America's 'actually existing' worker-owned capitalism

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/04/america-actually-existing-worker-owned-capitalism


Owner Joe Lueken in the aisles at the Lueken's Village Foods store in Minnesota. Lueken, soon to retire, is selling the business to his 400 employees. Photograph: David Joles/AP

Last week, retiring Minnesota grocery chain owner Joe Lueken did something unusual: he gave his business to his 400 employees. The story received widespread attention as a heartwarming, It's A Wonderful Life-esque act of beneficence.

But Lueken's decision was no one-off Christmas fairytale. In fact, Bob Moore, owner of Oregon-based cereal producer Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods, did exactly the same thing two years ago.

Their actions reflect the under-the-radar but growing trend of worker ownership in the United States. The surprising truth is that there are thousands of successful, majority worker-owned businesses in the United States. We're not just talking small-scale hippie co-ops: the largest majority employee-owned business is Florida-based Publix Super Markets, a $27bn company that employs 152,000 people. That's more workers than Costco (COST) and Whole Foods (WFM) combined.

At a time of high unemployment, soaring corporate profits and diminishing job quality, employee ownership offers an appealing, viable alternative to mainstream corporate capitalism. It's a way for workers to own "the means of production" without overthrowing the system – and without asking a gridlocked Congress to create a jobs program.

[hootinholler]

1. K&R n/t

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2. glad some one other than me found this interesting. nt

[marmar]

3. The future......if we're smart.

The mega-corporation model has outlived its usefulness.

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4. may the mega corporation go the way of the dinosaur...soon. nt