Workers’ Participation in Management, Workers’ Control of Production

For several decades workers’ participation in management was a persistent demand of the left. In the neoliberal era it became, in a twisted way, a reality for some workers. Team organization of production, reduction of supervisory staffing, and a constant drive for productivity improvement became the norm, requiring broader managerial involvement by workers in their activities. Workers’ control of production remains on the radical agenda, but with broader implications. Workers’ control of production implies dramatic changes in the relationship between capital and labor, and with them development of alternative forms of production and distribution. JEL classification: J54, B51, L23