The SEAD project supports employers and trade unions in Czechia, Hungary, and Slovakia to strengthen social dialogue and shape policies addressing the socio-ecological and digital transformation of the automotive industry.

As the sector faces challenges from automation, digitalization, and decarbonisation, SEAD promotes collaboration between researchers, policy experts, and social partners at both national and EU levels.

Project summary:

The SEAD project aims to develop practical strategies for employers and trade unions for strengthening social dialogue and influencing policies for the future of work emerging from the ongoing socio-ecological and digital transformations in the automotive industry in three Central and Eastern European countries (CEE).

The automotive industry plays a significant role in the CEE countries' economies, yet faces important dilemmas emerging from just transition processes including digitalization, automatization and decarbonisation.

The SEAD project resembles an innovative partnership between research and policy organisations and with social dialogue actors directly engaged in the socio-ecological transition processes both at the national and the EU level.

The project combines analytical, training and networking activities, in order to seek tailored strategies to tackle the socio-ecological transformation processes via social partners´ intensive involvement in policy dialogue and in social dialogue at the national/sectoral level and at the EU level.

Involving representatives of employers and workers from Czechia, Hungary and Slovakia, the project aims at developing profound strategic capacities and action plans for social partners in the automotive sector in these countries in close cooperation with EU-level social partners IndustriAll and CEEMET.

Trainings and mutual learning events on strategic planning and capacity building for social partners are anchored in this project’s theory of change.

The strategy development activities are supported by an original empirical analysis of needs and expectations of players in the automotive industry, analysis of collective agreements in the sector to address the challenges of technological change, and organisation of foresight workshops with a broader range of relevant stakeholders and policy experts.

These activities help social partners in strengthening social and policy dialogue and the identification of shared future needs in the broader context of the socio-ecological transformation at national and the EU levels.

Project Objectives:

Analyse Policy Gaps: Map EU and national-level policies in Slovakia, Czechia, and Hungary on technological change and decarbonization, identifying where social partners' voices are missing. Examine how labour market issues are addressed in dialogue and collective bargaining (WP1 & WP2).

Build Capacity: Strengthen social partners’ strategic planning through the Theory of Change framework, foresight workshops, tailored trainings, and self-learning support (WP3, WP4 & WP5).

Foster Networks: Connect national social partners with each other and with EU-level counterparts in the metal industry (IndustriAll and CEEMET) to enhance regional and EU engagement (WP5, WP6 & WP7).

Facilitate Knowledge Sharing: Ensure effective knowledge transfer and communication tools for use within social partner organisations (WP6).