Subscribe to Dollars & Sense magazine. Recent articles related to the financial crisis. John Lewis: Worker Management That Works?From today's Independent:Streets ahead: Does John Lewis offer a revolutionary way forward for big business? John Lewis is Britain's best-loved, most employee-friendly retailer. And business is booming. Martin Hickman wonders if there's a connection.. Thursday, 20 August 2009 The Independent As he emerged into the sunlight outside John Lewis in London's Oxford Street this week clutching a plastic carrier bag, Meir Abutbul, a hotelier, had acquired some carpet cleaner and a cameo role in a long-standing industrial experiment. "I like it," he said of the department store that has become synonymous for customer service and respectability. "It's got everything. It's very clear. When I buy electricals there's the guarantee and they have people to talk to you." When told how it operated, however, he looked stunned. "It's like socialism." John Lewis, with its "Never Knowingly Undersold" slogan, is the supplier of sofas, dining tables and widescreen televisions to the nation's sensible shoppers. The Queen buys its haberdashery and household goods. When MPs stuffed second homes at the taxpayers' expense, the Commons Fees Office checked claims for rugs and sideboards against John Lewis prices. Only Marks & Spencer and the BBC can match it in terms of public affection. Now, however, the John Lewis Partnership (which owns the department store and the upmarket grocery chain Waitrose) is increasingly on the receiving end of public admiration as well. Last year Which? members voted John Lewis best high street retailer; this year they gave the award to Waitrose. A poll of 6,000 people by Verdict Research in 2008 named John Lewis "Britain's favourite retailer". This autumn, John Lewis will take a further step forward with the launch of the first in a planned chain of Home stores that will offer its core range in a smaller format; in effect, a John Lewis convenience store. The store will open in Poole, Dorset, in October; if it is successful, another 50 will open across the country. For retail commentators, the expansion is yet another example of John Lewis doing things right. They attribute its success to its long-term approach and, underlying this, its revolutionary partnership structure – something of which roughly half its customers are aware. Unlike other big businesses, the John Lewis Partnership is a plc owned not by investors but by its staff. "Partners" are paid more generously than employees at other retailers. On top of that, they receive an annual "partnership bonus"--a share of the profits--that has ranged between 13 and 20 per cent of salary in the past five years. They receive five weeks' annual holiday, a 25 per cent discount and a final salary pension. There are other perks, too. They can rent subsidised rooms in two large country estates, or stay at lakeside hotels in Snowdonia and the Lake District, or in a 16th-century castle in Dorset. Five cruising yachts can be rented cheaply. And then there is the 60 pound annual subsidy on exhibitions, theatres, visitor attractions and comedy shows. What sets the company apart from its rivals, though, is not its perks but the fact that its staff--shop assistants, warehouse workers, delivery drivers--are involved in the running of the business. Staff are represented in workers' councils from top to bottom of the company. They have the power to sack the boss (though no chairman has been unseated). They can hold management to account and vote to change company policy. They can--and do--write letters of complaint about the business to an internal newsletter, for which they cannot be disciplined. With a 7bn-a-year pound turn-over, a constitution, its own democratic structures and a public commitment to maximising the happiness of its staff, John Lewis operates almost as a shadow state within corporate Britain. Is it too good to be true? Or, if not, should other companies be following its lead? Read the rest of the article Labels: employee ownership, John Lewis, labor, labor organizing, worker rights, workplace democracy Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). Can My Boss Do That?We received a press release from the good folks at Interfaith Worker Justice in Chicago. They had a conference call on this today that we weren't able to listen in on, but it sounds like a really great project. For more info contact: Cynthia Brooke (773) 728-8400, ext. 40; cbrooke--at--iwj .org. Or just visit the site.Can My Boss Do That? New website with vital information on rights and protections during a job loss www.CanMyBossDoThat.com responds to overwhelming need. The numbers are staggering: 3.6 million jobs lost between December 2007 and January 2009. The February unemployment figures, due out this week, will continue to be grim. When workers face job loss, they often don't know where to turn for answers. They may be improperly denied their last paycheck, money due when their plant closes, or told by their employer that they cannot collect unemployment benefits. Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) has created a website, Can My Boss Do That? (www.CanMyBossDoThat.com), which enables workers to understand their rights and protections and advocate for themselves. It offers state-specific information geared to help real life situations:
"The need for clear, usable information for people who are facing unemployment is overwhelming," said Anne Janks, worker advocate and website creator. "We're seeing more bosses cutting corners and breaking employment laws. This website is one way workers can make sure they understand how best to protect themselves." Labels: closures and layoffs, Interfaith Worker Justice, jobs, unemployment, worker rights Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). CEOs of America Unite!Kiwitobes has put together an interesting visual representation of overlapping membership on corporate boards among the largest U.S. corporations. This helps provide one explanation for the astronomical sums paid to CEOs and their lackeys (we get to talk like this on May Day). But as economist Arthur MacEwan explained in our magazine a few years back, the gap in pay between those who own the corporations and those who do the work is much greater in the United States than it is in many other countries that similarly have interlocking corporate boards. The rest of the answer, he concludes, has to do with the relative lack of power of U.S. workers.Over many decades, U.S. companies have created a highly unequal corporate structure that relies heavily on management control while limiting workers' authority. Large numbers of bureaucrats work to maintain the U.S. system. While in the United States about 13% of nonfarm employees are managers and administrators, that figure is about 4% in Japan and Germany. So U.S. companies rely on lots of well-paid managers to keep poorly paid workers in line, and the huge salaries of the top executives are simply the tip of an iceberg.Read the full article here. Labels: Arthur MacEwan, ceo pay, Corporate Boards, May Day, wealth inequality, worker rights Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). Some Roses Don't Smell So SweetBefore you order those overpriced roses for your Valentine's Day sweetie, consider a few disturbing facts from our friends at US/LEAP:
OK, so what should you buy your loved ones? Fair Trade certified chocolate, of course. Some of our favorites include: Equal Exchange Art Bars And if flowers are still the thing, you can now get them from Fair Trade certified sellers. Labels: chocolate, Colombia, economic alternatives, fair trade, flowers, labor, US/LEAP, worker rights Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). |
