Corporate Underminers Of Democracy: The Fight For Democracy In Global Institutions

As an estimated four billion people vote to elect new governments in a historic year for democracy, trade unions are campaigning For Democracy at work, in societies, and in global institutions. Millions of workers have already mobilised for policy change and in the run-up to political elections. They have organised to expand worker power or took militant strike action on the job. Around the world, they are fighting for a vision of “democracy in which workers set the course in our communities, workplaces, countries, and international institutions together.”

This far-reaching campaign now places its focus on high-level global institutions, where government delegations negotiate key standards, treaties, and goals that effectively shape the world of work and thereby all of human society.

When governments gather in New York, USA, for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and Summit of the Future (SOTF), in Washington, USA, for the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), and in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the annual Conference of the Parties (COP 29), they find democratic trade unions demanding a New Social Contract which constitutes the labour movement’s plan “for a world where the economy serves humanity, rights are protected and the planet is preserved for future generations.”

But there is another force, one that is unelected and seeks to dominate global affairs. It pushes a competing vision for the world that maintains inequalities and impunity for bad-faith actors, finances far-right political operatives, and values private profit over public and planetary good. That force is corporate power.

In consultation with social allies, global union federations, and researchers, the ITUC is scrutinising publicly available research to identify key players in the corporate world that profit by undermining democracy at all levels.

Corporate underminers of democracy is the ITUC’s list of emblematic companies that benefit financially by continuing to violate trade union and human rights, monopolise media and technology, exacerbate climate catastrophe, and privatise public services. They represent a wider corporate world that protects and expands its own profits by undermining democracy.

These companies deploy complex lobbying operations to undermine popular will and disrupt existing or nascent global policy that could hold them accountable. They are invariably led by ultra-wealthy individuals that support and finance far-right politicians and parties to further their own interests. When the far-right wins power, it discredits and defunds democratic global institutions; reduces taxes on the wealthy and on corporations; undercuts living wages; favours bilateral aid financing over multilateralism; and cracks down on human, trade union, and democratic rights, as evidenced by the ITUC’s Global Rights Index.

Winning a workers agenda in global institutions

At its 5th World Congress in 2022, the ITUC foreshadowed this convergence of capital and the far-right: “While the call for a New Social Contract is gaining momentum, it can only be of lasting impact…if it is resilient in the face of inevitable opposition from regressive political forces and from corporate power.” The ITUC also warned that “The very international institutions and processes which can and must lay the foundations for inclusiveness, shared prosperity and a sustainable future have been severely weakened” and “require fundamental reform to make them fulfil the role which they should play in implementing the New Social Contract.”

Indeed, for international institutions to reflect the democratic will of workers, they must undergo reforms to guard themselves against companies like the corporate underminers of democracy and the anti-democratic forces they finance. That is why the ITUC is campaigning For Democracy in global institutions by:

• Petitioning governments to embrace a binding international treaty that addresses the power and impact of transnational corporations on the human rights of millions of working people.
• Demanding comprehensive reform of international economic structures to pave the way for more democratic and inclusive decision-making processes that prioritise public welfare and international human rights and labour standards over private profit.
• Protecting and advancing democratic multilateralism so that our institutions reflect the will of workers in every country.
• Accelerating progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals and a 2030 agenda that delivers for working people, including urgent adoption of minimum living wages.
• Devising and advancing adoption of a just fiscal architecture, new financial instruments, fair taxes and debt relief, that shift the costs of global progress to those who can most afford it rather than those who suffer most today.

Corporate underminers of democracy 2024

Corporate underminers of democracy is an ongoing project that will continue to identify market-leading companies that are emblematic of corporate power’s adverse impact on democracy at work, in societies, and in global institutions. These companies have platformed or financed far-right and authoritarian political forces and are subject to active complaints and campaigns by unions and social movements around the world. The list relies on publicly available news reports and research, as well as consultation with various partners:

• To map the relationship between corporate power and far-right politicians, the ITUC partners with Reactionary International Research Consortium and The Autonomy Institute.
• To track the cooperativeness of companies with workers’ organisations, the ITUC consults with partners in the Council of Global Unions.
• To understand corporate violations and responses to requests for remedy, the ITUC reviews public information from the Committee on Workers Capital, the Good Jobs First Violations Tracker, and the company pages of the Business and Human Rights Resource Center.
• To understand the lobbying influence deployed by companies, the ITUC uses research from the Transnational Institute and other resources.

1. Amazon.com, Inc.
2. Blackstone Group
3. ExxonMobil
4. Glencore
5. Meta
6. Tesla
7. The Vanguard Group

Just the beginning

While these seven corporations are among the most egregious underminers of democracy, they are hardly alone. Whether state-owned enterprises in China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia, private sector military contractors, or regulation-busting tech startups, the ITUC and its partners will continue to identify and track corporate underminers of democracy and their links to the far-right.

It is the ITUC’s view that the root cause of the crisis facing democracy is “the prevailing neoliberal, corporate-dominated global economy.” This fundamental flaw results in progressive policies being blocked and inequalities around the world being reinforced. However, reformed global institutions can play a transformative role in building a new economic model, one that delivers a New Social Contract for workers in which decent jobs, social protections, inclusion, equality, workers’ rights and decent wages are guaranteed. The future could be one where people and planet are prioritised over exploitative profits. But this will only be realised if we win the fight for democracy at work, in societies, and within those same global institutions.

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