The right of workers to organize into collective bargaining units is fundamental requirement of Equity Capitalism. It is required to maintain the balance of power. Unions are not effective at accomplishing this. Union philosophy is based upon communist ideals which have proven to be a failure. To continue to use a system that is based on a flawed theory, is foolhardy.
In a guild system, almost all workers would belong to a Guild that represents their field. All business and commercial enterprises would be required to hire from a guild. There will be non-guild work readily available, for new entrants to the workforce, those wishing to change guilds, etc. Non-guild work would be mainly from individuals operating personal enterprises (family business, etc.) and ECBs. Members of ECB cannot be members of a guild and vice versa. There would be a clear separation between the obligations to the worker, from the employer and from the guilds.
First let us look at the business perspective. A business is not a person, it is an abstract concept. Businesses do not go on vacation, read books, retire or eat. The sole purpose of a business is to make money. It is not for the betterment of humanity or to raise our standard of living or bring about social reform. A successful business does accomplish these things by making enough money to pay wages, by providing products, services and contributing to the community, but this is a result of successfully making money. It is in the best interest of the workers and community that businesses be as efficient, successful and profitable as possible.
The only obligation the employer has toward the employee is to pay the guild price for the work done. The employer makes the necessary government remittances, submits a guild fee to the Guild, the remaining balance is paid out to the employee. If an employer needs a new staff member, a request is sent to the appropriate guild. The Guild has a set price for an individual with the experience and qualifications requested. The Guild selects the person sent to the employer. The employer may request a replacement from the Guild, at any time. If an employee is unable to show up for work, it is the Guild’s responsibility to send in a suitable replacement. A Guild guarantees a worker for every guild position, for every work day.
A guild is responsible for the welfare of its members. The guilds collect guild fees from every member. The fees collected, are for member benefits; medical, dental, wage-loss, training programs, etc. This would lead to almost universal benefits for everyone. The provision of benefits in our current system is spotty and costly. Two people in the same field, different companies, one gets benefits the other does not. Also benefit packages are expensive and beyond the ability of many small companies. A guild with few million members would get a very good deal on a benefit package from an insurer or even set up their own.
Guilds are responsible for ensuring the qualifications of its members. Each guild will have reasonable minimum entry requirements, guild membership is not a right. Non-guild work in each field, at a lower rate than guild price, would be made available. This would allow people to gain experience for guild membership or to change fields or people could test different fields before committing. Companies with many employees would be entitled to hire a small percentage of non-guild workers for their workforce, to give them enough experience to join a guild. The state would set the percentage per industry based on: expected future needs, numbers entering a given field, etc., as part of a long-term employment strategy policy.