October 3 2025
The theme for this year’s World Day for Decent Work, For Democracy that Delivers, responds to two threats that are facing democracy and working people. The actions of many large corporations are undermining democracy. At the same time, too many politicians are unwilling to take the action needed to improve conditions for working people if it means challenging the power of large corporations.
Democracy is essential for decent work. We have democracy because workers in the 19th and 20th centuries recognized that, if it was only the wealthy deciding who was going to be the government, the overwhelming majority of jobs would be precarious, poorly paid and dangerous. Where we now have decent work, it is because of the reforms that were possible with the power democracy gives us.
Corporate Underminers of Democracy
In their push to increase profits at all costs, many wealthy corporations are behaving in ways that undermine democracy. These actions include suppressing unions, evading taxes and social responsibility, aggressively lobbying those in power to subvert popular will and funding the far right.
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) report, Corporate Underminers of Democracy 2025, looks at 7 corporations whose actions are undermining democracy. These include corporations that are household names like Amazon, which is notorious for its anti-union activities and tax dodging, but also supports groups linked to the far right.
Also on the list is Palantir, a software company that provides artificial intelligence tools (AI) and services. As a report on what governments in Canada are doing to regulate the use of AI found that, even though Palantir services have been linked to violations of human rights, the company made it onto a list of “responsible” AI suppliers for the Canadian government.
Challenging the belief that “there is no alternative”
The fact a company like Palantir is on a Canadian government list of responsible AI suppliers is a product of the other threat democracy is facing—the unwillingness of many politicians who are portrayed as progressive to challenge the power of large corporations.
When governments refuse to challenge the power of large corporations, the alternative is usually policies that penalize low- and middle-income people. Austerity policies that deprive people of public services they rely on. Environmental policies that leave working people to pay the price and let the large corporations that profited from the destruction off the hook. Housing policies that reward the same companies whose profiteering created the affordability crisis, instead of building the large number of non-profit homes we desperately need.
The danger of this approach goes beyond the damage done by individual policies. When people are in difficult situations and see no hope of things improving, they become desperate for alternatives. If people are desperate and have been led to believe that the only options are policies that are hurting them and the far right, it will help the far right.
Unions fight for democracy
In Canada and around the world, unions are fighting to protect democracy. Globally the ITUC is running a campaign for Democracy that Delivers. In Canada, NUPGE and other unions are working to both oppose the far right and put forward alternatives to the status quo that will make life better for working people.
NUPGE’s submission to the consultations for the 2025 federal budget outlines what governments need to be doing to provide people who are desperate with an alternative to the far right. This includes strengthening public services like health care and rebuilding the economy. A focus on building more non-market housing units that are genuinely affordable. And making the tax system fairer so that the wealthy and large corporations pay their share.
The international fight for tax fairness is essential to building an alternative to the far right. It was the consequences of tax cuts that disproportionately benefited the wealthy and large corporations that created the conditions that helped the far right grow.
While the track record of both Liberal and Conservative federal governments is poor, many other countries are taking important steps forward. Examples include wealth taxes in Norway and Spain or groundbreaking publish what you pay requirements for multinational corporations in Australia. These measures need to be adopted more widely so that it is harder for the wealthy and multinational corporations to find places to move their money to avoid paying their share. NUPGE is part of the fight for tax justice through it’s support for Canadians for Tax Fairness and CICTAR and our involvement in Public Services International.[AM1]
The fight for decent work and the right for democracy are inseparable
Where we do have decent work, it is because of the sacrifices workers in the 19th and 20th centuries and their determination to build a fairer and more equal society. We owe a huge debt to those workers and the only way to repay it is to protect and build on what they fought for. And as the workers the 19th and 20th centuries realized, we need to remember that the fight for decent work and the right for democracy are inseparable.