Corporations and other powerful contemporary institutions take decisions that increasingly impact the possibilities for well-being not only of those who work or live within them and are governed by them but also of distant people who are deeply affected by their functioning. This democratic deficit raises the question of whether the workers and others who are so affected should have a say in the policies that set the basic conditions for their own livelihoods and flourishing. This chapter sketches an understanding of the scope of the All-Affected Principle, taking it as an important addition to the “common activities” principle that requires democratic rights for the members of an institution or community. It proposes that both principles require democratic management (or “workplace democracy”) within firms, and suggests that the All-Affected Principle is especially apt for addressing the exogenous effects of decisions on people beyond the firm, or on distant people impacted by the institutions of global governance. The chapter goes on to consider applications of the All-Affected Principle for other labor rights under capitalism, including the right to form unions, support for care work, and for the unemployed.

Worker cooperatives – enterprises owned and operated by their employees – offer the potential for workplace socioeconomic empowerment. Historically they have struggled to capture a significant share of employment in the US and to be fully inclusive of communities confronting the greatest social and economic marginalization. Since the Great Recession, however, worker cooperatives have shown strong growth, with increasing representation from BIPOC, working-class, and immigrant communities. This chapter compares two home care worker cooperatives to discuss the benefits that worker cooperatives bring and some of the challenges they face. One, Golden Steps, operates at the small scale typical of most of the newer worker cooperatives, while the other, Cooperative Home Care Associates, is currently the largest worker cooperative in the US. Focusing on the financial, social, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and labor dimensions of worker cooperatives, we consider the important role of worker ownership and control within broader discussions of individual and community empowerment.

While unionization is usually evaluated as an aspect of freedom of association—the idea being that workers have the right to associate and form unions if they want and have an equal right not to do so if they don’t, I argue that this is a mistake. Instead of merely allowing unions to form or not depending on the preferences of workers, I argue that unions are a basic and therefore necessary institution of a just society. After analyzing and criticizing the schema developed by John Rawls for evaluating what constitutes a basic institution, I introduce a new principle that allows us to determine what should be considered a basic institution in the context of our existing social institutions and practices. I then apply this principle to unionization, and argue that while unions are subject to post-institutional regulation, just like firms are, their existence is demanded by pre-institutional principles of equality and liberty and therefore not optional. Not only are union shops consistent with our deepest moral principles, including our commitment to liberty, that commitment, when properly understood, actually requires that unionization be universal.