👉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.
