Where Despots Rule – Jacobin magazine

Elizabeth S. Anderson

First, there are some easy fixes that could be achieved within the terms of current law, or with some modifications of current law.

Chief among these would be rigorous enforcement of existing labor laws, abolition of mandatory arbitration over violations of wages and hours regulations, and abolition of bans on class action suits by groups of workers over unfair treatment by their employer. Rigorous enforcement especially needs to include protecting the free speech and association rights of workers to complain about working conditions and to organize labor unions at the workplace.

In addition, non-compete agreements need to be banned. These prevent workers from taking their human capital with them when they quit or are fired. If workers cant exit without abandoning the use of their skills, their already weak bargaining power within the firm is destroyed.

Immigrant workers, too, need the freedom to quit. Without that freedom, they are grievously exploited. Interns, who do work of economic value to their employers, should have the same rights to pay and other legal rights as any other employee. So-called independent contractors are often functionally employees, and should have the same rights as employees. Temps should enjoy the same pay, benefits, conditions, and rights as regular employees of the firm.

Second and more ambitiously, the rules of workplace governance need to be changed to give workers a permanent institutionalized voice at work, whether or not they belong to a labor union.

This is the system that prevails among larger employers in many rich European countries. It requires that workers be consulted about how the work process is organized. In such systems of co-determination, workers have a real say in how they are governed, and the work process is jointly determined by workers and managers.

Labor unions engage in collective bargaining over wages and benefits, but the conditions on the shop floor are managed by co-determination. This means that workers are entitled to a real say in how they are governed even if they have not elected a labor union to represent them exclusively in collective bargaining.

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Where Despots Rule - Jacobin magazine