There are also employees, customers, communities, etc. How did we as a society allow this one group to dominate everything that businesses decide to do where the interests of every other stakeholder group become subordinate to shareholders?
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Workers are just asking for fairness like previous generations where the ceo or owner made only 30 to 40 times the average or lowest wage. Prior to that there was the system of Monopolies with a Lord vs the serfs called the Robber Baron years.
Russia had the Bolshevik Revolution bring dramatic change to a similar system of unfairness where an elite class was unmoored from the common person’s struggles. They found communism wasn’t much of better system.
lol right. It’s the workers that want more and are greedy. Not the c/suite execs who pay themselves millions. Unbelievable how much kool-aid you guzzle.
Workers do have a stake. It's called salary and benefits. Some workers are just greedy and want more, and more, and more. You want more? Do more?
What do you expect? The purpose of a business is to make money for its owners. How much a company cares about its workers depends on how hard or inconvenient to replace those workers. If you are working on a product central to AT&T’s success, such as HBOMax, you will be alright. Unfortunately, most workers at AT&T are very easily replaced, it’s the hard truth. It was the reason I left AT&T, what I did simply didn’t really matter that much.
Good luck to you all.
2xag this is literally why our 401k match is poured into an ATT Shares fund, where we can't vote the shares. Over the long term, this strategy works.
RE: "There is only one thing to do. CWA needs to establish an ATT stock fund, consisting of only ATT stocks, and have l union dies go into this fund. The fund will give CWA leadership voting rights and the amount of stock will quickly outweigh the largest single investors."
Good luck. The top ten institutional investors hold $76 billion of stock.
1dbw - SV companies are great for stockholders, but s— for companies - look at Amazon for examples of draconian policies that harm their workers, but make great profits. As 1rri notes, the middle class has fallen as unions have lost power. How an individuals stand against corporate power - do you have the money to sue your employer for any civil case?
Every bad decision I ever made started with me doing what I thought was best. As a worker, I do not expect or want to be put first, I would just like some balance. I hope we do benefit one day from Randall & Stankey's decision making, however, I do not think either one of them can get us to that point. The same thinking that created a problem can't solve it. The "go work somewhere else" mindset, while containing a bit of truth, is narrow thinking and unhelpful. People who speak their mind, "troublemakers", often catalyze positive change from within.
For all the anti union boot-licking sycophants posting - yes you can have a successful company that is unionized and considers its employees and customers as well as its shareholders and executives. In fact, we have several successful corporations in this country that are entirely owned by their unions.
There is also the example of Germany, where by law businesses are unionized (by strong unions, not weaklings like ours here) yet their businesses are very successful and their population far more wealthy than ours.
If the CWA were smart and well run (unfortunately they're not) they would have been accumulating AT&T stock over the years and by now have a significant ownership of this company, giving them some control of the company's direction.
Several large companies some time back, made a decision to put the shareholders in the back seat and place customers,employee;s and communities they serve ahead of the stockholder, since usually the largest stockholders are banks, or investment companies. Not sure if AT&T was part of that agreement, as they didn't really list all of them. AT&T for sure puts sustainment of the business and the dividend ahead of everything it does. Agree or disagree, the leaders of the company, are doing what they fell is best. AT&T is not the only company with changing ideas, The largest employer in America will soon start thinning the workforce, as more of their business goes on-line and away from people walking into a store. (WalMart).
Stakeholder theory is c-ap. Companies that follow it get eaten alive by those that don’t. Don’t like working at AT&T? Go work somewhere else
There is only one thing to do. CWA needs to establish an ATT stock fund, consisting of only ATT stocks, and have l union dies go into this fund. The fund will give CWA leadership voting rights and the amount of stock will quickly outweigh the largest single investors.
It’s no coincidence that the middle class has eroded at the same time unions have been eroded. So yeah , Amazon is successful and rich. It’s employees? Well documented they struggle to make ends meet and most of them can not afford a middle class lifestyle. It’s unfortunate that we now think it’s ok for a company to reap record profits and not pay a middle class wage and benefits but yet we think a ceo and his c-suite deserve millions. Capitalism is good for America. Unchecked greed is not. Unions had brought balance and gave workers a voice and seat at the table. That is all but gone. Corporate America runs America now, not us average citizens.
Greed.
I call bs on the benefits listed by an earlier person on unions. Health insurance was done during the depression because companies could not raise wages, the 40 hour week week was first done by ford before unions. Unions have done some good things but they have also been responsible for numerous company failures too.
If unions are so great why have Silicon Valley companies almost all non union? One word innovation. That’s what is lacking in heavily unionized companies.
The most successful companies have great leadership therefore a union is neither desired nor necessary.
1cdi - consider that all the things you expect in your work life have been provided by unions - 5 day work week, 8 hour work day, overtime, disability pay, etc, etc,etc, and maybe you will rethink your position on unions.
Lol. Can the person who wants all companies unionized show one successful company that is 100 percent unionized and run my a boar including union representative? Unions are over 100 years old why has there has not bee any company founded and successfully run according to union principles? Name one? Why? Because unions and capitalism are mutually exclusive. Capitalism is “creative destruction” when things and tastes change companies have to change to continue to be successful. That’s why the most successful companies in the us are non union.
If leadership would take good care of employees, employees will take good care of customers, everyone profits, including shareholders. Employees at AT&T have zero autonomy; more autonomy would equal more profit. "Leadership" projects their own character defects onto workers; they believe that workers are as dishonest & untrustworthy as they are, therefore, rather than autonomy, we get micromanaged to the point where it actually appears to "leadership" that we are a bunch of slackers. Employees are p-ss-d, customers & the public despise the company & now investors are unhappy; the common denominator is at&t leadership. We do not have intelligent leadership here, it simply does not exist.
Very true OP. By law every business over a certain size should be unionized. By law every Board of Directors should have union representatives with a percentage of the seats. This would be a small first step in creating a more fair, equitable society.
I agree with OP 100%
Better yet look at the government who let the global bankers and corporations run everything and I mean everything. Look at the media and how they are controlled. It is a global cabal. Every country deserves to have their own sovereignty.