Power to the "working" People.

I'm guessing it all depends on what you define as a "worker".


So, when the "worker" is appointed to the board, do they cease to become a "worker" and therefore ineligible to hold the position?


And of course, NONE of the other "board members" works, has worked, or knows how to work?



So, why should we vote for career politicians? Surely "workers" would be better-placed to help run the country?

And therefore, I believe I have effectively removed the "politiking" from this Thread using only the power of logic ?

To quote a book we had to read at school, Animal Farm by George Orwell:


”All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others”.


If elevated to the board would a worker be paid as a director or as a worker? If paid as a director, do they cease to be a worker?


Or will there be a rolling rota with every worker taking it in turn to be on the board without the the chance to really get into the role?


Should management actually be left to trained and experienced managers rather than management posts being filled with people who educated and skilled workers, but lack any specific training or experience in management?


I went to an IET Local Group training evening some years ago and had just this discussion with the trainer, who said management should be left to career managers, dare I say it, Professional Managers.


?‍?


Andy B.

Back in the 1970’s my dad had a group of customers, the three directors of a spring and pressing company employing over two hundred people making small precision components.


We worked at the factory and their homes for many years and knew about their homes and lifestyles, which included three brand new matching Bentleys every other year, which we built a garage for at the factory, though it was used for the vans overnight.


One Director was an accountant, one was an engineer and the other was a progress chaser. Each of them let the others get on and do what they did well with minimal interference, it was a magical combination making for a very productive and profitable company with the workers on piecework earning far more than they friends and neighbours did.


The idea that one of the workers might have ended up in board meetings is laughable, it really was a us and them regime.


 Andy Betteridge

I have just had a look, that company is still trading selling precision components to the aerospace industry and others, but rather than being owned by three people it is now one of over one hundred and seventy companies owned by a Swedish parent company.


If one representative of each company had a place on the board of the parent company there would be over one hundred and seventy people on the board, I’m not sure how far you can take the idea of worker representation in big international companies.


We are not living in the 1970’s anymore with lots of small independent local companies and the bosses living locally.


 Andy B.

There is a bit of a myth that managers can manage anything without learning the nitty gritty of the business - the 'professional manager' is only the progress chaser role in the case above. The other roles, of tech expert and money raiser are equally required for anything other than a short term success.

It is not without reason that disparaging phrases, such as 'Lions led by Donkeys' have at time been applied to much of UK industry, both nationalised and private.

Ignore the problems on the shop floor at your peril, and be very wary of any sort of management that looks at it's workforce through a window and never mingles.


Equally, I do not know how many here remember the aggro around wage controls  1966 act that introduced wage limits for given tasks and the related removal and later re-instatement of  free collective bargaining. I am too young to remember the introduction, but certainly the fall out a decade later was memorable. From that and high income taxes that discouraged the principle of high earnings for good work, a very significant brain drain ensued, from which arguably we never really recovered. I do not think we would manage a 2nd round of that sort of politics

The progress chaser was the key role in that if there was a problem the progress chaser went to look for the cause of it, do that the company could resolve the issues that caused the problem.


Andy B.