Re: Humans Still Slaves Without Ownership of Capital Tools--HACECA Goings On ...

[Mbindnerdc@aol.com]

Lynn,

Well said.  Unions are the key to the employee-ownership solution.  Unions are 
in the cat-bird seat on the most likely prospect for direct employee-ownership, 
social security reform.  Organized labor has two options in this debate.  The 
first, which is familiar, is to assure that there is no change to social 
security.  The second option is to use its position to guide change, which will 
put it in the position to make even more radical change to how business 
operates in the future.

By guiding change, I propose that labor insist on the following conditions for 
allowing social security reform in the states to go forward:

- amend ERISA to mandate fractional representation by class of employee on ESOP 
boards, with the requirement that any fractional voting on the ESOP board be 
represented in votes on the board of directors or in general stock-holders 
meetings - and that unions provide representation for union employees on ESOP 
boards.

- mandate that social security recalculate the employer contribution so that 
each employee full time employee is credited with the average full time 
employee contribution, rather than crediting the contribution as a match to the 
employee contribution

- in any social security privatization, give employees the option of having the 
employer contribution to to an ESOP, rather than to an account managed by 
government sponsored financial managers

- allow union workers to designate that their union manage all 401(k) funds 
and/or have union directors on any 401(k) board proportionate to size of union 
employee shares

- allow union workers to designate their union pension fund to manage any 
employee contribution diverted from social security

- change how unions vote their shares:  ask for more

-- insist that profit be distributed between labor and capital based on cost

-- end hierarchical management - require that managers bid on their job in open 
auction with the decision resting upon the employees supervised via election 
(high level managers are elected by all people in management chain)

-- increase benefits for families, including higher salaries for more children 
and employer provided mortgage, payroll line of credit and educational loans 
(which are no longer peonage if the employees own the firm)

Of course, this would require that Unions take a hard look at how they bargain. 
 They would have to become partners in productivity.  Coddling bad performers 
would be a thing of the past.

I would like to develop a coalition to lobby labor on these points, and a 
consulting organization to assist labor in converting to an ownership footing.  
Wanna play?

Mike Bindner
In a message dated Mon, 25 Mar 2002 10:52:17 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
LynnRWilliams@aol.com writes:

> Dear Mr. Nieman -
> 
> In view of your comments I have a couple of suggestions.
> 
> The first is that you take a look, if you are not already familiar with it, 
> at Marjorie Kelly's book, "The Divine Right of Capital", published by 
> Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
> 
> The second is that you begin to turn your creative juices to thinking about 
> and dealing with unions as part of the solution, not of the problem.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Lynn Williams
> Retired President USWA