Social Europe

politics, economy and employment & labour

  • Projects
    • Corporate Taxation in a Globalised Era
    • US Election 2020
    • The Transformation of Work
    • The Coronavirus Crisis and the Welfare State
    • Just Transition
    • Artificial intelligence, work and society
    • What is inequality?
    • Europe 2025
    • The Crisis Of Globalisation
  • Audiovisual
    • Audio Podcast
    • Video Podcasts
    • Social Europe Talk Videos
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Dossiers
    • Occasional Papers
    • Research Essays
    • Brexit Paper Series
  • Shop
  • Membership
  • Ads
  • Newsletter

A better world with more democracy at work

by Stan De Spiegelaere and Sigurt Vitols on 23rd November 2020 @Stan_ds

Share on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on LinkedIn

For democracy to work well requires democracy in the workplace.

democracy at work, democracy in the workplace, co-determination
Stan De Spiegelaere

‘You know what? Our whole education is a lie. We learned how to be critical citizens for years, develop our own opinions, question common sense and speak up for our own ideas. Forget all that, my friend—in companies that is not appreciated.’

This was one of my schoolmates, who started work as a bank clerk. What my friend experienced—in the manner of a cold shower—was the difficult fit between democracy in politics and the lack of democracy in the companies and organizations in which we work.

democracy at work, democracy in the workplace, co-determination
Sigurt Vitols

We all know that democracy, however flawed, remains the best of all political systems. In principle the same should hold for the economy: infusing the workplace with more democracy should result in more equitable, innovative, job-rich societies—and, indeed, more political stability.

Positive correlations

We can assess democracy at work by country using the European Participation Index. Comparing this with employment, equality, investment in research and development, labour share, lack of in-work poverty and level of political democracy, at the European Trade Union Institute we observed consistent positive correlations (see the interactive dataset). In other words, where employees have a say in how companies are run, where unions are strong and collective-bargaining coverage is broad, and where employees have a representative who can defend their vision and interest, societies perform better.

That makes perfect sense. Just as political democracy ensures there is oversight of the government, democracy at work holds employers accountable for their actions. Whereas political democracy gives a voice to all citizens so that their interests can be taken into account, democracy at work injects the workers’ perspective into managerial decision-making.

Cutting-edge thinking straight to your inbox

"Social Europe publishes thought-provoking articles on the big political and economic issues of our time analysed from a European viewpoint. Indispensable reading!"

Polly Toynbee

Columnist for The Guardian

Thank you very much for your interest! Now please check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

Powered by ConvertKit

Additionally, employees in companies have little to gain from short-term profits and much more from the long-term viability of their firm. Giving them a voice is thus likely to shift the balance of incentives from immediate executive remuneration towards investment and innovation.

Last but not least, infusing workplaces with democracy will reduce the tension between aspiring to be a critical political citizen yet being required to act as an obedient employee. Workers who can vote for workplace representatives, can have an influence on how the company is managed and experience the difficult but rewarding process of democracy in their firm are more likely to be citizens with greater confidence in political democracy who wish to participate more and voice their opinions in society.

Participation declining

The bad news, however, is that over the last decade the average country score in the European Participation Index has been declining almost consistently. On a scale of zero to one, the European average was hovering around 0.53 in 2009. Ten years later, it has fallen below 0.5.

The reasons for this decrease are not difficult to find. Over the last ten years, trade union density (the proportion of workers who are members) has declined in virtually all European countries. The same holds for collective-bargaining coverage (the proportion covered by a collective-bargaining agreement) and for access to employee representation.


Please help us improve public policy debates


As you may know, Social Europe is an independent publisher. We aren't backed by a large publishing house or big advertising partners. For the longevity of Social Europe we depend on our loyal readers - we depend on you. You can support us by becoming a Social Europe member for less than 5 Euro per month.

Thank you very much for your support!

Become a Social Europe Member

This means that one of the cornerstones of the European social model, of its version of capitalism, is slowly weakening. The chicken which seemed once to lay golden eggs is losing its feathers.

Decisive choice

While damage has been done, though, nothing is lost forever. A decisive political choice for more democracy at work can turn the European tanker around, towards social amelioration. This entails reinforcing information and consultation rights, locally and European-wide, extending co-determination rights at board level, facilitating sector-wide collective bargaining and supporting the recruitment of new members by trade unions.

Only in this way can we make the most of those competences that we try to teach our children: critical thinking, speaking up, asking for the reasons behind decisions and having a say—in our societies and in our democracies. This would have made the transition to work easier for my childhood friend and for his superiors: he refused to shut his mouth and got into a lot of trouble. Now he is a successful human-resources manager.

Our education shouldn’t be a lie. Democracy should be common sense, politically and economically.

Share on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on LinkedIn
Home ・ Economy ・ A better world with more democracy at work

Filed Under: Economy

About Stan De Spiegelaere and Sigurt Vitols

Stan De Spiegelaere is a senior researcher at the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI). Sigurt Vitols is a senior researcher at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung and an associate researcher at the ETUI.

Partner Ads

Most Popular Posts

decarbonisation,energy transition Europe’s decarbonisation challenge? ‘Wir schaffen das’ Adam Tooze
integrated review Lost an empire, not found a role Paul Mason
Uber v Aslam,UK Supreme Court Putting the brakes on the spread of indecent work Ruth Dukes and Wolfgang Streeck
debt cancellation,cancellation of debt,ECB Cancelling a debt we already own has a false allure Anne-Laure Delatte, Michel Husson, Benjamin Lemoine, Éric Monnet, Raul Sampognaro, Bruno Tinel and Sébastien Villemot
horizontal inequalities,vertical inequalities Fissures that tear us apart and pressures that weigh us all down Kate Pickett

Other Social Europe Publications

RE No. 12: Why No Economic Democracy in Sweden?
US election 2020
Corporate taxation in a globalised era
The transformation of work
The coronavirus crisis and the welfare state

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

#Care4Care!

It took us a global pandemic to realise that we depend on care. Despite all the clapping from the balconies, care workers continue to work in precarious and vulnerable conditions. Women, who represent 70% of the care workforce, continue to suffer from a severe lack of recognition for both their paid and unpaid care work. It’s time for a care revolution! It’s time to #Care4Care! The Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), together with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), has been intensively working since 2019 to monitor the EU gender equality policy agenda through a progressive lens focusing particularly on its care dimensions.


FIND OUT MORE HERE

Social Europe Publishing book

With a pandemic raging, for those countries most affected by Brexit the end of the transition could not come at a worse time. Yet, might the UK's withdrawal be a blessing in disguise? With its biggest veto player gone, might the European Pillar of Social Rights take centre stage? This book brings together leading experts in European politics and policy to examine social citizenship rights across the European continent in the wake of Brexit. Will member states see an enhanced social Europe or a race to the bottom?

'This book correctly emphasises the need to place the future of social rights in Europe front and centre in the post-Brexit debate, to move on from the economistic bias that has obscured our vision of a progressive social Europe.' Michael D Higgins, president of Ireland


MORE INFO

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

Renewing labour relations in the German meat industry: an end to 'organised irresponsibility'?

Over the course of 2020, repeated outbreaks of Covid-19 in a number of large German meat-processing plants led to renewed public concern about the longstanding labour abuses in this industry. New legislation providing for enhanced inspection on health and safety, together with a ban on contract work and limitations on the use of temporary agency employees, holds out the prospect of a profound change in employment practices and labour relations in the meat industry. Changes in the law are not sufficient, on their own, to ensure decent working conditions, however. There is also a need to re-establish the previously high level of collective-bargaining coverage in the industry, underpinned by an industry-wide collective agreement extended by law to cover the entire sector.


FREE DOWNLOAD

ETUI advertisement

Social protection during the pandemic: freelancers in the creative industries

This working paper identifies some key areas of policy intervention for advancing socially sustainable and fair solutions for freelancers working in the creative industries, who are among those who have suffered the most from the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic. In particular, the authors focus on those who work entirely on their own account, without employees (ie the ‘solo self-employed’), and who undertake project- or task-based work on a fixed-term basis.


DOWNLOAD HERE

Eurofound advertisement

Industrial relations: developments 2015-2019

Eurofound has monitored and analysed developments in industrial relations systems at EU level and in EU member states for over 40 years. This new flagship report provides an overview of developments in industrial relations and social dialogue in the years immediately prior to the Covid-19 outbreak. Findings are placed in the context of the key developments in EU policy affecting employment, working conditions and social policy, and linked to the work done by social partners—as well as public authorities—at European and national levels.


CLICK FOR MORE INFO

About Social Europe

Our Mission

Article Submission

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641

Find Social Europe Content

Search Social Europe

Project Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

.EU Web Awards