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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 12, 1998)
AUGUST 12, 1998 Page B4 (Elje JJortlanb (ßbseruer Body, td/Uncl & S p irit Responsible Wealth Trickling Down? D o n ell « H. M eadows The other day a friend sent me a brochure put out by an organization called Responsible Wealth. 1 could hardly believe the name. Reading on, 1 could hardly believe what it stands for. “We are business leaders and wealthy individuals, amongthe top five percent of income earners and asset holders in th eC 'S .,” the bro chure leads off. "We are concerned about the rise in power of large corpo rations and the growing gap be tween the rich and everyone else.” Twenty years ago, says the bro chure, the richest one percent of the U.S. population owned 19 percent o f all private wealth. Now the top one percent owns almost 40 per cent - more than the bottom 92 percent o f us combined. The Reagan regime o f the 1980’s cut the taxes o f corporation and the wealthy and promised that their gains would trickle down into in vestments and jobs. The money trickled up instead. The folks behind Responsible W ealth see th em selv es as b en e fic ia ries o f a gam e w ith unfair rules. “ We reco g n ize that as sets play an essen tial role in b u ild in g w ealth and p rosperity. H ow ever, we believe th ere is an o v erem p h asis on the rig h ts and rew ard s o f p riv ate capital are by able to pass on fortunes and m ul tip ly our w ealth through p a s sive investing, w h ile around us one in four ch ildren are born into p o v erty .” "We believe that in a healthy economy workers should earn fair compensation and all citizens should have the opportunity to earn, save, and be economically secure. We believe that civil rights and eco nomic rights are inseparable; we will never have one without the other.” “We believe that economic in equality and the scapegoating of welfare recipients and immigrants are dividing our nation and under mining our collectivesenseof com munity. By continuing to separate ourselveseconomically, wearecon- tributing to a society in which people at a re end of the spectrum are walled off in gated communities whi le many at the other end are behind bars.” What does Responsible Wealth propose to do? In essence, lobby for policies that we who are not rich never expect to hear the rich pro mote - tax increases for the wealthy and dramatic campaign finance re form. For more information about Re sponsible Wealth, contact United for a Fair Economy at 37 Temple Place, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02111 (617) 423-2148 or e-mail them at rw@stw.org The Sky's The Limit Dain Jaecksch started his own business called Galore Paging at the young age o f 22. His entrepreneurial spirit helped turn 13 Galore Paging employees into successful business owners. After five years in business, he continues to lead the paging market with innovation and will introduce the concept o f networking with pagers in the near future. His company is socially responsible by sponsoring and donating money to community events and plans on giving space in his company for public voting. Turning Em ployees Into Business O wners I nterview by J oy R amos Burley Design Cooperative was ranked this year as the 4th "Best Place to Work in Oregon” by the Oregon Business Journal. Thecom - pany produces bicycles and bike- related products. They are an inter nationally renown, multi-million dollar business. Burley Design Cooperative is part o f an emerging culture o f inno vative and socially responsible busi nesses in America. The interview was with Greg Guenther, the G en eral Manager o f the company. Q: What makes your company so dynamically different? G reg G uenther: This is our 20th year anniversary as a worker-owner manufacturing Cooperative. We have about 100 members and run our business as a democratic pro cess by treating each other as equals and making business decisions to gether. Each o f us is a worker. Each o f us is an owner. Burley Design takes its profits and divides it equally among its workers. At the end o f the year, we pool the profits and use a formula based on how m any hours we worked. Each worker receives a bonus in the form o f an hourly bo nus. Q: How is it a worker-owner exist? G reg G u en th er: T here’s a huge degree o f freedom here. W orkers choose their own hours, set up their own work stations. They have many challenges o f having to be involved in the long term direction o f the business. This isn’t just a paycheck for us, this is our livelihood and hopefully ourchildren’s livelihood. The goal is to really help sustain the organi zation for the future generation of people working here, not maximiz ing immediate dollars. We all don’t punch in and out as workers. Sometimes we are Man agers, sometimes we are Directors. T here’s a huge degree o f em powerment given to the workers. We expect each individual to take full control o f their workplace, each team to take full responsibility for its collective actions. Q; How is company support for each other shown? G reg G u en th er: We allow indi vidual workers to get involved in the community in their own way. One o f the ways is letting them set their own schedule to take time off to volunteer or goto their children’s school and hang out with their kids. T here’s never a question ‘ I want to do something for the community. Do I need to ask for time off for it?’ It’s not a necessity. A Burley Design workstation. We offer benefits to domestic partners. You don’t have to be mar ried or involved in a relationship o f traditional marriage to receive ben efits. We pay health care for people who have shown a commitment to each other who may not be married by law. Q: I understand that the workers are the Board o f Directors who choose their Managers. H ow ’s the company management style differ ent? G reg G u en th er: Managers try to represent the voice o f their team members. 1 see the Managers more as a coach/facilitator rather than a conflict-resolution person. We have trained mediators that are our work ers to help resolve differences. To be terminated from the com pany takes a vote o f the entire mem bership (about 100 people). It’s not up to the Manager to say. It’s up to the group with a 3/4 vote to say "OK, it’s time to change.’ Q: How isyourcom pany socially responsible? G reg G uenther:W e are an ac tive contributor to shelter and hun ger needs. We give 1 % o f our prof its to organizations that really give directly to our local community. Q: How is your business environ mentally responsible? G reg G uenther: We built a new building two years ago that won an International Award for its environ mentally conscious design. We use as much natural light as possible and have placed a lower horse-power motor on the elevator. The workspace was designed so that air would move in more freely and there’s maximum natural light. We use solar reflectors to bring in more light into thebuilding. W ehavem o- tion detectors for turning on/off lig h ts w hen no one is in the workspace. W e’ve designed our building to achieve our mission o f environmen tal consciousness. And, w e’re really aggressive recyclers here. Q: As a Cooperative, what values make up most Co-op companies? G re g G u e n th e r: Cooperatives are based on the values of self-help, se lf-re sp o n sib ility , d em ocracy, equality, equity, and solidarity. In the tradition o f their founders, co operative members believe in the ethical values o f honest openness, social responsibility, and caring for others.If you a re in te re ste d in m aking your com pany a C oop erative, contact G reg G u e n th e r by phone at (5 4 1 ) 687-1644 o r e- mail burley@ aol.com . A nother re source is the N orthw est C o o p era tive F ederation in Seattle, W A. 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