Industrial democracy
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Industrial democracy is an arrangement which involves workers making decisions, sharing responsibility and
In company law, the term generally used is co-determination, following the German word Mitbestimmung. In Germany, companies with more than 2000 employees (or more than 1000 employees in the coal and steel industries) have half of their supervisory boards of directors (which elect management) elected by the shareholders and half by the workers.
Although industrial democracy generally refers to the organization model in which workplaces are run directly by the people who work in them in place of
Rationale
Advocates often point out that industrial democracy increases productivity and service delivery from a more fully engaged and happier workforce[citation needed]. Other benefits include less industrial dispute resulting from better communication in the workplace; improved and inclusive decision-making processes resulting in qualitatively better workplace decisions, decreased stress and increased well-being, an increase in job satisfaction, a reduction in absenteeism and an improved sense of fulfillment[citation needed]. Other authors regard industrial democracy as a consequence of citizenship rights[citation needed].
Works councils and workers' participation
At the point of production, the introduction of mandatory works councils and voluntary schemes of workers' participation (e.g. semi-autonomous groups) have a long tradition in European countries.[2]
Co-determination
In a number of European countries, employees of a business take part in election of company directors. In Germany, the law is known as the
History
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In late nineteenth century, and at the beginning of the twentieth century, industrial democracy, along with
While the influence of the movements promoting industrial democracy declined after the defeat of the anarchists in the Spanish Revolution in 1939, several unions and organizations advocating the arrangement continue to exist and are again on the rise internationally.[citation needed]
The
The New Unionism Network also promotes workplace democracy as a means to linking production and economic democracy.
Representative industrial democracy
Modern industrial economies have adopted several aspects of industrial democracy to improve productivity and as reformist measures against industrial disputes. Often referred to as "teamworking", this form of industrial democracy has been practiced in Scandinavia, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK as well as in several Japanese companies such as
The term is often used synonymously with workplace democracy, in which the traditional master-servant model of employment gives way to a participative, power-sharing model.
See also
- UK labour law and German labour law
- Workers' self-management
- Collective Bargaining
- Co-determination
- Industrial Relations
- Holacracy
- Industrial Workers of the World
- New unionism
- Socialist Party USA
- Social ownership
- League for Industrial Democracy
- Workers' council
- Workplace democracy
- Common ownership
Notes
- ^ Rayton, D. (1972). Shop Floor Democracy in Action. Nottingham: Russell Press.
- ^ Joel Rogers/Wolfgang Streeck (eds.): Works Councils. Consultation, Representation, and Cooperation in Industrial Relations, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago-London 1995. - Thomas Sandberg; 'Work Organization and Autonomous Groups, LiberFörlag, Uppsala 1982.
- ^ Property is Theft! A Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Anthology. Edinburgh/Oakland: AK Press. p. 610, p. 119, pp. 586-7
- hdl:10419/79001.
References
- Articles
- M Poole, 'Theories of Industrial Democracy: the Emerging Synthesis' (1982) 30(2) Sociological Review 181-207
- W Müller-Jentsch, Industrial Democracy: Historical Development and Current Challenges' (2007) 19 (4) Management Revue 260–273
- E McGaughey, 'Votes at Work in Britain: Shareholder Monopolisation and the ‘Single Channel’' (2018) 47(1) Industrial Law Journal 76
- Books
- Bank, John, and Jones, Ken, Worker Directors Speak: The British Steel Corporation Employee Directors (Gower Press, Farnborough, 1977)
- P Douglas, The Columbia Conserve Company: A Unique Experiment in Industrial Democracy (1925)
- P Blumberg, Industrial Democracy: The Sociology of Participation (1969)
- K Boyle, The UAW and the Heyday of American Liberalism, 1945-1968 (1995)
- M Derber, The American Idea of Industrial Democracy, 1865-1965 (1970)
- SM Lipset, M Trow and J Coleman, Union Democracy: The Inside Politics of the International Typographical Union (1977)
- JA McCartin, Labor's Great War: The Struggle for Industrial Democracy and the Origins of Modern American Labor Relations, 1912-1921 (1998)
- M Poole, Industrial Relations: Origins and Patterns of National Diversity (2008)
- M Poole, Workers' Participation in Industry (2nd edn 1978)
- BC Roberts (ed), Towards Industrial Democracy: Europe, Japan and the United States (1979)
- B Webb and S Webb. Industrial Democracy (1897)
- J Witte, Democracy, Authority, and Alienation in Work: Workers’ Participation in an American Corporation (University of Chicago Press, 1980)
External links
- Mondragon Corporacion Cooperativa, Spain
- Economic and Industrial Democracy: An International Journal
- New Unionism Network Archived 2011-01-06 at the Wayback Machine
- Industrial Democracy Archived 2010-03-26 at the Wayback Machine A think-tank for the left.
- Socialist Industrial Unionism