The Corporate Iron Curtain

CISO Paul Raines contrasts employee rights in the US and Europe

January 13, 2009 — CSO — It's that time of year when I go back for a visit with my family in the States. There wasn't a lot of holiday spirit in the Raines family this year as I learned that both my nephew and sister had just been "right-sized" in the interests of enhancing investor value. To the uninitiated, that means they just lost their jobs. Evidently they weren't alone as over 1,250,000 Americans also lost their jobs in the last three months of the 2008. And the worst is yet to come as I read another report from an economist that predicted the closing of 70,000 American retail outlets in 2009. Happy New Year, everyone!

All this holiday cheer got me to thinking about the rather stark contrast in work place rights between Europe and the United States and the role corporate security plays in enforcing or infringing those rights. As a point of comparison, I thought I would take rundown of the basic civil rights in a democratic society compare how these rights play out in the European and U.S. work places.

First, consider freedom of speech. In theory, you have the right to say what's on your mind in the workplace in both the U.S. and Europe. They are both democratic societies that respect the notion of freedom of thought and speech. In practice, however, I find my European colleagues to be much more likely to complain about working conditions and to openly criticize management. Of course, the reason is partly cultural, but I think the difference stems primarily from the fact that in the United States in many non-unionized, private companies, management can let workers go without advance notice or reason. Given that fact that the large majority of Americans get their health insurance through their employment, a termination could genuinely be life threatening. Thus, many American workers prefer to accept whatever indignities are pushed upon them rather than speak out and take the risk of losing their jobs. Fear is a strong motivator.

In Europe, on the other hand, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) guarantees basic rights to European workers. The Convention was adopted under the auspices of the Council of Europe in 1950 to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms. There are 47 European countries which belong to the Convention.

As it affects the workplace, ECHR article 6 guarantees the right to a fair hearing for unfair dismissal and article 11 guarantees the right to freedom of assembly and freedom of association including the right to form unions. With union protections and rights to appeal, European workers are not subject to arbitrary dismissal from management. Not surprisingly, in European workplaces, I found workers much more willing to voice their opinions even when they run contrary to the ideas of management.