Unions and democracy

Social dialogue is too rarely considered in the debate about strengthening democracy.

That’s the key claim in an article ‘Democracy at work and beyond: the role of trade unions in strengthening citizens’ participation and trust in public institutions’ by TUAC General Secretary Veronica Nilsson and CUT Chile President David Acuña Millahueique published in the OECD’s Open government blog series: New Frontiers of Citizen Participation.

In all the talk about strengthening democracy and making citizens feel more engaged, many people and organisations overlook the role of trade unions, despite their role today in defending democracy in countries including Tunisia and Peru, opposing dictatorship in countries such as Belarus and Myanmar and having established democracy in countries as diverse as Spain, Poland, Chile and South Africa.

It is all the more astonishing that unions, social dialogue and collective bargaining are often ignored in the debate about securing and improving democracy given unions’ large membership and successful engagement in many issues of vital importance to working people such as increasing pay including minimum wages, improving working conditions, establishing and defending rights such as paid holiday, parental and sick leave etc.

Read Nilsson and Acuña Millahueique’s article staking a claim for unions as “central to the economic and social fabric of society”.