related risks, and investment policies towards education, training and organisational innovation are needed to complement technology development and adoption support.

The adoption of I4.0’s technologies in the work cells accompanied by societal changes calls for new approaches to manage the current production systems. Nevertheless, the current models simulating the behavior of the work cells limit the representation of the operators to the average human, without regard for their individual characteristics, cognitive abilities or psychosocial state. The aim of this paper is to achieve two objectives: firstly, the authors propose a conceptual model for enhancing a human-centered production environment. Secondly, the paper summarizes how the literature characterizes the different dimensions of relations between cognitive and organizational factors. By integrating the collaborative, psychological, social, cognitive, organizational and system performance dimensions, the proposed model focuses on the relationships between these dimensions. Thus, operational models should be closer to the real production environment to improve the design choices of the manufacturing systems.

Em Portugal, existe uma ausência de formalização da ciência para assuntos políticos em que a procura de aconselhamento é, em grande medida, informal.

"This book reflects the diversity of platform workers and their strategies to improve their work and organize collectively. It offers an insight on the cultural and institutional frameworks of the gig economy and the varieties of platform work in different sectors, locals, skills and complexity level. At the same time, it provides a range of policy options to ensure labour rights and social protections for these workers. Although a common European policy is still missing, critical debates have been raised to foster socially acceptable platform work. It presents new pathways for exploiting the potential positive effects of platform economy and platform-based work." (from the Introduction)

“It is therefore not surprising that new initiatives are arising both among traditional trade unions and in new types of organisation and, in the process, innovative new demands are being raised and placed on the negotiating agenda. These are documented in this timely publication, which adds indispensably to our knowledge about labour responses to platformisation in Europe.” (from the Preface by Ursula Huws)