05P13. State Interventionism vs. Workers' Participation. Lessons (re)learned in the Covid Times

Panel discussion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiN3CG-zjbA

Chair: Maciej Grodzicki (Jagiellonian University) | Speakers: Anna Marjankowska (Heimssamband Verkafólks á Íslandi), Daria Bogdanska (Sveriges Arbetares Centralorganisation), Karol Muszyński (Centre for Sociological Research at KU Leuven), Michał Sobol (OZZ Inicjatywa Pracownicza)

For a year we have been witnessing increasing interventionism of governments across the world in diverse spheres of economic relations. Fiscal stimuli, public health regulations and restrictions, recovery plans – all impact workers and businesses. Though officially oriented at improving the workers' conditions and stabilize employment and incomes, their influence is much more complex and ambiguous. In fact, in many cases substantial tensions have emerged between the top-down interventions and the factory floor situation and workers' expectations. The conditions of imposed lockdowns, as well as of `return to work', were often contradictory to the requirements of safety and public health. These tensions arguably reveal the underlying conflicts between labour and governments, and once again highlight the importance of workplace democracy, and workers' participation in decision making. These values have been the vital object of struggles of global workers' movement; they have been postulated as well in the Regeneration Manifesto of Polish scientific community. Authors of the Manifesto, which later gave birth to the Polish Economic Network, invited union activists and labour researchers to gather and compare international experiences, from Poland, Iceland and Sweden, to observe the specific relations between government policies and employee organizations. Also, it shall search for lessons on how to build workplace democracy at times of crisis and intensified state interventionism.