Chapter 13.4.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 13: Chapter 13: Planned Economy and Working Life

13.4. Labor disputes

Since labor-management conflicts are sublated in communist enterprises, serious collective labor disputes are generally not expected. However, individual disputes over working conditions and other issues may arise between workers and their respective enterprises. To address such disputes, communist enterprises, which are based on worker participation, must also incorporate a dispute resolution function (in-corporate judicial system).

The third-party organization responsible for such in-corporate judicial system is the "Labor Arbitration Committee." This is an arbitration body composed of external lawyers with no vested interest in the company. It accepts consultations from troubled workers and mediates disputes.

Workers dissatisfied with the arbitration proposal submitted by the committee can file a complaint with the Labor Tribune, a judicial body specializing in the protection of basic labor rights (see my article for more on the Labor Tribune in general).

All enterprises, except for small-scale cooperative labor groups, are required to have a permanent labor arbitration committee. Labor disputes cannot be filed with the Labor Arbitration Commission unless they have first been arbitrated by the company's internal labor arbitration committee (the principle of prior arbitration).

As mentioned above, collective labor disputes that go beyond individual labor disputes are difficult to imagine in communist enterprises, where worker participation in management is fundamental. Wage disputes, which account for almost all labor disputes in capitalist societies, are particularly unthinkable in a communist society where wage labor has been abolished.

Therefore, while collective labor disputes can be considered unimaginable in the first place, if they do arise, the basic approach is to resolve them through consultations with the responsible management body via a workers' participation organization. As mentioned last time, there is no formal labor union system in a communist society.

In extreme conflict situations that cannot be resolved even through workers' participation organizations, it is not necessarily prohibited for willing workers to form a union and take industrial action such as a strike. That said, the "right to strike" is not openly recognized as in a capitalist society, and dismissal for industrial action is possible, although the appropriateness of such disciplinary action will be left to the discretion of the Labor Tribune on a case-by-case basis.

👉The papers published on this blog are meant to expand upon my On Communism.

Chapter 13.3.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 13: Planned Economy and Working Life

13.3. Management participation

In capitalist enterprises, management and labor are generally strictly separated. Even if labor unions have the right to negotiate, they cannot intervene in management itself. This is because capitalist enterprises are based on strict class distinctions and superiority-subordinate relationships between labor and management.

In contrast, in communist enterprises, worker participation in management is a common element, although the degree and method vary depending on the type of enterprise. This issue has already been discussed in Chapter 11, but I would like to summarize it again here from a labor perspective.

In communist enterprises, worker participation in management is roughly divided into indirect participation through worker representative committee in large enterprises where management and labor are inevitably separated, and direct participation through general staff assembly in small and medium-sized enterprises where management and labor are integrated. However, in either case, these worker participation bodies retain the right to co-decision-making with the management body regarding issues related to working conditions and benefits. 

Co-determination means that matters relating to working conditions and employee benefits must be decided based on agreement between the management body and the worker participation body. It also means that worker participation bodies have the right to make proposals to the management body regarding these issues, and can request that specific management issues that affect working conditions and employee benefits be taken up as matters for co-determination with the management body.

Applying this analogy to a capitalist enterprise, issues relating to working conditions and employee benefits are essentially matters for co-determination between the management body and the in-house labor union. However, since labor unions in capitalist enterprises are ultimately organizations outside the company, true co-determination between labor and management is not possible.

In a communist enterprise, there is no need for external labor union organizations. This is because in-house worker participation bodies are, so to speak, labor unions that have been internalized within the company.

However, this does not mean that the formation of labor unions is prohibited. However, since workers generally act through internal company participation organizations and labor unions are merely external, informal organizations, companies are not obligated to consider labor unions as official negotiating partners.

👉The papers published on this blog are meant to expand upon my On Communism.

Chapter 13.2.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 13: Planned Economy and Working Life

13.2. Labor standards

Labor standards in a capitalist market economy are governed by the correlation between wages, which are the compensation for working (i.e., the price of labor as a commodity), and working hours. In other words, the basic principle is to guarantee wages commensurate with the hours worked and to regulate working hours commensurate with wages. However, in reality, this includes a large amount of unpaid work time, which is the source of "surplus value" in the Marxian sense.

Labor standards under a communist planned economy based on unpaid labor lack a compensation system known as wages, so labor standards are governed solely by working hours. While the determination of legal working hours is a policy decision, if a planned labor allocation system is established, so-called work-life balance can be implemented uniformly as part of a labor plan, rather than simply a matter of slogan or corporate effort.

For example, it would not be impossible to make a four-hour workday (half-day work), half the current number, the norm, in combination with planned work sharing. When it comes to unpaid work, discretionary work systems become easier to introduce and expand, and one might wonder whether regulations on statutory working hours will become meaningless. However, when it comes to unpaid work, time is the only absolute regulatory framework.

Furthermore, unlike labor standards in a market economy, which tend to focus on wage issues, a planned economy will likely cover a wide range of labor issues that cannot be resolved through wage issues, such as work environment issues, measures to prevent workplace harassment, and employment discrimination based on gender or other attributes.

Because capitalist labor standards are a type of economic regulation that is  late-coming and external to capital's activities, profit-seeking businesses have a hidden intention to circumvent these regulations as much as possible. This necessitates a labor standards inspection system backed by penalties, but even this often does not function effectively.

Communist labor standards are fundamental and inherent value standards, and businesses that do not need to consider profits have no incentive to circumvent them. Therefore, although it is not true that a labor standards inspection system will no longer be necessary, a system such as labor standards inspectors with police powers will no longer be necessary, and labor standards will likely be guaranteed through something like an internal arbitration system within companies (as will be discussed later in Section 4 of this chapter.).

👉The papers published on this blog are meant to expand upon my On Communism.