industrial democracy

A situation in companies where employees have a say in determining corporate policies. Examples include works councils, and employee representatives on the board of directors.

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 private or state ownership of the means of production, there are also representative forms of industrial democracy. Representative industrial democracy includes decision making structures such as the formation of committees and consultative bodies to facilitate communication between management, unions, and staff.

Benefits of Industrial Democracy

Advocates often point out that industrial democracy increases productivity and service delivery from a more fully engaged and happier workforce.

Industrial democracy and Revolutionary Socialism

In late 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century industrial democracy, along with anarcho-syndicalism, represented one of the dominant tendencies in revolutionary socialism and played a prominent role in international labour movements. While their influence declined after the defeat of the anarchists in the Spanish Revolution in 1939, several unions and organizations advocating industrial democracy continue to exist and are again on the rise internationally.

The Industrial Workers of the World advance an industrial unionism which would organize all the workers, regardless of skill, gender or race, into one big union divided into a series of departments corresponding to different industries. Anarcho-syndicalist unions, like the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, are similar in their means and ends but organize workers into geographically based and federated syndicates rather than industrial unions.

Representative industrial democracy in modern capitalist economies

Modern industrial economies have adopted several aspects of industrial democracy to improve productivity and as reformist measures against industrial disputes.