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Essay:Workplace democracy
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This essay is an original work by Diacelium. It does not necessarily reflect the views expressed in RationalWiki's Mission Statement, but we welcome discussion of a broad range of ideas. Unless otherwise stated, this is original content, released under CC-BY-SA 3.0 or any later version. See RationalWiki:Copyrights. Feel free to make comments on the talk page, which will probably be far more interesting, and might reflect a broader range of RationalWiki editors' thoughts. |
Please forgive my horrible english and remember this essay isn't finished
But why ?[edit]
The worker has no freedom in a company[edit]
Workers have not much freedom. First, in work itself, they cannot voice opinions in their company (company that works because of the workers) on how it is run. There are relations of power between the workers and their superiors, the superiors have symbolic power.
Economic democracy[edit]
The people don't really have an influence on the economic situation. The economy is controlled by corporate managers and shareholders. More democracy to the workers would give people more influence on the economy, since there are more employees than shareholders and business executives.
Conclusion[edit]
- While it is not workplace democracy, negotiation should be easier for the worker;
- The best way to "free" the worker is by workplace democracy;
- Since workers make the company work, they should have a say about what's done in how it is run;
- For the people to have power in the economy, workplace democracy is needed.
Make the worker's negotiation power stronger[edit]
In negotiation of the employment contract (wage, work hours...), if there even is negotiation, the worker and the employer are not equals. The employer has pretty much nothing to lose while the future worker will be unemployed if he doesn't accept what the employer offers him, and unemployment scares the worker as unemployment often comes with homelessness, lack of food... It is possible to make negotiations easier for the worker through universal basic income: if the worker doesn’t have to fear unemployment as much, it will then be easier for him to negotiate a better wage, working conditions…
Workplace democracy[edit]
Referendums[edit]
Business referendums are often (or at least in France) opposed by labor unions, as they fear that the manager of the company could pressure the workers to vote for what they want. However, a universal basic income would make it harder to pressure on the workers. Then, we could imagine a system were a request of a certains proportion of workers on a strategic decision of the enterprise of the business is submitted to a referendum of the business.
Cogestion of enterprises[edit]
Another idea to developp a workplace democracy is to have a part of the Board of Directors to be elected or randomly picked by employees. To have a workplace democracy, half of the Board of Directors should be composed of workers: it's cogestion of entreprises.