Workplace Democracy: 38 Ideas

Despite it taking an absolute beating as fascism is on the rise, we generally consider "democracy" to be a good thing. For some reason (rich people), we don't see democracy in the workplace very much, even though it's where we spend a lot of our time. We might not win every fight for workplace democracy, but we can practice imagining what we could do differently.

This is a hodgepodge of norms and potential outcomes in coops and unions that could be won. Some of these could also exist in private firms, but they seem much less likely under a model of sustained/increasing growth and investors who want at least 10 times their money back.

• Hold management elections. Management can be viewed as a chore and a service rather than a promotion, paid the same as an individual contributor.
• Base the time spent working on what is to be done, rather than meeting arbitrary (looking at you "quarterly") deadlines.
• Don't require onsite time for optics purposes.
• Don't arrange your office physically as an open floor plan, panopticon hell hole because of "optics" for visitors.
• Form partnerships with likeminded collectives based on something other than product interactions.
• Barter disparate services with them.
• Cross train on mutual skills.
• Strikes can be organized easily and a strike fund can pay you while it's happening.
• No need to "strike" or "walk out" if you can just vote.
• People can be paid for the work they will do, rather than after they've already done it. Your landlord gets paid before your housing is provided, so why shouldn't you?
• Help your local community how you see fit.
• Make climate change a priority (eg. don't fly everyone in for "all hands," save conference stipends for teleconferences, offer a stipend not to commute, or create a committee to create a carbon budget for the product)
• There doesn't have to be an incentive to "outperform" coworkers.
• Maintenance tasks can be valued as highly as "stretch" project work.
• Contracts don't have to be a worker vs. company struggle over terms. NDAs, non-competes, nondisparagement, and mandatory arbitration.
• The profit can be shared.
• Everyone can be paid according to their needs, rather than classifying some as more valuable than others.
• You don't have to create any millionaires.
• You don't have to do weird ass lobbying implied by the logic that at scale "regulatory arbitrage" is cheaper than production.
• If your group wants to lobby, do it to strengthen labor protections, provide funds for collectives to start, increase antitrust enforcement, and de-billionaire people.
• Don't cut socially beneficial services/products because of money.
• Find collective solutions to problems instead of relying on "filing a complaint with HR" (eg. you can vote out a sex pest).
• No ridiculous pressure to grow outside of the scope of desired activity.
• Your group can change its focus at the will of the workers.
• If you find out your group is doing something destructive to the environment, you can change it.
• If you find out your group is doing something destructive to public democracy, you can change it.
• If you find out your group is creating precarious work (like Uber Drivers) or eliminating jobs, you can change it.
• You can have a formalized greivence process against an employer through a union, rather than just telling HR the story so that they can figure out if they need to get the legal department involved to protect the source of the problem.
• You don't have to be an "at-will" employee, able to be fired without cause or recourse.
• Cannot be sold without the consent of the workers.
• No need to be "reorged" to solve management power struggles.
• No surprise layoffs.
• No weird ass personality tests and consultants.
• Don't get sucked into military contracts.
• Don't advertise with or provide services to reactionary bullshit.
• People can be fired through bylaws and votes by the workers.
• People can be hired through bylaws and votes by the workers.
• No one has to call anyone else a "resource."

It won't fix everything wrong in tech or any other industry, but having a range of options for how to work can increase autonomy and let the toxic elements wither. "Nowhere else is any better" is not a great reason for staying in a job. Bad managers are why most people leave their jobs, and with certain forms of workplace democracy you could elect someone else to be a manager. Additionally, there'd be no downward pressure on managers to treat workers poorly. Win win.

Start a union at your workplace!

Start a coop instead of a startup!

Work at a worker co-operative!