Digitalisation and artificial intelligence have long been transforming the skilled trades – in workshops, offices, on building sites and in customer communications. How this development can be shaped from the employees’ perspective was the focus of the conference of the employee vice-presidents of the Chambers of Skilled Trades from Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, held on 5 and 6 June 2026 in Braunschweig.
Under the title ‘The Craft Trade in Transition – Thinking, Speaking and Shaping the Future’, the focus was not on technology for technology’s sake, but on specific issues arising from day-to-day working life: Where do digital tools make work easier? Where does it create additional pressure? And what role do employee representatives play when new systems are introduced? The collaboration between the Chamber of Skilled Crafts’ Commissioner for Innovation and Technology, Udo Kaethner, the participating employee vice-presidents and the experts from DAISEC provided a comprehensive overview of digitalisation involving AI.
The participants took a practical approach to defining what digitalisation means, identifying where AI is already operating behind the scenes, and exploring the opportunities it presents in areas such as work planning, documentation, translation and simple text-based tasks. At the same time, it became clear that AI can provide support, but cannot take on responsibility or replace professional experience.
A particular highlight was the World Café on the second day. In small groups, participants discussed where digitalisation and AI are already having a noticeable impact, where they are easing the workload, and where there is a risk of people being overwhelmed. The discussion also covered opportunities for employees as well as concerns regarding future developments. The results were recorded visually and presented to the plenary – deliberately without being judged as ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, but rather as a basis for further discussion.
The conference was rounded off with a look at data protection and employee participation. The focus was on practical issues: What data may be collected? What do employees need to know? And how can employee representatives demand transparency and ensure they are involved at an early stage?
The conference made it clear that digital transformation in the skilled trades can only succeed if employees are not merely affected by it, but are actively involved in thinking it through, having their say and helping to shape it.
