----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, December 27, 1999 8:43
AM
Subject: Why EO in Privatisation
Dear EO Privers
I believe of all the sources of EO,
Privatisation is the worst one to promote it.
I say that mainly for the global abuse and
the failure rate that has resulted in using this source.
However there are many empirical and
successful examples of EO through Privatisation non more so than the Herend
Porcelain Manufactory in Hungary.
Form a Worker's point of view
Privatisation World Wide has been a disaster, particularly in Labour Intensive
Industries which most invariably are. As a worker if you don't lose your job
you can bet your wages and conditions will be under attack in a bid to put
profits before people.
Little wonder then that workers and their
representatives i.e. Trade Unions oppose privatisation so strongly. The
problem is that when a situation is inevitable the TUs do not have a plan "B"
which is to get involved in the process in order to get the best out of the
situation for their members. Even if initially it is viewed as a damage
limitation exercise that can only be a good thing, the positive thinking can
come later.
The way forward for workers is to join the
flow and become owners themselves in order to influence (even to some degree)
what is happening and some would say to try and protect them from the
corruption and mal-practice that seems prevalent in
privatisations.
Once having reached that conclusion
we can address the questions posed by Dan Bell
Having been in and witnessed many
Privatisation situations where the workers were given the option of
EO they took it for the following reasons.
1. to protect our jobs and conditions as
much as we could
2..to be able to control our own destiny
as much as we could.
3. we could see what management and
outsider buy-outs were doing to their workforces
and we didn't want
that.
4 the accumulation of capital
was not something we were concerned with at the beginning
this was developed over
a period of time and we did turn £800 investment into
£1600 in 5
years
I hope this has answered a few questions
as far as how workers see EO in Privatisations
What is clear is that you cannot expect to
move from one culture to another overnight, some protective programme has to
be developed to make the transition smooth and
successful
Dave Wheatcroft
01246 233438
-Tel