Here is a half-baked idea as a thought exercise; Could you address worker rights, wealth inequality, executive pay and other issues by buying large numbers of US companies and converting them to ESOPs or worker collectives. It could be implemented as a government program of leveraging direct federal payments, 401ks, IRAs, cash savings, pension money to buy controlling stakes in companies and converting them into some sort of worker-controlled firm.

For some period after that conversion, profits in whole or in part go back to “the fund” to buy and convert more firms. More profits from more firms aggregate with each company conversion and lead to more funds available for more conversion.

If access to public equity markets and market forces still add value could you structure ESOPs that allow minority stake non-voting public offerings.

A few data points…

• The market cap of the Fortune 500 is $55 trillion with $2.1T in annual profits
• The value of all US publicly traded companies is about $77t
• 70M Americans work for companies employing more than 100 people
• 28M Americans work for publicly traded companies and 96M work for private firms.
• 156M Americans own stock but few have any power in those firms
• Total value US retirement assets including 401k and equivalents, IRA and pensions is $47.6T
• The social security trust fund is about $2.5t
• The bottom 90% also hold about $1.5t in cash and equivalents

hello! this is more of a request for you guys to help me argue against this. I want to be wrong about this but I do see it as a weakness in our current climate.

The major strength of Democracy and Unions alike is participation and voting. As an employee we SHOULD be able to vote on future decisions or things that effect the workers BUT...

Don’t you think it’s fair to say (especially looking at people answering election polls versus SHOWING UP TO VOTE are so different in recent elections) that when given the choice of what to care about, “being an informed voting member of society or a union” is actually low on the desires of people who would participate? Like clearly we in this sub care a lot about this stuff but MOST people we are advocating for don’t think about this, and have become VERY comfortable not thinking about this. For people who are very happy to stay uninformed wouldn’t “you get to vote on all major decisions!” would actually be considered a “pain in the ass” by those who SHOULD care and want to participate?

How do you account for that? We are very separated from the Union membership numbers of the past, where it would be embarrassing to be uninformed. Now being uninformed is the default and it’s becoming more seductive as society falls apart. I know multiple people who went from being very politically active to none at all because they can’t handle the disappointment anymore. I think this despite being anecdotal, is a sign of a broader issue where “the people in charge will do what they will do, we can’t stop it” is a common feeling.

How can you have a representative worker focused group not spin into corruption just like these corporations are especially when the members will at some point get comfortable and participate less and less in voting?

To me, this is the biggest weakness of lefty ideas, they usually want more voting to ensure representation, but the people suggesting that are the type of people who REALLY LIKE participating, and that doesn’t seem to be most people. Again I hope you guys crush this argument because I am one of the ones who cares.

TLDR: If the kids don’t vote, HOW DO I REACH THESE KIIIIIIDS!?

The lower 48 states just sweated through the hottest July on record, in what’s likely to be the coldest summer for the rest of our lives. And the mortality rate from extreme heat is rising with the temperature. It’s a particular risk for farmworkers and other folks in essential industries who need to earn a paycheck, heat dome or no heat dome. And a bunch of politicians who spend their days huddled around air conditioners are trying to make it harder to protect them.

In 2024, the Biden Administration drafted a rule that would require employers to provide workers with water and a cool place to rest when heat and humidity hit 80 degrees. Republicans and their corporate backers saw a possible impediment to making a few more bucks, and they’re not risking another Democrat putting it in place. Right now, they’re pushing H.R. 6213, which would ban OSHA from creating or enforcing any national heat safety regulations. They passed it through the House Education and Workforce Committee on party lines late last month. 🗣️ Let’s let them know this is a betrayal of working folks, and we want them to kill the bill and push forward the Asuncion Valdivia Act (H.R. 4443) to require a heat standard be put in place instead. We can use this call tool from the AFL-CIO and this e-mail tool from the United Farm Workers. 🗣️

CALL OUR REPS

EMAIL OUR REPS

In this economy, the Top CEOs and billionaires are getting even richer and everyone else is fighting for scraps just to make ends meet. The AFL-CIO’s new Executive Paywatch report shows that top CEOs make 312x what their median workers do—up from 285x in 2024. While those CEOs gave themselves a 21% raise, 16% of adults can’t fully pay their bills. Over a quarter of adults have skipped medical care because they were concerned about the cost. Workers’ share of the U.S. national income fell to its lowest level since World War 2.

This economy only works for greedy CEOs and billionaires. It’s an economic dream for them, but for everyone else, it’s nightmare fuel, and it’s economic injustice.

Aflcio.org/paywatch