Newsletter #3 - DEC 2023 — Democratizing Work

#DW Newsletter #3 - December 2023

You can download the PDF version of the newsletter.

End-of-year latest, and hopeful developments

Before we close the year, let us share news about recent progress with Democratizing, Decommodifying, and Decarbonizing Work.

Many of us have been working hard to achieve these major milestones in the past few weeks.

RECENT HIGHLIGHTS

European Parliament Adopts a Resolution on Job Creation

Last year, our #DW Core Group member Pavlina Tcherneva and European MP Aurore Lalucq initiated a Proposal for a Job Guarantee for Europe and have been working with a growing Job Guarantee coalition in Europe on advancing the proposal. On Nov 23, 2023, the European Parliament issued a resolution on job creation and the just transition, which included democratically designed demand-driven direct job creation, modeled after the Job Guarantee proposal, as one of its components. In the spirit of Democratizing Work, the resolution recognizes that the transition to an environmentally sustainable economy must protect and empower people as well as the environment, and empower them by strengthening democratic institutions, especially in relation to work, and protecting human rights. The Job Guarantee is identified as a key policy proposal towards the second principle of the #DW Manifesto, Decommodification. Lalucq helped draft the relevant sections of the resolution based on her work with Tcherneva. Tcherneva’s book The Case for a Job Guarantee (2020) was just translated into Chinese and is now published in nine languages. Read the EU resolution here.

The Council of Employment and Social Policies Ministers of the European Union (EPSCO Council) unanimously passed a Declaration on Democracy at Work

Under the leadership of Labor Minister and Vice-Prime Minister of the Spanish Government, Yolanda Diaz, the Council has approved on November 28, a landmark statement demanding progress to be made for more Democracy at Work. The declaration includes connection between more democracy at work and green collective bargaining, and demands that progress be made in enabling more democracy at work at all levels of the economic architecture: from the plant-level to the European corporate level. Read this important statement here.

Economic Democracy Initiative Launches Job Guarantee Website

The Economic Democracy Initiative, a key component of #DemocratizingWork led by #DW Core Group member Pavlina Tcherneva, has launched a new website on the Job Guarantee as a helpful resource for scholars, policy makers and engaged citizens. It features news, public employment programs, books, scholarship, and more from around the world about this innovative policy. EDI invites you to explore the site and recommend additions to this dynamic project.

Report released to the Government of Canada's Minister of Labour, Seamus O’Regan Jr.

On Monday, December 11, 2023, the Report from the Government of Canada's Employment Equity Act Review Task Force was released and presented to the Government of Canada's Minister of Labour, Seamus O’Regan Jr. The Task Force's Chair was our #DW Core Group member, Professor Adelle Blackett. This Report constitutes a review of the Canadian Federal Employment Equity Act (initially enacted in 1986). The Report offers a framework designed to transform employment equity, help workplaces identify and eradicate barriers to employment equity, ensure meaningful participation in employment equity, and allow regulatory support in the form of an employment equity commissioner. The Report gives various recommendations to achieve these goals, which will be progressively implemented into Canadian federal legislation. Read the press article and the Report executive summary. You can watch the press conference here.

The European Trade Union Confederation officially endorses the Job Guarantee

This year, Levy Institute scholar and #DW panel participant Rania Antonopoulos wrote the European Trade Union Institute paper “Has the Time for a European Job Guarantee Policy Arrived?” Now, the ETUC is calling for European Job Guarantee, writing that it “has a potential to reduce the significant costs and deleterious effects of unemployment while, at the same time, providing the capacity to tackle social and environmental challenges. Governments and local authorities can – by providing quality employment – fill the roles we so desperately need. It is essential to ensure green and digital transition and fill alarming workforce gaps in the care, education and health sectors.”

EVENTS

NOV 29, 2023, FRANCE - Sophie Binet, leader of CGT Union, and Claire Nouvian, Bloom Association discussed the book Hé Patron!

A public debate on Hé Patron! took place at Sciences Po-Paris. Moderated by Le Monde's Aline Leclerc, the discussion featured Sophie Binet, CGT General Secretary, Claire Nouvian, Founder and Director of BLOOM focused on ocean conservation, and the Hé Patron! team.

The union leader fully endorsed the need to democratize corporations by getting workers’ representatives on boards, and granting them the ability to validate or veto the board’ s decisions. The event (in French) recording is available here. Keep up to date with Hé Patron! news here.

DEC 4-5, 2023, UK - AI and the Future of Work Workshop

Our #DW Core Group member Isabelle Ferreras was the Keynote speaker at the AI and the Future of Work workshop at the Institute for Ethics in AI at the University of Oxford. AI is increasingly changing the world of work, and it might transform the economy and labour markets at an unprecedented pace. In this two-day workshop on the future of work, leading academics from different disciplines as well as high-profile policy and business professionals discussed ethical issues that arise in increasingly data-driven workplaces. You can read Professor Ferreras’s column in Harvard Business Review France on the theme: “AI and Work: A Better Future for Whom? Towards a radicalization of power imbalances within the firm, and between firms and states”.

DEC 11, 2023, USA - Making a Movement: The History and Future of Human Rights

As we commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), we must celebrate this key milestone and all the progress that has been made while also recognizing how much is still to be done in order to secure the dignity and freedom of people across the globe. Professor Julie Battilana, #DW Core Group member, has contributed to an essay collection published last week by the Carr Center for Human Rights at Harvard Kennedy School, celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the essay, Professor Battilana reflects on the ways that the #DemocratizingWork movement is essential to continuing the legacy of the UDHR, in particular, the labor protections in Article 23. Read the publication here.

DEC 18, 2023, ITALY - Generation Z and the meaning of work: the importance of cultural, creative and digital work

The third symposium of the Centro Studi Doc Foundation, co-organized with #DemocratizingWork Italia, aimed to illuminate the expectations, dreams and fears that Generation Z faces when confronted with the world of creative, cultural and digital work. The three roundtables explored through research and first-hand accounts the meaning of work for young creatives, the difficulties Gen Z faces when entering the world of work and the training paths that can support their entry into the world of work, and the dynamics of collaboration and self-entrepreneurship emerging among young people, providing a space to examine how Gen Z organises, networks and undertakes independent ventures. During the panel discussions, people from the worlds of business, trade unions, academia, cooperatives, associations and activism will discuss these issues to provide an insight into how Generation Z youth today experience the world of work in creative, cultural and digital work contexts. Find all the information here.

CALL FOR ACTION

Support to ITALY GKN Crowdfunding Campaign Phase 2.

The GFF cooperative issued its first solidarity shareholding package of shares worth one million euros. The first phase of the 100 x 10.000 campaign to involve civil society in the cooperative begins. Reindustrialization from below is moving forward! Please continue to support this crowdfunding campaign in which the #DemocratizingWork Italia, the National Chapter of #DW in Italy, is fully involved. This call for action is addressed to all citizens, associations, social movements, workers, and union delegates who will become part of the cooperative's assembly, exercising social control over the reindustrialization process from an ecological perspective. All the information is available here.

Call for Responses to Post-Neoliberalism Symposium Pieces

The Economic Democracy Initiative launched its Post-Neoliberalism symposium at the end of November under the direction of EDI Senior Fellow Albena Azmanova, author of Capitalism on Edge, and EDI Director Pavlina Tcherneva. The symposium's 7 rubrics provide a framework for discussing pathways for transformative economics and politics. As the #DemorcatizingWork network continues to grow, EDI invites responses to current and future contributions in the symposium. EDI will publish and feature select responses. Please send responses and any questions about this call to the symposium email info@postneoliberalism.org.

NEW BOOKS OUT

Er is wél een alternatief. Postkapitalisme - een einde aan de roofbouw op aarde en mens (Ambos - Anthos, Amsterdam) Edited by Hans Rodenburg, Koen Bruning, Noortje Thijssen. In There is an Alternative, a wide range of thinkers show how we can move toward a fairer, more sustainable, and more democratic Netherlands. The authors come from various social organizations, politics, and academia and take a close look at various facets of our lives. Whether it concerns the houses we live in, the companies we work for, or the food we eat, in all areas, things can and must be done differently. A central place is reserved for portraits of people who get stuck in the current system. Their experiences with, for example, environmental pollution and the benefits scandal are indispensable to arrive at concrete solutions. With contributions by Abel van Gijlswijk, Senna Maatoug, Sophie Bloemen, Thomas de Groot, Melissa Koutouzis, Evelien Tonkens, Louise Elffers, Daan Zandbelt, Koen Haegens, Sjors Roeters, Lavinia Steinfort, Rens van Tilburg, Vera Vrijmoeth, Hendrik Noten, Bram Büscher, Esther Turnhout, Shivant Jhagroe, Babette Porcelijn, Elisah Pals, Daniëlle Hirsch, Joris Thijssen, Merijn Oudenampsen, Sam de Muijnck, Bram Mellink, Joris Tieleman, Clarice Gargard, Afke Groen, Martijn Visser, Miriam Rasch, Zippora Elders and Tim 'S Jongers.

Democratizing the Corporation: The Bicameral Firm and Beyond. (Verso, New York City/London) Edited by Isabelle Ferreras, Tom Malleson and Joel Rogers. Forthcoming March 2024. Available for pre-order.Although contemporary Western societies refer to themselves as “democratic,” the bulk of the population spend much of their lives in workplaces that have more in common with tyranny. Gigantic corporations such as Amazon, Meta, Exxon, and Walmart are among the richest and most powerful institutions in the world yet accountable to no one but their shareholders. The undemocratic nature of conventional firms generates profound problems across society, hurting more than just the workplace and contributing to environmental destruction and spiraling inequality. Against this backdrop, Isabelle Ferreras proposes a radical but realistic plan to democratize the private firm. She suggests that all large firms should be bicamerally governed, with a chamber of worker representatives sharing equal governance power with the standard board representing owners. In response to this proposal, twelve leading experts on corporate behavior from multiple disciplines consider its attractiveness, viability, and achievability as a “real utopian” proposal to strengthen democracy in our time. This institutional proposal puts in practice the principle forth in the #DemocratizingWork Manifesto: the collective right for workers to validate or veto the firm’s decisions. 12 scholars discuss the proposal following Isabelle's lead chapter.

¿De la sustentabilidad al desarrollo? Entre el extractivismo verde y la transformación socioambiental (Clacso - Buenos Aires) Edited by Hans-Jürgen Burchardt, Cecilia Gárgano y Lucas Christel. The socio-environmental crisis is unfolding throughout the world with unusual urgency. However, its transversality is not total. Not all regions are experiencing its effects in the same way. Within unequal geographies, the Global South continues to occupy a prominent place in the depredation of the natural commons. Latin America combines multiple cultural and socioeconomic heterogeneities with the advance of scarcely diversified productive matrices that intensify extractive activities associated with profound social, territorial, environmental, and economic problems. This book explores different aspects that are part of the same problem. Conceptual reflections, case studies, cross-sectional views, and focused analysis go through different frameworks that make the validity of this crisis. Based on the experience of the postgraduate seminar "Sustainability, development and social participation in Latin America", the book asks for what and for whom the "development" and "sustainability" models are focused, from the investigation of productive matrixes and associated socio-environmental effects; actors and institutional frameworks involved; socio-economic dynamics and alternative experiences. This compilation proposes a collective approach to socio-environmental issues in the hope of contributing to constructing less unequal and more habitable worlds. The book is fully available here.

#DW IN THE NEWS

Isabelle Ferreras talked with Le Monde about Hé Patron ! the book.

In this interview published on Tuesday December 12, 2023, Isabelle Ferreras, co-author of the graphic novel "Hé Patron! Pour une révolution dans l'entreprise" explains why it is important to change the current governance of companies, and why we ought to recognize workers as labor investors. This interview (in French) is available here. Le Monde closes its review with this "So convincing that you won’t see the business firm anymore in the same way”.

NEWS FROM AROUND OUR NETWORK

Braskem Mine Collapses in Maceió, Brazil - Studies show that it is the worst socio-environmental tragedy in an urban area. "Braskem don’t want to talk to the civil society,” says Brazilian activist Jaiane Bruna, from União dos Palmares (Quilombola movement), after the company dropped from COP28. The company was supposed to attend two debates but canceled after the crisis in the city of Maceió. The situation in Maceió began in 2018 when people felt the effects of rock salt mining, a mineral used as table salt, and in producing PVC plastic and caustic soda, among others. The ground of five neighborhoods sank due to the mining activity of rock salt, which forms underground (about 1,000 meters below the surface). Although no deaths were directly caused by the ground sinking, about 60,000 people had to move out due to the risk of their houses collapsing. Many of them were demolished. Studies show that it is the worst socio-environmental tragedy in an urban area.

SAVE THE DATES

University of Limerick, IRELAND, 27-29 June 2024, SASE Conference

The 2024 Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) Annual For Dignified and Sustainable Economic Lives: Disrupting the Emotions, Politics, and Technologies of Neoliberalism" emphasizes sources of hope, dignity, and sustainability in economic lives. Please consider applying; the deadline for submission is 19 January 2024.

University of Vigo, SPAIN, 18 – 21 June 2024, International ESEE - Degrowth Conference 2024 Pontevedra

The 10th International Degrowth Conference and the 15th Conference of the European Society for Ecological Economics (ESEE) will be held in the city of Pontevedra (Galicia, Spain) from 18 – 21 June 2024. This joint conference is part of the “Pontevedra ESEE-Degrowth 2024” activities, which will establish Pontevedra as the European capital of degrowth in 2024. The call for presentation abstracts is currently open until tuesday, december 26.

Our #DW Global Workshop Series Continues

ONLINE January 26, please join us to continue the global conversation for our next #DW-WI Global Workshop: “Enabling Workers to Govern Their Own Work.”

While some proposals for democratizing work focus on representative forms of democracy, e.g. board members elected by employees, others focus on the direct involvement of workers on the ground. Skeptics often hold, however, that this is only feasible - if at all - for highly skilled employees. But is this really so, or is it a prejudice based on misguided ideas about meritocracy? What does it take to enable workers to truly participate in the governance of their own work? What frictions must be expected, and how can they be overcome? And what role can unions and other actors (activists, researchers, etc.) play in enabling the government of work by workers themselves?

Speakers:

Antoine Bonnemain, Lecturer - Maître de Conférences at the University of Clermont Auvergne
Denise Kasparian, Assistant Professor and Researcher at University of Buenos Aires and National Scientific and Technical Research Council, Argentina
Michelle Miller, Director of Innovation, Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School, USA

This global workshop will be chaired by our #DW Core Group member Isabelle Ferreras

WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THEN! Please join us and share the invitation!

Stay tuned! You will find dates and programs for the following workshops on the #DemocratizingWork dedicated webpage.

Watch the recording! The 2nd #DW-WI Global Workshop Series recording on December 15, “Working Less, Living More?" is available online.

Please remember to share your end of the news about #DemocratizingWork by filling out our form available here and via our website dedicated page.

We wish you a restful holiday season and look forward to continuing our work together toward #DemocratizingWork in 2024.

Peace,

The #DemocratizingWork Core Group:

Julie Battilana, Harvard University, Isabelle Ferreras, University of Louvain/FNRS-Harvard LWP, Royal Academy of Belgium, Dominique Méda, University of Paris Dauphine PLS,
With Alyssa Battistoni, Barnard College, Adelle Blackett, McGill University, Julia Cagé, Sciences Po-Paris, Neera Chandhoke, University of Delhi, Lisa Herzog, University of Groningen, Imge Kaya Sabanci, IE Business School, Madrid, Sara Lafuente Hernandez, University of Brussels-ETUI, Hélène Landemore, Yale University, Flávia Máximo, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Brazil, Pavlina R. Tcherneva, Bard College-OSUN-Levy Institute.