Nineteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

I analyze my action research on worker ownership drawing on data with other scholars on worker empowerment from the U.S., Russia, Poland, and Belarus. First, within America, economic democracy is expanding legislation allowing the creation of innovative economic structures known as ESOPs, i.e., Employee Stock Ownership Plans. These laws encourage business owners to sell shares to workers and it provides incentives for banks to give loan guarantees. A related thrust is my analysis of the National Cooperative Bank that empowers lower income, blue collar sectors in preserving manufacturing jobs. Evidence shows both of these economic development approaches serve to reduce plant closings, aid communities that were losing their economic foundations, and create greater equality. ESOP strategies led to current statistics that include approximately 15 million Americans laboring in 7,000 firms that they own, many of them owning 100 percent of company shares with assets today of $2 trillion! Since 2021, the Biden administration has been rolling out even more worker-owned initiatives. Second, my paper shifts to European worker ownership by analyzing Belarus’ seeking to create labor-owned steel bearings plants, truck assembly factories and a watch factory. Nearby, in Poland, during the rise of the Solidarność union movement, I researched ways for labor ownership to become an integral part of Polish independence in the shipyards of Gdansk, and later within the telecommunications and steel industry. My paper concludes with pragmatic research suggestions for potential next steps in building a world of greater economic justice through shared power and worker ownership.