I work at a company that is owned entirely by the employees. Sounds like a utopia right? Everyone is supposed to work hard, share in the fruits of their labor, and live happily ever after.
WRONG
I can't speak for all companies that are 100% employee owned, but it does NOT work out to be more equitable and stable than a traditional company owned by shareholders. At my “utopian” company, people at the top are for the most part lazy and incompetent. They are promoted based on the length of time they have been at the company, and how friendly they are with upper management. Nepotism is rampant, much worse than I have ever seen before. Ownership of the company is based on compensation: the more money you make, the more shares you control. A few people at the top control most of the company and compensate themselves extravagantly while newer employees are underpaid. The worst part is, they use the “employee ownership” as a rallying cry to go above and beyond for the company while still exploiting the fuck out of the newer workers. They have the lower level employees tricked into thinking that they are being compensated fairly for their labor but in reality it is just a union busting scheme. Labor is treated as an expense just like at all other businesses.
I am not sure what conclusions, if any we can take from this, but in my opinion “employee ownership” is not a solution to the greed of human nature. The only way to ensure that workers are paid for their labor is through COLLECTIVE BARGAINING and THIRD PARTY MEDIATION (aka government regulation)