Implications of automation for workers in Vietnam

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is opening a new era of high-level automation, forecasted to have a great impact on employment and the skills of workers, especially in labour-intensive industries. Supporting the sustainable socio-economic development process in Vietnam since 1990, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) spoke with labour expert Dr Phạm Thị Thu Lan about the results of her research into automation in the garment and footwear industries in Vietnam and her assessment of the risks that workers will face in the next five to ten years.

Increased automation in the garment industry is already a widely discussed topic. Why is it still important to look at it in more depth?

Dr Pham Thi Thu Lan: Each industrial revolution has been a step further in the automation process. From the first to the third industrial revolution, automation enabled manual labour to be replaced by machines. Nevertheless, machines only competed with humans in terms of physical capability, while at the same time generating the need for brainwork – which requires cognitive capability. Human’s awareness and thinking are what machines could not replace. For instance, weaving started with manual labour, before being carried out by machines manoeuvred with legs, then subsequently by water jet looms, power looms, and now by computer-/software-controlled looms – but throughout all these stages of automation humans have still been needed to manoeuvre the machines, to design the products or the decorative patterns, and to check for product errors. The assumption was that only human beings can learn from and communicate with each other, understand each other’s feelings in order to design products that could satiate each other’s needs.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution has been a revolutionary breakthrough in relation to automation, because now automation doesn’t only take away manual labour, but also most of humans’ cognitive work. Sensor technology, machine learning, artificial intelligence; they have all allowed machines to be able to create products that could satisfy the needs of each individual. A great deal of brainwork can now be carried out by machines, so if technology is given free rein to develop, jobs for humans will not disappear entirely, but certain categories of jobs will be largely automated and may disappear altogether one day.

We need to consider this matter in depth, since technology can greatly impact upon human beings, both positively and negatively. In the garment and footwear industries, while the advantage of manual labour still exceeds the costs associated with technology, technology might well be utilised to manage workers so as to increase productivity and management efficiency. CCTVs might be installed everywhere to monitor aptitude, attitude, and behaviours of workers. In some countries, there are even businesses that equip gloves and labour clothing items with a chip to monitor manoeuvring and progress of the work in order to improve technology, but also to monitor the individual aptitude of each worker. The right to personal freedom is sacrificed over the use of technology. Personal data on work capability, attitude and behaviours of workers are all stored, leading to the controlling of workers through personal data, which could be used to threaten workers if they want to leave or confront the business. This creates a new kind of work pressure and stress for workers. Personal data can even be commodified and sold by businesses for profits.

The line between using technology to manage workers and using technology to control workers is thin. It requires that all parties involved set up tightly-structured and transparent rules, as well as involve workers and trade unions in the process of using technology and worker-related data at work.