Rethink Work

Changing how we think about work

#Worker Rights

There are currently 28 articles in this category    RSS

  • faviconFreedom Under Capitalism Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up to Be — Libertarians argue that capitalism is superior to socialism because in capitalism anyone is free to do anything, including start a worker cooperative. In truth, capitalism constrains our options [2024]
    In: Democracy & Power    
    Topics: Worker Ownership, Worker Rights   
    Comments   
    Source: Jacobin    

  • faviconDemocratic Workplaces Make Economies Stronger — Employee-owners who have homes, families, and friends to consider are unlikely to vote to move their businesses out of their communities in response to tariffs or other economic shocks. Nor are they going to run around the globe looking for the cheapest labor force [2025]
    In: Democracy & Power    
    Topics: Worker Ownership, Worker Rights   
    Comments   
    Country: CA   
    Source: Jacobin    

  • faviconWe Shouldn’t Have to Work This Hard — We can reclaim our time for pursuits that give life meaning: creativity, connection, contemplation, and labors of love. To do it, we’ll need to confront the economic elites who preside over the rat race [2025]
    In: Working hours    
    Topics: Worker Rights, Workism   
    Comments   
    Country: US   
    Source: Jacobin    

  • faviconPro-Woman, Anti-Worker — broadly speaking, the feminist movement hasn’t always operated in an inclusive way; even with the stakes so very high, some nominally feminist organizations have failed to extend a baseline measure of respect to the workers that make their mission possible [2020]
    In: Trade unions    
    Topics: Feminism, Worker Rights   
    Comments   
    Country: US   
    Source: The Baffler    

  • faviconThomas Piketty’s Radical Plan to Redistribute Wealth — To address inequality & improve democracy, he suggests taking a large measure of control over corporations away from their managers and shareholders and give it to employees, and create a system of egalitarian funding for political campaigns, the media and think tanks [2022]
    In: Democracy & Power    
    Topics: Worker Ownership, Worker Rights   
    Comments   
    Source: NYT    

  • faviconDemanding employees turn on their webcams is a human rights violation, Dutch Court rules; in addition, it rules that the company needs to pay the employee’s wages, unused vacation days, and a number of other costs as well [2022]
    In: Predatory capitalism    
    Topics: Technofeudalism, Worker Rights   
    Comments   
    Country: NL   
    Source: Various    

  • faviconThe Problem With Work — There is no escaping economic precarity in a society like ours—unless one is born into wealth, that is, or exploits others for profit. And no amount of education or culturedness or any professional-class job will shield you from the rampant exploitation that is core to a society that subordinates everything to profit [2024]
    In: Predatory capitalism    
    Topics: Worker Rights, Workplace Dictatorship   
    Comments   
    Source: Current Affairs    

  • faviconGive workers right to request four-day week with no pay cut, unions and MPs say — It comes as businesses across the country pilot or switch to a four-day week, amid emerging evidence it is good for workers’ wellbeing [2022]
    In: Working hours    
    Topics: 4 Day Week, Worker Rights   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: The Independent    

  • faviconWorkers want unions, but the latest data point to obstacles in their path — more than 50 years of efforts to block access to unions have taken a heavy toll on workers’ rights. Employers have been exploiting weaknesses in U.S. labor law for decades, and federal and state policy have failed to prevent this [2024]
    In: Trade unions    
    Topics: Research, Worker Rights   
    Comments   
    Country: US   
    Source: EPI    

  • faviconEurope’s far-right parties are anti-worker — analysis shows that the far right voting patterns on proposed EU directives do not indicate a pro-worker stance on socioeconomic issues, let alone a leftwing one. Quite the contrary: on virtually all eight issues we examined, the far–right’s voting behaviour suggests a stance that is indifferent, if not outright hostile, to workers’ rights [2024]
    In: Democracy & Power    
    Topics: Research, Worker Rights   
    Comments   
    Source: The Guardian    

  • faviconThe Pinkertons Have a Long, Dark History of Targeting Workers — In recent times, they have tried to leave behind their thuggish image and pivoted toward more white-collar efforts, like “corporate investigations” and “comprehensive risk management,” though they’re called in sometimes to handle security during strikes [2020]
    In: Predatory capitalism    
    Topics: Technofeudalism, Worker Rights   
    Comments   
    Country: US   
    Source: Teen Vogue    

  • faviconSupport for Unions Hits 70-Year High as US Workers See Power of Organized Labor — The upswing in support for organized labor—which paradoxically comes even as U.S. union membership remains near an all-time low—has been attributed to a wave of successful organizing in recent years [2024]
    In: Trade unions    
    Topics: Worker Rights   
    Comments   
    Country: US   
    Source: Common Dreams    

  • faviconThe Invisible Work of America’s Domestic Workers — For decades, feminist activists have said that work in the home—often performed for no pay by wives, mothers, and daughters—has been misunderstood as separate from “real” labor. This feminized care has been relegated and detached from a labor movement focused on men [2024]
    In: Democracy & Power    
    Topics: How to be Human, Worker Rights   
    Comments   
    Country: US   
    Source: Mother Jones    

  • faviconTech Giants Are Building a Dystopia of Desperate Workers and Social Isolation — The on-demand economy was marketed as serving the common good, but it was designed to meet the needs of overworked (and disproportionately well-off) professionals, while taking advantage of the labor of precarious, poorly paid workers who had little control over their work & were denied rights [2022]
    In: Predatory capitalism    
    Topics: Technofeudalism, Worker Rights   
    Comments   
    Source: Jacobin    

  • faviconUK Government axes ‘gimmick’ anti-strike law as it plans major reset for workers’ rights. Insiders said the new law had not been used to resolve any dispute so far, stating that an “adversarial approach” over several years had seen the UK lose more days to strike action than France [2024]
    In: Democracy & Power    
    Topics: Worker Rights   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: The Guardian    

  • faviconThe (ongoing) fight against workplace AI surveillance — A shift to virtual work during the pandemic and recent advancements in AI technology have led to worries about increased surveillance, with very few guidelines on how companies deploy the technology. The technology also isn’t foolproof, which can be problematic [2024]
    In: Democracy & Power    
    Topics: Remote Working, Technofeudalism, Worker Rights   
    Comments   
    Country: US   
    Source: The Week    

  • faviconSleeping in the office is making a comeback? Elon Musk would approve – but what about having a life? There is a wider belief there that asserting your right to leave, leisure and a life outside work is a duty, not a self-indulgence, since these were hard-won, historic social gains [2022]
    In: Good life    
    Topics: Leisure, Worker Rights   
    Comments   
    Source: The Guardian    

  • faviconGreece’s forced six-day workweek exploits workers and will leave the economy worse off in the long run. The policy, pushed by market fundamentalists and driven by economic pressures, and an aging population, serves as a cautionary tale for global labor. Workers in other nations should take this as a lesson and preemptively refuse to follow suit [2024]
    In: Working hours    
    Topics: Productivity, Worker Rights   
    Comments   
    Country: GR   
    Source: Jacobin    

  • faviconWorkers are less likely to go on strike in recent decades because they are more likely to be in debt and fear losing their jobs. Study examined cases in Japan, Korea, Sweden, the United States and the United Kingdom over the period 1970–2018 [2023]
    In: Democracy & Power    
    Topics: Research, Worker Rights   
    Comments   
    Source: Scientific Journals    

  • faviconCorporate dictatorships rule the lives of perhaps 80 percent of working Americans. These corporations, with little or no oversight, surveil and monitor their workforces. They fire workers for expressing leftist political opinions on social media or at public events during their off-hours. They terminate those who file complaints or publicly voice criticism about working conditions [2019]
    In: Democracy & Power    
    Topics: Worker Rights, Workplace Dictatorship   
    Comments   
    Country: US   
    Source: Common Dreams    

  • faviconWhy Young People Are Joining Unions Again – A workplace is, at the most fundamental level, a microcosm of the political system. There are those who hold power, the bosses, and those who don’t, the workers. When unions are powerful, workers have something akin to a voice in the direction of their workplace [2018]
    In: Trade unions    
    Topics: Worker Rights, Workplace Dictatorship   
    Comments   
    Source: Common Dreams    

  • faviconEvery company should be owned by its employees – There are serious benefits to the company for operating this way. ESOPs are a viable alternative to unions—there is no rift between the owners and the workers, workers are the owners! They are also exempt from paying income tax—though they tend to spend those dollars on their employees instead [2024]
    In: Democracy & Power    
    Topics: ESOP, Worker Rights   
    Comments   
    Country: US   
    Source: Independent Blogs    

  • faviconFreedom From the Boss – The rules and rights associated with democracy only apply to people’s relationship to their government, not their employer. Citizens in a democracy remain subjects in the workplace — the place where most adults spend a large part of their waking hours [2017]
    In: Democracy & Power    
    Topics: Worker Rights, Workplace Dictatorship   
    Comments   
    Source: Jacobin    

  • faviconSamsung, the flagship of South Korean capitalism and one of the world’s biggest electronics firms, is facing its first-ever strike. The global tech giant, which has refused so far to engage in dialogue, citing the union’s lack of majority representation [2024]
    In: Trade unions    
    Topics: Technofeudalism, Worker Rights   
    Comments   
    Country: KR   
    Source: Jacobin    

  • faviconOn the Tyranny of Being Employed – Contemporary philosopher Elizabeth Anderson argues that while we may think of citizens in western liberal democracies as relatively ‘free’, most people are actually subject to ruthless authoritarian government — not from the state, but from their employer [2024]
    In: Democracy & Power    
    Topics: Worker Rights, Workplace Dictatorship   
    Comments   
    Source: Philosophy Break