ZNet Commentary . We can create workers and consumers councils For each worker in some workplace or industry or each consumer in a neighborhood or county to have a private opinion isolated from her workmates or neighbors will accomplish little. Instead, to make joint decisions and seek new relations, workers and consumers need to meet together to hash out their views, arrive at collective desires, and advocate preferred options.
Democratic councils are local institutions workers and consumers use to pursue collective agendas.
As a first step to creating worker and consumer councils, meeting to discuss the council idea is a good place to start. Moving on to formalize council rules and agree on a local program lays a foundation for workers and consumers to seek changes regarding everything from wages and conditions to budgets and investments, refining their agendas in accord with their on-going experiences. You can't make good decisions without access to the information that informed decision-making depends on. If you have a right to vote, but you lack information bearing on the options you face, the vote becomes a charade. To participate intelligently, people need information about the decisions that affect them.