Disappointing and Out of Date Frame of Reference
Well, the White House held its much ballyhooed Jobs Summit yesterday. It made the news, both TV and print, but it did not make much of a splash. There are several reasons why, in my view, but one is it was the same-o, same-o, and in some respects a step backwards.
President Obama and his team put together the usual suspects to “analyze” and “brainstorm” on the American economy. The Administration feels that CEOs of big multi-national corporations, presidents of labor unions, some non-profit think tankers, and a very tiny number of small business reps are going to provide answers on how to create jobs in America.
Very disappointing — for several reasons. In prior Administrations, such as the time President Clinton held an all day roundtable on the workplace early in his Administration, his staff included an employee owner, a machinist, to sit side by side with the labor leaders and the CEOs of big companies.
Then I read where some of the big company CEOs seemed to blame employees for our ills, as being “uneducated,” “not skilled.” Of course this has a ring of truth as our educational system leaves much to be desired, but would it hurt leaders of some big companies to stop pointing fingers at employees, look in mirror, and think of the company’s training and in-house education, or is time off the assembly line going to hurt the bottom line too much?
Finally, it was disappointing because this Administration wants to hear from leaders of U.S. labor organizations that have around 10 to 12 million members, but not hear a word from those men and women in America who number over 53 million, according to the last General Social Survey (GSS), that have some form of ownership stake in the companies where they work. [Employees owning company stock or holding company stock in the GSS survey numbered nearly 37 million persons; an estimates 11 million of these 37 million are ESOP participants.] More information on these GSS surveys can be found on The ESOP Association's website here, here, and here.
I know it is disappointing to ESOP fans who read this blog that we are not a positive blip on the Administration’s radar screen when thinking about our economy — keep in mind, there is evidence employee-owned companies create and preserve jobs better than non-employee owned companies.
But instead of lamenting the lack of positive interest in employee stock ownership in the current White House, let us focus on how to turn the situation around.
The ESOP Association working with its ESOP company members is doing a pretty good job of the key protection strategy for ESOP laws by having more and more members of Congress take public stances for protecting and expanding ESOPs.
But it is the Employee Ownership Foundation’s work that funds research and surveys, increases interest in employee ownership among young scholars who will be tomorrow’s advisors to government, and the influential think tanks, that is the best tool to finally make employee ownership at least a topic for review whenever in the future the White House, whoever is President, wants to talk about how to create and protect jobs in America.
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