11–20 of 62 posts
How hard must they have tried to write that without using the word Marxism!?
It isn't Marxism. One of the most well-known advocates of employee-owned companies, Noam Chomsky, is anarchist, not Marxist. Marxism is primarily about controlling political power to achieve economic goals. What the article talks about works without (much) political power.
I'm sure these companies are more humanely managed and have happier employees but I doubt they're economically efficient. If they were they'd outcompete non employees owned companies. We even have an entire sector of employee owned companies where they obviously do win consistently, professional services firms like accountancy (PWC, KPMG, Deloitte, Ernst & Young) or management consulting (McKinsey, Bain, BCG). All th…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It isn't Marxism. One of the most well-known advocates of employee-owned companies, Noam Chomsky, is anarchist, not Marxist. Marxism is primarily about controlling political power to achieve economic goals. What the article talks about works without (much) political power.
I hate to break the news to you but Chomsky is a Marxist.
Coop models may work if decision-making structures are defined clearly and 'economically'. >> expand the coop model by associating it more closely with unions. A receipt for disaster. Some European states had this models in the past and completely abandoned them.
Care to elaborate? Unions function differently in different EU states: In the UK they were pretty much killed, in France they act as antagonists to the business side, in Germany they act more collaboratively with the business side. In the latter case in Germany every large enough commpany has to have a democratically elected workers council, that gets a seat on the board. While not the same as co-ownership, this demo…
But yes, enforcing the voice of the worker in the Board is likely to be a major win all round for Anglo-Saxon English companies. One I would happily support.
I think whether or not a business is employee owned is less important for success than it having a good and capable management team.
That leaves the coops mostly to sectors that are not capital intensive (mostly service and retail).
There is a bit of a trend currently in France around employee-owned companies. One of the most visible is a restaurant in Paris ("le Temps des Cerises", we know we're in dangerous communist territory just by the name).
I know a coop where the employees/owners take personal credits to buy the headquarters.
How hard must they have tried to write that without using the word Marxism!?
United Airlines became majority employee-owned in 1994 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_United_Airlines#Emp... . Was it the best airline by any measure from then, until its 2002 bankruptcy?
Chrysler was majority-owned by a UAW retirement trust for a period starting in 2009... until Fiat finished buying out that stake earlier this year. Was 2009-2014 an "everybody wins" period for Chrysler?
Coop models may work if decision-making structures are defined clearly and 'economically'. >> expand the coop model by associating it more closely with unions. A receipt for disaster. Some European states had this models in the past and completely abandoned them.
Care to elaborate? Unions function differently in different EU states: In the UK they were pretty much killed, in France they act as antagonists to the business side, in Germany they act more collaboratively with the business side. In the latter case in Germany every large enough commpany has to have a democratically elected workers council, that gets a seat on the board. While not the same as co-ownership, this demo…
France on the other hand has had a minimum wage for a long time and a 35 hour work week. To me it isn't so clear who is doing a better job.
But clearly French unions are not afraid of confrontation.
How hard must they have tried to write that without using the word Marxism!?
Ownership is basically antithetical to the core concept of Marxism.