I recently learned about another hit to democracy. This time, however, it wasn’t Mark Carney ignoring the public’s desire to stand up to Donald Trump or oppose Israel’s genocide. Instead, it was a further drop in the private sector unionization rate.
According to labour relations professor David J. Doorey, “Collective agreement coverage in Canada’s private sector today (15.5%) is lower than it was in 1940 (16.3%), before Canada had enacted ‘modern’ Wagner-style collective bargaining legislation.”
Public sector unionization is above 75% so the overall unionization rate is 29%. Still, it’s dropped precipitously from 38% in the early 1980s.
A central function of unions is to increase workplace democracy. Through collective bargaining, unions offer workers some way to fight for a fair share of the fruits of their labour. Similarly, unions provide workers with some space and protection from arbitrary employer action. In fact, collective worker action is the current most effective device at adding some democracy to the un-democratic modern corporation. Corporations, especially non-unionized ones, are highly authoritarian structures where workers have little democratic control.
The business community is open about this. In the Financial Times John Hunt labelled “work organisations… the most undemocratic of modern institutions” while Michael Skapinker called “corporate life … inherently undemocratic.” Instead of workers having democratic control over their workplaces, a centralized top-down authoritarian structure prevails. Workers have little to no say; they are simply told what to do.
In place of democracy, the corporate structure is based upon the one dollar = one vote system. Shareholders have voting rights depending upon how many shares they own. Aside from the power of unions, workers’ concerns are largely left out of the equation (in non-unionized workplaces workers have some rights depending upon laws, specific individual attributes etc., though the strength of labour laws is largely dependent on union power).
For those who face inhuman working relations but believe in people’s inherent ability to manage their own lives, this system is hard to accept. But capitalists aggressively oppose conceding their power over decision-making. And the dominant ideological institutions rarely discuss why we elect political leaders but not those who run our workplaces. Why, if we pride ourselves on living in a democratic society, are workplaces undemocratic?
Most people spend 40 hours a week at work; this is close to 25% of their waking hours in an undemocratic structure. Why? More importantly, what are the larger societal ramifications of the undemocratic corporate structure of one dollar = one vote?
Besides disproportionate power over “their” workers’ lives, large shareholders have an excessive amount of power within the political system. Through their ownership of shares, these people buy political parties, own the media, fund think tanks, organize themselves in business lobby groups, amongst other things. In short, they try to mould societies’ political, cultural and economic structure to their benefit. Central to countering this force are unions. It should thus come as no surprise that countries with higher unionization rates tend to have more vibrant political democracies and socially progressive governments.
Conversely, our neighbour to the south highlights what can happen when the organizations of the working-class collapse. Donald Trump’s rise is at least in part connected to the US unionization rate dropping below 10%.
In some Scandinavian countries the unionization rate is around 70%. Also, in countries like Sweden and Germany workers have some shop-floor decision-making. Workers have a direct role in shaping company policy.
But, we need to go much further in terms of challenging capitalism’s one dollar one vote nature. In my bid to lead the NDP I’m raising the slogan “Economic democracy not capitalist tyranny”. Economic democracy is based on the principle of one person, one vote decision making in all parts of the economy that rely on social labour, a vision of society that will appeal to most NDP members.
To join 600 individuals who’ve already signed up to volunteer to support my bid for the NDP leadership register here or check out my new website
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