Participation by Representation

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Abstract
Indirect worker participation in corporate policy decisions is occurring through worker and union representation on boards of directors and supervisory boards in Europe, Australia, and the United States. Evidence suggests that this form of representation is problematic because of the structure of corporate boards, selection and training of worker directors, dual loyalty-role conflict problems, confidentiality constraints, and communication with constituents. In the United States, worker directorships arise at the corporate level because of concession bargaining and employee ownership. However, U.S. corporate and labor laws raise questions over the legal status of union board memberships. Several U.S. cases are compared with foreign experiences. The assessment of the effectiveness of worker directorships as a form of participation varies dramatically based on the orientations of researchers as unitarist, pluralist, or conflict theorists.