Far too many employers see their employees as disposable, fungible, or, even worse, targets to exploit. I am happy to report that the CEO of Chobani yogurt, Hamdi Ulukaya, is not one of them. He is giving his people a 10% share in his company, shares that they will be able to sell, once the company goes public. The money that these workers will soon receive means a lot, they say, but being appreciated means even more.
Watching this report, I couldn't help but wonder how different our world would be if more owners felt the same way about the people who make their success possible.
Should you want to read more about this remarkable gesture, click here.
It's so simple isn't it Lorne. It just means being a good fair human being. I don't know if you're familiar with Chapman's, the Canadian ice cream company. Anyway when their factory burned down, while they were building a new one, they continued the salaries of all their employees and even paid 6 months to their contractors. What a different world we would be living in if companies put their people first.
ReplyDeleteI did hear that Chapman's treats its workers well, Pamela, and I agree that common human decency isn't something that should be so rare in the corporate world. Too few understand that if they treat their employees well and fairly, those employees will go the extra distance for the company.
DeleteNear the end of my teaching career, all I would hear from administrators were phrases like " my school" and "my staff," never "our." Needless to say, I felt little affinity or loyalty near the end.
Unfortunately modern corporatism in the age of neoliberalism is fiercely predatory. It preys upon workers, regulators, governments - anything and anywhere it can extract value or advantage.
ReplyDeleteGalbraith deals with this in "The Predator State." Echoing what has already happened to our National Energy Board, he chronicles how corporations essentially captured almost all of the government regulatory apparatus in the US during Bush-Cheney by getting industry insiders appointed to the senior positions. They didn't seek to shrink government but to in fact grow it while they deepened their control, sector by sector, and built conduits to flow government revenue their way.
Only standalone entities such as the two you and Pamela have mentioned can avoid the predatory practices of the conglomerates. So few of them survive the era of globalization and "free" trade.
Although it probably doesn't matter to them, Mound, at least corporations can be shamed by contrast to enlightened practices, and worker discontent over the predatory nature of the conglomerates can grow, perhaps leading to something significant in the future. I know that probably sounds idealistic, but i can't abandon all hope for better things to come.
DeleteYou're right. We have to hope and work for change even if we think the possibility remote.
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