Shaping the
future of democracy at work
by Isabelle
Schömann on 25th November 2020 @IsaSchoemann
Action is needed at European level
to ensure workers enjoy democracy at work, particularly in the context of
digitalisation.
Isabelle Schömann
Democracy, as a fundamental value of
the European Union, provides the foundation for the trade union movement, with
solidarity its raison d’être.
Democracy at work is one of the
cornerstones of the social-market economy. Workers’ voices find expression in
the exercise of collective rights, in private and publicly owned companies. Day
after day, trade unions effectively exercise those rights and defend the
interests of workers.
Exploiting loopholes
Democracy at work cannot however be
taken for granted. It can only be considered consolidated as long as a majority
of actors respect and support democratic principles and the exercise of
democratic rights.
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Democracy also relies on strong
democratic institutions, to adopt and review legislation, so as to guarantee
the effet utile of workers’ rights to information,
consultation and participation. EU and national legislators should guarantee
that European law does not lead to de facto circumvention of
participation rights—as when businesses exploit loopholes in the European
Company directive or create letterbox companies.
Lack of recognition of information,
consultation and participation rights is a telling denial of democracy, not
least in the public sector. On this, the European social partners in central
government have negotiated an agreement, which should find its way into EU law.
New company forms
Likewise, new company
forms—especially in the digital economy—should be regulated, so as to stop
those business models circumventing fiscal and social rules, and in particular
workers’ participation. This is leading to in-work poverty and precariousness,
drastically affecting young people and women.
Digitalisation has a profound impact
not only on how people work, their workloads and their health and safety at
work. It also brings with it new means of management
and control, and new forms of surveillance of workers’ behaviour and
performance. This should be addressed, so that trade unions can defend workers’
rights to data protection and privacy.
All these attempts to minimise,
sideline or evade workers’ rights clearly show that democracy at work is
nowhere near as widespread as it should be. They weaken trade union structures
and reduce the means available to workers and their representatives to defend
and promote the interests of the workforce effectively. It is therefore of
utmost importance to set standards within the EU.
Critical part
Democracy at work is not just nice
to have—it is a must. It is fundamental to the trade union movement. Strong
trade unions defend working people’s interests in Europe and the ability of
workers to express their demands collectively is a critical part of the
functioning of democracy at work.
For many, it is at the workplace
that they experience the support of their trade unions most directly, most
visibly, thanks to works councils and trade union delegations and occupational
health and safety committees. European works councils and representatives on
boards are the few places where unions have influence at company level—all the
more important to counteract businesses’ short-term economic and financial
interests.
Why? Not only is democracy at work
the prerequisite for a wide range of positive outcomes for workers, business
and society. It also delivers, in good times as well as bad,
and is the foundation of social and economic cohesion.
Co-determination
The evidence clearly
shows that those companies where workers’ representation and
participation rights were respected, and effectively exercised, weathered the
financial and economic crisis of 2008-09 more successfully than companies
without co-determination. Democracy at work also promotes better quality jobs
and wellbeing at work, respect for health and safety, higher wages, better working
conditions, more productive workers, higher labour-force participation and more
innovative companies.
Democracy at work is in any event a
fundamental right, fostering more equal societies and more active and confident
citizens through greater worker involvement at the workplace. Workers’
participation is the most powerful democratic antidote to inequality.
And co-determination is not just a promising
idea for the future to help strengthen the presence of workers in corporate
governance. It is an instrument of collective control over the
disruptive and damaging impacts of globalisation, which is already anchored in
law in 18 of the 27 member states of the EU.
Action urgent
It is the political and social
responsibility of the EU and member states firmly to address these issues. This
is all the more important during an unprecedented pandemic, when working people
and their families should be at the core of political action. The European
Trade Union Confederation, together with the European Trade Union Federations, has
repeatedly alerted the EU and national institutions to the need to act
urgently.
The labour ministers’ statement at the last Council of the EU
meeting in October is a first step in the right direction. It is however not
enough—words should be transformed into actions.
Concretely, democracy at work should
entail:
·
revision of
the European Works Council directive, so that workers and their representatives
can be informed and consulted effectively;
·
elaboration
of a new EU framework for information, consultation and participation of
workers, so that businesses do not use EU law to circumvent workers’ voices;
·
anchoring
board-level employee representation rights in EU company law, so that democracy
at work becomes an essential element of sustainable corporate governance and a
prerequisite for companies to do business and exercise freedom of establishment
in the EU, and
·
rendering
access to public funds and public procurement conditional on democracy at work.
Democracy at work needs much more
than a mention of the EU acquis in the European Pillar of
Social Rights—failing to identify any new, progressive course of action. The EU
also needs substantive inclusion of workers’ voices in the implementation of
the pillar.
Autonomy and power
Far from weakening the need for
democracy at work, the pandemic has revealed that workers’ participation is
extremely important in such critical situations, in mobilising forces and
resources for working people and their families to maintain employment. In good
times, meanwhile, workers’ participation substantially strengthens workers’
voices and autonomy over their work, and their power over work processes and
their working environment.
It is a means to shape the company
they work for, whether publicly or privately owned, and the economy as a whole.
Fundamental rights cannot stop at the factory gate nor at the office door. They
cannot be secondary rights either.
More democracy at work is crucial
for social and economic cohesion. We should invest much more in making it
happen, now, and in shaping a responsible and sustainable future for the people
of Europe.
This is part of a series on
the Transformation
of Work supported by the Friedrich Ebert
Stiftung
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