1rre@discuss.tchncs.de 2 days ago
Workers owning the business < people who care owning the business
That can take the form of workers, but equally founders or just people with an interest in what the business does. Equally though hard to get a founder who doesn’t care about what the business does, but many workers genuinely just want a paycheck and to go home (myself included).
The problem is, stock markets and the existence of easily tradable shares, options etc. actively encourage people who not only don’t care about the business, but would be willing to mess it up for short term gain.
LesserAbe@lemmy.world 2 days ago
You’re right, private owners who care are better than private owners who don’t care.
Worker owned and controlled companies are preferable (not just ESOPs where decisions are still not made democratically) because democracy allows for error correction. Even the most benevolent king still has a limited amount of attention, information and decision making ability.
LesserAbe@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Also being at a worker coop doesn’t mean you have to sit in company meetings all day. For large organizations like Mondragon workers vote for representatives in an assembly, which then appoints a general manager.
Also also, an owner who cares is a single point of failure/leverage. If they fall on hard times personally or just want to retire, they can decide to sell the business out from under workers to a venture capital firm, or just to another business with a less benevolent owner.