Justice and Freedom at Work

Freedom has been one of - if not the most important - idea of modern society. To act of one’s free will has been heralded as a major driver of social movements. In employment relations, however, employees enter relations of domination, in which they have to obey the command of the employers. From a liberal standpoint they do so voluntary, because they exchange their labour power for wage as free actors. Social critiques have challenged this interpretation by highlighting the preconditions that are forcing workers to enter the labour market in the first place. Consequently, they speak of domination and exploitation in the workplace, which workers would resist. Historically, however, workers most often haven’t challenged capitalist employment relations as such, but have fought for better working conditions.

Correspondingly, feelings of injustice have been considered major motivators for industrial action. It implies that workers might accept the command of their labour power by the employer, if they consider the exchange of labour power for wage as just. It will be argued, however, that workers do not only fight for justice, but also for freedom from work and in work. Though, a certain unfreedom might be accepted if it is considered just, this points to a fragile relationship between freedom and justice at work.

The paper raises the question, when do employees experience their working conditions as just and free, and how are both related to each other. It is combining a theoretical elaboration on the relation between freedom and justice in the employment relation with an empirical analysis of triggers of collective action. The theoretical argument refers to mobilization theory and Labour Process Theory, while the empirical data is based on various case studies of industrial action in different sectors.