Relationship between Employers and Employees
There has to be a balance between the aspirations, rights and interests of the worker and those of the company where the employer works. Trade unions exist to protect workers' rights.
Laws on he rights of worker in the UK ensure safety at work, conditions of employment and the right of a worker to join a TU or other association.
Equal opportunities and rights to protect workers from discrimination are part of the legal framework within which businesses work.
New ethical issues have arisen. Some have to do with mass migration and the question of 'British workers for British jobs'. This expression refers to 2 different ideas:
- The way in which production of industrial goods and also certain work in the service sector has moved to parts of the developing world.
- The migration of cheap labour to work in Britain.
The consequences of the global economy, it is argued affect jobs in the UK.
Various solutions have been put forward to address these issues. These include limited numbers of migrant workers, restricting what jobs they do and even restricting them to certain parts of the country.
All of these solutions raise the ethical issue of the treatment of immigrants.
What responsibility does a society have for its migrant labour?
Does a government have a primary moral responsibility to its ingenous population?
Christian traditions place hospitality to strangers as morally important.
Utilitarian ethics might consider the importance of the greatest good for the greatest number for the maximal number. This may mean that, in a recession, jobs would be limited to EU citizens, except where there is a skills shortage.
However, this raises the issue of which maximal number is being referred to. Is it the population of the UK or the EU or the whole world? This is one problem with applying utilitarianism to this issue.
A virtue ethicist might argue that the concept of British jobs for British workers leads the moral agent to seeing foreigners as different. This would not inspire those character traits that will develop the good (moral) life.
Modern human rights theories have been vitally important in the development of relations between business and workers. Traditional moral approaches such as Kant or utilitarianism have been criticised for not ensuring good treatment for workers.
Whistle Blowing
This is where an employee has the perception that either illegal or immoral activities are being pursued by the company for whom he or she works.
Whistle blowing is where the worker reports these perceived activities to the authorities or the media.
It could be argued that whistle blowing is a necessary feature of modern business practice in a democratic society.
Businesses hate it, yet without the whistle blower both the consumer and the judical system would be largely ignorant of corrupt or dangerous practices.
The ethics behind whistle blowing centre on the principle of openness. There is a growing awareness that all organisations and businesses have to be more open in what they do.
The concept of accountability is crucial. MPs, for example, have to be accountable for their expenses and justify how they are spending taxpayers' money. The whistle blower, it is argued, creates openness that leads to accountability.
Moral critics of whistle blowing argue that company-sensitive information is often revealed, which benefits rival firms.
The morality behind the non-disclosure of sensitive information is simple - a company has a moral right to anything that it has developed, researched and paid for. This is an idea developed by John Locke in the late 17th century. It is the principle of property rights.
Most ethical theories would accept the morality of whistle blowing but for very different reasons
Utilitarianism looks at the maximisation of welfare that comes from revealing information. This has a benefit to society as a whole.
Virtue ethics would examine the character traits found in whistle blowers. What type of people are they? Do they have a strong sense of justice?
Kantian ethics will examine the universalisability principle and also sense of duty. Whistle blowing is a difficult issue to analyse in this way. You have a duty to yourself but also to others. Whistle blowing is morally good if you are reporting information that involves corruption or breaking the law.
