Thursday, February 25, 2010

Alternative Model



People's eyes tend to glaze over when I talk about this vision. I want to see a kind of manufacturing enterprise which only benefits the workers who produce the product. All workers will be paid a good salary. Any profits above the cost of manufacturing the products will be distributed equally among the workers who make them. If a worker leaves the enterprise, her or his share is added to the total amount distributed to the other workers. If the worker were to leave for retirement, she or he would, of course, receive retirement benefits, but no longer a share of the distribution of the surplus of the company.

If workers make decent salaries to begin with, any shares they receive would be welcomed, but not essential. There would be no motive for the company to gouge prices, rig markets, or fall into any of the egregious practices of US profit driven corporations that need to pay share holders, more and more at the expense of the workers whose labor makes the product. Workers who make enough money to support themselves and their families decently and who contribute necessary goods to the society would have the dignity and self respect such things allow.

I do not here advocate a society where no one could benefit from the work of others, though I think it would be more fair and just. I do advocate for some instances of companies where 1) the workers are the ones to benefit from their labor; 2) labor costs are high by choice; and 3) no consideration of paying outsiders who do not work for the company inform any decisions.

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